Bat-Aids

Diana kept her expression pleasant and interested despite the fact that her arm hurt like Hades. There was no way in Tartarus she was going to the infirmary. She was going back to her quarters to hide and nurse her wounded pride as soon as the debriefing was over.

She kept her gaze locked straight ahead of her, her focus on Superman who was babbling on and on about the alien race they had just managed to drive away and praising them for their teamwork. She visualized actually taping her friend's mouth shut, wishing that he would hurry it up so she could just escape to her room.

She could feel Batman's white lenses boring straight into her, trying to ascertain the extension of her injury. It wasn't a huge wound, but it was deep and had chunks of gravel imbedded in it. She didn't know what kind of weapon they had hit her with, but it had packed a punch.

She knew that she wasn't the only one who had thoughts so. Kal kept rubbing his sternum as he continued to talk, wincing with the unconscious movement. He had taken more than a few direct hits, but his skin had been impenetrable even against their weapons.

Too bad hers wasn't.

The second Kal adjourned the meeting, Diana was up and out of her chair as well as the conference room like she'd just been shot right out of a cannon. She barely acknowledged staff and fellow leaguers alike as she made a beeline for her quarters, quickening her pace.

Reaching her destination, she released a sigh of relief as she quickly punched in her code and entered only to suddenly stop short. The door slid closed behind her as she stared in stunned disbelief at the Dark Knight of Gotham standing right there in the middle of her quarters. His arms were crossed against his chest, his expression clearly annoyed despite the cowl that adorned his head.

"How in the name of Hades did you get here before me?" she demanded to know, knowing that she had been caught like an innocent little rabbit in a deadly trap sprung by an infuriating bat.

"Sit," he ordered, his gauntleted hand pointing at her bed.

"But, I…"

"Sit, princess," he growled with all the foreboding menace he could possibly muster at that moment.

She glared back at him, folding her arms in defiance, her chin raised with the regal authority that swam through her veins. They glared at one another, neither backing down in the supreme battle of wills. It was as if heaven and hell had just collided, neither about to back down.

After several long moments of tense silence, Diana finally relented, but only because her arm burned like fire. Bruce smirked smugly in triumph, receiving a rather nasty Greek curse as she stalked past him to sit imperiously on the edge of the bed.

He turned on his heel and went into the bathroom, digging through a drawer filled with hair ties and hair clips in order to find the first aid kit he knew that she kept hidden in here. He came out of the bathroom with a white metal case much to Diana's surprise.

"How did you know—"

"I'm Batman," he simply stated as he sat down on the bed beside her, removing his gauntlets and cowl.

"You know that's not a sufficient answer," she shot back with a scowl.

"Yes, it is," he maintained as he opened the case and pulled out tweezers, gauze, and antiseptic.

"This isn't necessary," she ground out.

"You were hit with an alien weapon," he reminded her. "We don't know what kind of effect this weapon could have on you or the extent of your injury. We both know you won't go to the infirmary so I'm here to check it out. Besides, I want to collect evidence to run tests on."

"You care…how sweet," she seductively said as she leaned towards him, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Why wouldn't I care about me teammate?" he countered, appearing unfazed.

Diana scowled at him, leveling him with a glare that rivaled the Bat's. "You are so full of sh—"

"Watch it, princess," he told her. "Can't have you corrupting me with your foul language."

Diana snorted in amusement, her anger abruptly forgotten. "Corrupt you?" she exclaimed. "I believe you're the one who is good at corrupting."

"Now, you wouldn't want to taunt the man holding the tweezers," he warned her, waving them in front of her. "No more procrastinating, princess. We can either do this the easy way or the hard way. It's your choice."

She released a huff of utter annoyance, turning a little more towards him so he could clean the wound on her upper arm. "You're such a pain in the ass."

"I've been called far worse," he muttered. "Besides, it's part of my undeniable charm."

"Your charm?" she uttered with a laugh, her body shaking with her amusement.

"Hold still, princess," he scolded her. "Tim sits still better than you do."

"Hey, I'm not that bad," she maintained, tilting her head to watch him as he worked pieces of gravel free from the deep wound in her arm.

"It would also be far easier to do this is your hair wasn't in the way," he added, becoming distracted with the curly locks that fell over her shoulder and into his line of sight as she inclined her head to watch him work.

"Oh…sorry," she murmured, straightening up a little and pulling her hair back with her free hand, pulling it over her other shoulder.

He pursed his lips to keep the smile he could feel attempting to form at bay. She always had such a profound affect on him, one that he had yet to be able to understand or defend himself against. It drove him crazy not being able to shield himself against her.

He carefully pulled out pieces of gravel, placing them in an evidence bag he'd pulled out of his utility belt. He wanted to take the pieces of rock back to the cave to run tests on. He needed to find out if there were any particles left behind that he could analyze so he could create a weapon to counteract it in case they were attacked again.

Diana bit at her bottom lip, stifling the gasp that she could feel rising up in her throat. She wasn't about to show the least bit of weakness especially in front of him. "Did you get any injuries during the fight?" she asked, trying to get her mind off what he was doing.

"No…not that I know of," he simply stated, picking up the gauze to stop the bleeding his tweezers had created.

"Maybe we should take that uniform off and check just to be sure," she seductively suggested as her eyes traversed the expanse of gray and black Kevlar that covered his perfectly sculpted body, wishing she could remove it.

Grabbing the antiseptic, Bruce began cleaning the wound before searching for the bandages, doing his best to ignore her tantalizingly tempting proposal. He frowned as he searched through the white metal box, not finding what he was looking for. "Where are your Band-Aids?" he asked, looking up at the suddenly shy princess.

Diana averted her gaze, refusing to make eye contact with him as a very warm blush crept up her neck to her face. "I…ran out," she told him.

Bruce stared at her, a grunt of disbelief escaping. "You are the worst liar I have ever known, Diana. Where are the Band-Aids?"

"I don't need one, Bruce," she maintained, straightening her shoulders and holding her head high. "It'll be healed by tomorrow anyway so don't bother."

"Diana," he growled in a low, threatening tone.

She abruptly hung her head like a petulant child, one who had just been caught. "Fine," she bit out. "They're in the drawer of my bedside table."

He frowned at her as he stood to his feet, going to her nightstand and pulling the drawer open. He pushed aside a book as well as various other personal items to find a box towards the back of the drawer. He pulled it out, knowing that he had found what he was looking for.

Returning to the bed, he sat down, bending his leg to rest on top of the bed next to her as he faced her. He looked up at her, finding that her pink blush had turned into a full-fledged expression of glowing embarrassment. Her cheeks were red, her head dipping in an effort to hide her discomfiture.

He opened the box on his lap, staring for several moments in stunned disbelief at what he found. He slowly reached in to pull out a Batman symbol shaped Band-Aid from the box. All of them were black, coming in various sizes, but all with the same Batman symbol.

Holding one up, Bruce's lips quirked into an amused smirk, an eyebrow arching with curiosity. "Care to explain this, princess?"

Diana found it more than difficult to make eye contact with him, her throat suddenly dry. "I…uh…I can explain…really," she stuttered as she finally lifted her head to look at him. "It's just that…um, well, you see, I—"

Her explanation was never heard as his mouth effectively and thoroughly silenced her, his lips and tongue occupying her with something far better.

XXX

Batman returned to the cave, heading straight for the changing room. He wanted to get a quick shower and a clean uniform before preparing to head out for patrol. His thoughts were running rampant, none of them having anything to do with Gotham or a particular case.

He tore off his gauntlets and cowl, removing his uniform top and tossing it into the bin for Alfred to clean later. Removing his utility belt, he leaned over to slip off his boots and uniform pants, leaving him in nothing but his boxer briefs.

"Your supper is…good heavens!"

Frowning, Bruce turned around to face Alfred, finding the British butler standing there staring at him in utter shock. "What is it?" he asked, frowning.

"Did you get tattooed?"

"What?" Bruce asked in confusion, looking down to find Batman Band-Aids on his chest. He looked up with a faint blush and a smirk on his lips, somewhat irritated with himself for having forgotten about them. "Oh, um…Diana got a little carried away with the Band-Aids."

Alfred's shock turned into mirth as he watched his surrogate son begin to remove one Batman symbol shaped Band-Aid after another in an effort to remove the evidence of his afternoon activities. They seemed to be arranged in a very particular path, one that led down towards a very specific destination on Master Bruce's body.

Alfred bit at his bottom lip to stifle the laughter that begged for release as he clasped his hands in front of him, pausing to gather himself once more. "I guess I'll leave you to your task then," he managed to utter.

"Not a word, Alfred," Bruce ground out with a menacing growl.

"Of course not, Master Bruce," Alfred evenly replied, managing a stoic expression. "Although, you might want to keep one of those Bat Band-Aids to cover the discolored mark on your neck the princess seems to have left behind."

Bruce immediately turned towards the mirror, his fingers reaching up to touch the very pronounced bruise that Diana had left on his skin. He could hear Alfred chuckling as the butler began to walk away. "Not funny, Alfred!" Bruce yelled from the changing area.

Alfred couldn't keep the grin from his face as he made his way up the stairs back into the manor, more than happy that he had given the Amazon Princess that box of Bat-Aids.