I am having a lot of fun writing this one. Hope you will enjoy reading it too :3
Unbeta-ed work so all mistakes are mine.

Five Dates

The Second Date
Part 1

Vicky Vale was trying to bore a hole into the back of her skull; Diana could feel the glare of the other girl from across the classroom. She sighed in defeat and returned her focus on the history test.

Somewhat, word of her second date with Bruce had gotten around and she had become the target of his fan club and long list of ex-girlfriends. Vicky was the most virulent, but since Diana remained the most popular girl amongst the high-scholars, she hadn't attempted public humiliation yet. Not to mention, Bruce had declared rather loudly and in her presence that he found vindictive girls the least attractive.

Speaking of which…

Diana spared a quick glance at said boy. Bruce looked deeply focused on his paper, a puzzled frown on his handsome face. Her seat allowed her to check him out without looking too obvious, a fact that had been damn useful when she had needed a distraction during boring classes. Before he asked her out, she would rest her cheek on her hand and let her eyes drift to contemplate why such a hot guy could also be such a moron. Now that they were more or less official, she didn't feel as self-conscious at being caught staring.

His hair was still a bird's nest, small circles stood under his tired eyes, more noticeable now that she knew where to look. It seemed his insomnia still ragged on. His clothes fitted his form perfectly, wrapped around his broad shoulders. She smiled slightly, remembering how he had felt as he hovered over her, stomachs brushing, strong, large hands roaming over her body and his mouth-

And the chills still ran down her spine. Gods, Vicky Vale had to learn to let it go.

She focused again on the task at hand. Ten minutes to countdown. Even though she had finished, she still checked for any spelling mistakes –found two –and finally put her pen down. A quick check to the clock informed her she still had five minutes to kill. Diana unashamedly glanced at Bruce again, and was surprised to see him staring back. Their eyes met. He winked. Her cheeks burned brightly but she felt her lips curl upward.

The bell rang. Just like most of the class, he picked up his stuff and slowly headed to the door. She was about to follow to catch up when-

"So how do you think you managed?" Steve asked before she could do more than two steps in a blatant move to slow her down.

The past four days, the boys had become a very overprotective shield preventing her from any physical contact with Bruce. There was always someone with her in class, or in recess, or willing to walk her home, or asking if she wanted to join some diner or another outing. Their excessive attention was slowly growing on her nerves and Diana had no doubt Steve was behind this odd behavior.

She wondered, not for the first time, if her best friend truly had feelings for her of if Bruce had just been mocking her. Steve was handsome in his own blonde-blue-eyes-white-teeth way. He wasn't large and looming like Bruce, just the right height, far more opened and genuine and friendly. He was her best friend, but she wasn't attracted to him.

"I think I did fine," she replied, faintly disappointed when Bruce vanished outside the door without looking back. "You?"

"I might have mixed up a date or two but I'm confident I'll get a B+."

"Great." She had no desire to discuss the test, knew that if she didn't leave now, he would herd her back to Sameer and Charlie before she could blink. "Sorry, I need to go to the bathroom," she added and escaped hurriedly.

Even without wanting to corner Bruce, her friends had been incredibly overwhelmingly protective and wouldn't leave her alone. She knew Bruce would have approached her earlier had they not been hovering like a human shield. She had never been so tempted to tell them that sooner or later, she would be hanging out with him unsupervised. Part of her hoped he would come after her after her none too subtle escape, but as she engaged in the corridor, she lost sight of him.

True to her word, she headed to the ladies' room, didn't linger –vindictive girls looming –and stopped by her locker to pick up her next class task. When she shut it, Bruce was standing right next to her.

"Dammit Bruce," Diana cursed as she jumped, startled. "You shouldn't do that."

He flashed his boyish grin, the one that made her heart skip a beat.

"Why, were you about to hit me?"

He sounded far too pleased with himself. For a brief moment, she hesitated between smacking the smirk off his face or kissing it. She did neither and crossed her arms instead.

"I might in the future; it would teach you a lesson."

He mimicked a military salute.

"No more sneaking on Miss Prince, duly noted." His sea blue eyes softened and a more sincere smile appeared on his lips. "How are you?"

She couldn't help but smile back.

"Good. What about you?"

He shrugged, leaned against the lockers.

"I just wished we could have a little more private time. Other than that, good."

Diana pursed her lips in frustration. They had only gone on one date, but she couldn't get him out of her mind. She truly wanted to know him better and the interference of her friends prevented that. They had texted since their date, but nothing replaced a good old face-to-face.

"Did you know," Bruce spoke next, pulling her from her thoughts. "That room there is empty at this time."

The mischief and twinkling eyes didn't disguise his intentions. Diana rolled her eyes but smiled.

"Fine," she said, and followed him to their next destination.

He pulled her against him the moment the door was closed. Diana wrapped both arms around his neck while he slipped his around her waist and pressed into her. One inch further and their lips would be touching.

"Really missed you," he said and closed the distance between them.

The exchange was gentle and sweet and warm and Diana all but melted. Their bodies touched from chest to thighs, drawing pleasant warmth in her chest and lower. When they finally parted for air, her cheeks felt warm and her head dizzy. Bruce grinned again.

"Bring a swimsuit tomorrow." He announced. "I have a swimming pool behind the dojo. Might as well cool down after intense physical exercise."

"Intense physical exercise?" she purred, her lids half-closed. She liked having his arms around her, liked feeling him so solid against her. "Isn't that just an excuse to see me wearing next to nothing?"

"Guilty," he admitted and leaned forward for another kiss.

A little more insistent but not overly so. Diana would tolerate it as long as his hands remained where they stood. She wanted something more than just a physical relationship with him; if he couldn't handle that or take a hint…they parted again. Their foreheads touched, noses brushed.

"How is your aunt?" he asked quietly.

"Better," Diana replied. She sounded as breathless as she felt. "She left the hospital yesterday, but you know that. She said you stopped by to visit."

"I was going to see the kids and thought I'd say hello," he nuanced.

"It was kind of you."

Bruce didn't answer right away. His eyes lingered on her face, shifted briefly back to her lips before returning to her eyes.

"Don't make a huge deal about it," he sounded oddly defensive. "Cassie had a bad fall and wouldn't stop calling for me. Her room was on my way."

Antiope was located on the other side of the hospital, but if he didn't want to admit he had a heart, she wasn't going to push him.

"Is Cassie alright?" she inquired instead.

"She broke her arm while playing with Jason, but she was more scared than hurt." He buried his face in her neck, exhaled deeply. "She's fine."

Diana ran a hand over his back, felt the contraction of his muscles and the subsequent relaxation. She briefly wondered if he reaching out for her today had any tie with the little girl's accident.

"I…" Bruce started, fell silent. "I'm glad your aunt is better."

"So am I." She nuzzled his ear, ran a comforting hand in his hair. She enjoyed the soft, silky feel of them. "Did I mention she likes you?"

To her surprise, he stiffened, pulled out of her embrace. He glanced at her warily, the tip of his fingers still lingering over her hips. Her hands rested on his chest, her palm flat over his heart. It was beating wild.

"She does?" he sounded unsure.

Diana understood his confusion, she had been the first one intrigued by her aunt's approval. Antiope had merely told her she found him adequate and left it there. 'Adequate' was how she referred to Diana on an exceptional training day. Even Hippolyta had given her sister an odd stare. Unsurprisingly, she did not share her opinion and had spent half an hour letting Diana know.

"For some reason, yes," Diana confirmed. "How did you do it? She's usually so hard to please. It took her years before she deigned acknowledging Steve's existence."

Afterthought, that might have had to do with him breaking on their propriety upon their very first meeting. Bruce blinked like an owl caught in the light. He opened his mouth –to answer what, she'd never know as the bell rang.

"See you later princess," he whispered and kissed her forehead before promptly escaping. Diana watched him leave, wondering what had spooked him.

FD

Hippolyta Prince was in the middle of the bane of her existence –namely paperwork –when her phone rang. Any ordinary day, she would have ignored it, but after two hours of treating with endless itsy-bitsy numbers and procedures, she needed a break. The number was unknown, so she didn't bother with niceties when she picked up.

"Hello?" she greeted evenly.

"Now that sounds like someone who has been working overtime. You never were one for administrative forms, my dear."

Hippolyta froze as her fingers clenched on her device. A rush of panic ran down her spine, one that she promptly squeezed away with the ease of practice.

It had been eighteen years since she had last heard this voice, and yet she recognized it right away. Time had healed some wounds, but she still retained bittersweet resentment. They had parted on neutral terms at best, halfway forgiven only because she didn't expect to come across him again.

"What do you want?" she demanded, closing her eyes in an effort to keep her calm. She didn't bother asking how he got her private number, that man had a knack to find what he needed when he needed it.

"Can't I catch up with an old friend?" his suave, nearly patronizing tone had remained the same. If she focused well enough, she could associate the blasé expression he wore as he spoke the words.

"I don't believe you," Hippolyta retorted.

She had feared he would try to contact her soon after Diana's birth, if only to seek for answers. Either he had chosen to ignore the child, either he had respected her wish not to reach out for her. At the time, she had been grateful. Now that Diana was near her majority, her anxiety returned. The man on the phone didn't answer right away. Hippolyta used to be able to interpret his pauses, but now, she couldn't tell whether he was stalling or searching for his words.

"I called…" he said, and his tone had turned surprisingly gentle. "I know about Diana."

Hippolyta stiffened. Her jaw clenched so hard it nearly hurt.

"What do you want?" she hissed angrily.

"I want to warn you, about the Wayne boy."

Of all things, she did not expect that.

"What about him?"

"Keep him away from Diana." His voice had shifted into a blunter, harder tone. "He is dangerous for her."

He was a boy, a seducer according to rumors, so Hippolyta knew he was dangerous for her daughter's virtue –though given other rumors she had overheard, Diana was not so innocent anymore.

"How so?"

There was another pause and this time, Hippolyta knew he was debating on what he should tell her. That alone made her nervous.

"He and I have a common acquaintance; a murderer." At that, her eyebrow raised a notch; she wouldn't have pegged him to deal with criminals; that was more his brother's specialty. "I am not in business with him," he added, as if reading her mind. "He lives nearby, we talk occasionally." Now she recognized him; while he wasn't into criminal activities, outlaws still fascinated him. "I don't want that man to take an interest in Diana because of that boy."

Hippolyta closed her eyes briefly and breathed in and out.

"I can't promise she will listen."

"She has to," the man interrupted sharply. "Jack –he calls himself Jack, but I doubt it is his real name –is obsessed with Bruce Wayne. He is a highly intelligent sociopath and as interesting as he is, I wouldn't want him alone with my children."

So he had had children, she concluded. Hippolyta briefly wondered if he had married, what he had become, and decided she didn't want to know. When she left him and his cursed family behind, she had sworn to never follow up on them again.

"Why are you doing this? How can you be so sure Diana is your daughter?" she asked eventually.

The silence was longer this time.

"I'm not," he replied coolly. "But she is yours. That's reason enough for me."

He hung up, leaving Hippolyta at loss to what to do.

FD

She kicked his knee from behind. He stumbled sideways, didn't manage to catch his balance on time. She used her split-second advantage to slam him down.

"Victory is mine," Diana growled as she efficiently tightened her arm around his neck in a chokehold. After a few struggles, Bruce tapped the floor, indicating his surrender.

"You are impossibly fast," he rolled on his back and faced the ceiling, arms spread and panting hard.

"As my mother's daughter, I have to stand my ground against challengers," she replied. "My aunt made sure I'd become the best when I put my head into following their footsteps."

"Well, she succeeded," Bruce replied, just grimacing. He jumped on his feet, set back in position and raised his fists in preparation. "Alright, I'm good to go."

Diana resumed her position across the mat and launched the first attack.
She had arrived at the dojo right on time, her gear in her bag and warmed up already. Bruce had been expecting her on the porch, wearing a sweatpants and a tight black shirt. A few kisses later, he had warmed up as she changed and both had gone straight to the matter at hand. And she had been beating the shit out of him for the past half-hour.

Diana ducked his fist and dropped for a low kick. Bruce stepped back as she rose, retaliated with a fists aiming for her guts. She accompanied the move, pulled his arm forward and knelt him in the stomach. He grabbed her waist and dragged her down with him.

That was another detail she appreciated with him; though she was a girl, he didn't take gloves and truly went against her. Even though landing on the matt cut out her breath for a brief second. Bruce pinned her elbows down and released the tension in his body to be a dead weight above her. Diana merely entangled her leg into his and managed to roll them over so she ended on top. Bruce's face was slightly flush from the exercise, panting hard, but bearing a huge grin.

In spite of his grumbling, he was better than he gave himself credit for. He moved with the grace of a warrior and the swiftness she had only known from her sisters in arms. His technique was flawless, a sort of martial art he had clearly spent hours perfecting. Her type of combat was more brutal, confrontational. She was tall for a woman, had strength in her arms due to waving a sword around for hours and the legs to support swift and brutal moves. While Bruce's muscles informed he would be perfectly capable of countering her strength with his own, he had this nasty technique that used said strength against her. She wouldn't admit it easily, but within a few training sessions, he might be able to catch up with her.

"I didn't have that much fun in a while," he confessed breathlessly. Never mind she was currently having the upper hand.

"Likewise," she admitted. Though their sparring had been undeniably brutal, she found lightness in it, not unlike their mock-fight in the woods a week beforehand. They tested each other's limits without trying to break the rhythm. She sat back more comfortably on his haunches and rested her hands on his chest. "Where did you learn to fight?"

"Alfred taught me the basics. I ran into a martial arts master a few years back." His hands slid over her thighs. "He kicked me out when I started flirting with his daughter."

Diana rolled her eyes.

"You really can't help yourself, eh?" she leant forward till their noses touched. "Don't expect to get in my pants so soon."

"I would never dare," he replied and gave her a light nudge. "Not after you kicking my ass flawlessly."

That did not stop him from petting her behind. Diana rolled away, escaping his wandering hand and landing on her feet gracefully.

"Just for that," she referred to his fondling. "You get another half-hour beating."

Bruce grumbled good-naturally and rose in turn.

They resumed another session of sparring, fast and smooth. This time, Bruce seemed to take a more aggressive kind of confrontation. He used the strength of his arm to twist her back to his chest and held her by the waist. Diana stepped on his feet and ducked on the side, snapped her elbow against his temple. He dropped her and humiliatingly tripped on his feet, only to land face in the wall. Then he slumped on the floor very ungracefully and didn't move again.

"Bruce?" Diana called warily. No motion. She approached cautiously and gave a kick in his leg in case he was faking. "You okay?"

The lack of response worried her a little. She knelt by his side, felt for his pulse. A little high, not worrisome. When she retrieved her hand and he still didn't move, she knew she had effectively knocked him out. Oh damn, she cursed and stood to reach for her bag, where her phone was hidden underneath her staff. Better call a doctor or something in case she had done real damage. This kind of accident hadn't happened in years…

"Oh my god!"

Diana froze mid-movement and glanced up. Standing in the doorframe, two people –a guy and a girl, late teenage years, dark-haired –stared with their jaws hanging low.

"Did you kill him?" the girl blurted, eyes wide in shock.

Dammit, what now?