Had to Miss
a Justice League Unlimited story
by Merlin Missy
Copyright 2006
PG
DC and Warner Bros, etc etc etc. Written for merfilly's Big Seven Pairing Challenge. Pairing: J'onn/Diana
Another interminable event, another night on Bruce's arm in her official capacity and never as anything else. Diana smiled and nodded her head, and reminded herself tonight's function was raising money for a women's shelter and she could adjust.
Around the room, she spied a few friends. Clark, in his suit, there as press and perhaps as a dare, for Lois had come with him and had spent much of the night watching Bruce. John, escorting Mari and looking as unenthusiastic as Diana felt tonight. Ollie, entrancing large swathes of the women in the room with his good humor and fortune. And also ...
The music changed and she wanted to dance, and Bruce had been ignoring her as steadily as he'd been ignoring Lois. "Mr. Jones," Diana said, sliding up to where J'onn stood wearing one of his human faces. "Would you like to dance?"
He tickled at her mind, and she took his unprotesting hand. Other couples surrounded them, in dress too exquisite and useless for Diana's tastes; J'onn chided her mentally. "They serve their own purpose," he thought.
"I know," she thought back.
The nicest thing about dancing with a mind-reader was that he knew without the slightest awkwardness where she would move and how to hold her, how to lead her. It was ... perfect.
"Why me?" he asked against her ear, as the music changed again and she drew closer to him.
She whispered back against his shoulder, "Because you won't ask of me what I can't give you, and we both know it."
He made a noise in his throat, and in her mind she saw a long expanse of desert, and years left alone in red dust. Without words she knew he was with her now because she would also outlive the rest of their friends by millennia.
"And there's that," she agreed. Diana leaned back and looked into the eyes he wore that were not his, as the melody continued and they danced, until they forgot everything but the music and the night and the feel of time slipping past them like a running hound.
