Dick Grayson is not a man-whore.
Artemis has just coined the phrase, stated with obvious mirth over the com-link, referring to a particularly ill-timed Skype session that had taken place that morning after an…overnight date. Dick knew his other friends weren't as brass as the cocky archer, he had to admit they would pretty much agree with the newly professed title. And to be fair, he could technically see what might give them that idea. He is frequently surrounded by members of the opposite sex. Most of them, in his line of work, are trained martial artists or metahumans, but he's had his share of non-superhero female companions as well.
It's not like he's doing it on purpose. For some strange, inexplicable reason—at least, inexplicable to him—women seem drawn to him (No, he's not trying to sound like a tool). They had been ever since he'd hit puberty. Maybe even before that, if he really thought about it. He doesn't make a conscious effort to attract them; whatever it was about him that did that came about all it's own.
Not that he's complaining. Who would, when they've dated two of the hottest women in the JLA?
But he knows what a womanizer looks like…and it's not him. He doesn't search obsessively for one-night stands like most other nineteen year old males. Even Bette, his latest "overnight date", meant more to him than someone he'd sleep with once and never call again. He's known Bette since high school, had been interested in her even then, when he was just a lowly freshmen and she was a senior who'd barely looked his way. He wanted to see her again, really…but things were complicated with his civilian life. He couldn't devote a lot of time to being just Dick Grayson. Most of his life was spent behind a mask. It was hard enough balancing classes at Gotham University with being a vigilante; it'd be even harder to balance a relationship.
So maybe he would never call Bette again. He probably would…but maybe not. That doesn't mean he'd trivialize their time together as one more foray to add to his long list of "hookups". He's just not that kind of guy. Really.
Of course, Artemis doesn't take that as an answer. He can tell by her tone of voice that she's smirking, although he couldn't see her through the com-link. She says something sarcastic in response and he laughs a little over the roar of his motorcycle.
Dick takes the crosstown bridge, headed toward the old warehouse on the East Side where he takes the Zeta tubes to headquarters. If he had it his way, he'd drive his bike all the way to Mount Justice. It had been a gift from Bruce last year for his birthday, in honor of his new position as leader of the team, and since then he'd developed an arguably unhealthy obsession with it.
But, since Bludhaven was a good hundred miles south of New England, it made more sense to take the tubes. As he parks his bike in an old hangar in the north side of the warehouse, he disconnects from Artemis with the promise to stop by and see her and Wally later that day. A few moments and a slightly nauseating sensation he has never fully gotten used to later, Dick steps into the cave's common room.
Five seconds into the room, and M'gann already has her arms around him, giving him a tight hug with a loud, squeaky exclamation of "Happy birthday!" For a moment, it's like having the old M'gann back; the smiling, effervescent girl he'd first fought beside, who used to bake cookies for the team and frequently quoted a character from an old sixties sitcom. But a moment later, as Conner walks into the room, that M'gann vanishes, replaced by the reserved and slightly troubled young woman she had become.
Dick returns Connor's smile as his friend reaches out and shakes his hand, offering a slightly softer rendition of the birthday greeting. Connor, too, had changed since they'd first met. Then, Connor had been an angry and dangerous kid; unsure of himself and of his place in the world. In the years that passed, Dick had watched Connor transform, maturing into a confident, capable hero; a leader in his own right. He was proud of his friend, who had stopped searching for identity somewhere along the way and had simply made his own.
A slightly awkward silence descends on the room as the three of them wait for the rest of the team to arrive. Which was understandable, Dick reasoned. Connor and M'gann had been broken up for six months, true, but recently M'gann had started dating one of their newest members, L'gann. Yeah, the similarity between their names was weird. No, that didn't mean Dick thought they shouldn't be together. But he still found himself wishing for the old days, perhaps more nostalgically than he'd care to admit, when M'gann and Connor were still together.
At least Artemis and Wally are still going strong.
The silence is finally broken as Cassie, Gar, and the others file into the room. Tim knows it's his birthday, and maybe Gar, but the others probably don't. He doesn't make a big deal out of it; never has really, not since the last birthday he celebrated with his parents. In fact, if it wasn't for Wally, not even his original teammates might have known when it was. Birthdays had always been a pretty big deal where Wally was involved.
Barbara doesn't need to be reminded, though. She's been celebrating his birthdays with him since before he'd even met Wally. Their eyes meet as she walks in behind the rest. Instantly, she smiles at him, one of those great ones that makes her entire face light up. He can't help himself from grinning back. When Babs smiles it's contagious. She pauses for a beat, and a strange look crosses her face; for a moment, it looks as if she's going to walk over to him, maybe to tell him something; but then there's a whoosh of air and an automated voice announcing the arrival of two Leaguers. The two Leaguers he once dated, in fact.
It looks like Babs' face falls, but only for a split second. He makes a mental note to ask her what she'd wanted to tell him later, then turns to greet Zatanna and Rocket.
Zatanna greets him in the usual fashion, a habit she's kept up since the first birthday she celebrated with him. As her lips meet his, the memories come rushing back; the time they spent together, the way she made his head turn. Z had been his first real girlfriend, so she would always have a certain….effect on him. As they break apart he can't help but flirt with her a little, whispering a special request in her ear. Z smiles back at him, with perhaps a hint of flirtation herself, and complies with the incantation of one her spells. Then the moment's over, and they're back to being good friends. It's like you'd never know they were exes.
Just as Dick's been lucky in relationships, he's been equally lucky in ending them. He and Zatanna had parted on good terms—very good terms, depending on how you looked at it—and he was glad to have a trustworthy friend in her. In Raquel, too, as she leaned up and planted a kiss of her own on his cheek. He and Rocket had worked better as friends, but he'd been there for her when they'd lost Kaldur and that had enabled them to grow closer. As he grins and responds with a witty comment to Zatanna's playful quip, he finds himself wondering, as he often does these days, if she would still feel that way about him if she knew the truth. The truth that he was keeping from her and everyone else.
Zatanna and Rocket leave shortly after, and the rest of the team follow suit. Tim heads back to Gotham, Cassie and the others wait for debriefing and M'gann and Connor turn to head back to their rooms. He calls them back quickly. He has a mission for them, but first he needs to put his concerns to rest. The new strain between them could jeopardize their ability to work together. He doesn't expect it to, but he asks them anyway, giving him the courtesy of being able to decline. They don't, of course, but he can hear a slight awkwardness in M'gann's voice as she answers him, sees the tension suddenly appear in Connor's shoulders. A small, selfish part of him is secretly glad he's never had to experience what they're going through with Z or Raquel or any of the others.
After the debriefing, the team return to their rooms to change into the civvies….all except for Barbara. She waits there until the last one has left the room, then walks towards him. He's glad to have this chance, to hear what she might have been trying to tell him earlier. But she doesn't open her mouth to speak. Instead, she has a hard, blazing look on her face, a look he's never seen before, as she places two hands on his cheeks and leans up, pressing her lips against his.
And suddenly the world is spinning.
Unlike Z's kisses, which were always dramatic, almost theatrical, in keeping with a performer, or Raquel's, this one is sweet; gentle yet with a hint of passion. Mind-blowing. Her lips are soft and full and he wants more of them, but all too soon, she's pulling away. And then she's smiling up at him, that same contagious smile he's always known, but suddenly, somehow, it's different, full of the promise of something that until this moment, he didn't know he wanted. He can't think, can't speak, so he just stares, deep into those beautiful eyes, wondering why it took him so long to see what had been standing right in front of him all this time.
Barbara breaks the silence. "I know I'm not one of your numerous exes, Boy Wonder," she tells him in her usual teasing voice. It suddenly grows more serious as she adds in a softer tone, "but I've been wanting to do that."
Then she winks.
"Happy birthday, Mr. Grayson."
And as she turns and walks away, he's pretty sure Zatanna's spell worked. Because this has just become his best birthday ever.