It was Saint Valentine's day, finally.
One day more to the dance.
Almost everyone in the school received a card in their lockers or in person. Others received roses or chocolates sent by their admirers. And others well...tried to confess their love to their crush.
In some cases, it worked, in others they ended up with their heart broken...or other parts of their bodies.
For their part, at the start of the morning the girls exchanged cards and some sweets between them, but also Zee had commissioned charm bracelets for the six of them.
"How girly" Kara commented looking at the bracelet with a face of mild distaste.
"We are girls Kara" Zee said rolling her eyes "But you don't have to use it if you don't want"
"Nah, I'm just messing with you" The Kryptonian said putting hers on "It's nice" She smiled to her magician friend who in turn snorted.
"Hope you survive by lunch" Babs said.
"I will" The rocker girl said scoffing "I'm not allergic to love"
"Sometimes it seems so" Zee muttered.
"You will have enough by then" Babs predicted walking to her first class of the morning.
Later
The Super Hero Girls and the Invincibros (minus Steve as he was in the military school) decided to have their Valentines lunch together.
Their talk was a quiet one as none of them were in a relationship, save for Carter but his girlfriend was in another school so that didn't really count and if he hadn't been with her the other day in Sweet Justice they would have believed that he was lying.
And as Babs had predicted, Kara was getting fed up by all the cheesiness that was around her, still she had appreciated the cards that the other girls (and Barry and Garth) made for her. She bought for them, and the other boys, a small chocolate bar for each.
"How thoughtful" Oliver said dramatically as he always did and putting his hand over his heart.
"What can I say" She shrugged it off "It's the day of love and friendship"
"Because some feel loves and others friendship" Garth said.
They all laughed at the lame joke and Garth blushed.
A group of girls were looking at them nervously, they wondered for a while if it was because Kara and Carter scared them a little or because they were going to confess their love to one of the guys (or girls).
Finally, one of them went to their table and handed Hal a card and blushed. The Green Lantern simply said with his charming smile "Thank you"
The girl giggled and went back to her group and they all giggled together.
Jess looked at her friend and raised an eyebrow, the male Green Lantern said "What? I can't turn them down"
"You never do" The female Green Lantern said a bit annoyed "You are always giving them hope"
"It may be his fourteenth card this day" Oliver commented interrupting whatever Hal was about to say.
"I don't keep count" the Quarterback shrugged "I'm just afraid to open my locker today, my admirers always fill it with cards and paper hearts"
"How humble" Kara rolled her eyes "Hope you don't get buried under them"
"Thank you" The Green Lantern said sarcastically.
"You are welcome" The kryptonian smirked.
Another girl went to the table and handed Oliver a card and a chocolate table. This one didn't wait for his answer and ran away for the cafeteria.
The archer shrugged under the glares of his female friends and Barry.
"What?" He said "I don't even know who she is"
"Really?" Zee asked.
" I can find her for you" Babs offered handing out her phone.
"Thanks, but no thanks" The blonde actor said "I can find her myself..."
"Why do the guys keep receiving cards?" Diana asked.
"I don't know" Barry said " But I think it's because it's the only day they have the chance of making the first step with a guy without looking too bad"
"Girls can make the first step any day" Babs said defiantly.
All the boys looked uncomfortable and this time Garth was the one to talk, surprising everyone "Yeah but...it makes some guys uncomfortable and also most girls don't do that because other girls criticize"
To their shame, the girls silently admitted that it was true (sometimes), and it made them fell in an uncomfortable silence.
"So, tomorrow we come together to the dance?" Barry asked trying to break the tension.
Hal looked at Jess and said "I'm picking her up"
"You are going with him?!" Babs asked surprised.
"Yes" Jess said frowning. That was the reaction all her friends had when she told them as they considered him a jerk.
For his part Hal was a bit offended but most of the time Babs called him "dumb jock" most of the time so he kept silent.
"You didn't tell us" The bat said while the other girls facepalmed or rolled their eyes
"She did, the other day" Diana said a bit annoyed "You were eating a burrito in the headquarters while we talked about this topic"
"Oh" Babs said "It was a great burrito"
The girls rolled their eyes and Diana said "You have to work on your focus"
"Yeah, yeah" Babs waved it off and asked her speedster friend "Are you picking me up or do we see each other here?"
"Well...I hadn't thought about it" Barry said sheepishly "I can pick you up if you want"
The girls rolled their eyes in frustration but the boys didn't really notice.
Also it was typical of Barry not to think much ahead and also why he would have thought about it if he usually ran to anywhere he needed.
"If you want we can come in my limo" Zee offered.
"So, are you still coming?" Oliver asked "Since you don't have a date"
The magician's eye trembled and said "It's not your problem until tomorrow"
The archer looked at Kara who shook her head, then the blonde boy sighed and said "Ok, but don't make an overly dramatic show if you come alone"
The others in the table just ignored their exchange as everyone knew about the bet but weren't interested on whatever their actor friends were doing.
Then the bell rang and everyone went to their respective classrooms.
Diana was getting ready for her training session with Tatsu at their usual fencing place. She looked over to the Valentines cards her friends gave her and considered if she should give one to Tatsu as she had one ready for her.
When the Greek princess entered the fencing club she saw her friend sitting on the floor with her legs crossed. As usual they were the only ones left there.
She was about to greet her when Tatsu said: "Good afternoon Diana"
"Good afternoon Tatsu" She said "Are you ready?"
"Ready as always" The Japanese said getting in position.
They trained in silence for a while was they put all their focus in the match. After a few hours they finally got really tired and decided to stop for the day.
"How are you Tatsu?" Diana asked.
"I have been better" She said dismissively then she added "You surely had a day"
"Kind of" The amazon said rubbing her neck "I received a lot of cards from people I don't know well or know at all"
"You are liked by many people" Tatsu shrugged "And you have any admirers"
The girls kept silent as sometimes they did, then Tatsu opened her backpack and handed Diana a bento box.
"Thank you?" Diana said tentatively.
"It's what you can call friendship chocolate" The warrior explained with a small smile "There are six of them, one for you and other five for your other friends...it can a be a way to say sorry for stealing their souls for a while and way to offer them my friendship" She finished sheepishly.
The amazon smiled brightly at her friend and took out her hand to shake. Tatsu accepted it and shook it while she smiled but then her expression became a little sad.
"You asked me if I ever gave homemade chocolate to someone" The Japanese warrior started to say "And I told you that I did once...a long time ago..."
Diana nodded as a way to tell her that she should continue, Tatsu got the hint and said "A few years ago I was friends with two brothers, they were twins, we grew up together and so we trained together all our lives... I fell in love with one of them and as a way to confess my feelings I gave him "honmei-choco"* and he accepted it, we were together for a while"
"What happened?" The amazon asked quietly.
Tatsu looked away sadly as if remembering something painful and said "That's a story for another time Diana, I don't want to ruin the mood for you...you have a dance to prepare for"
"Oh, right" Diana said "But I won't forget to ask about it later"
"I know you won't"
Diana was about to leave but realized something and asked "Are you going to the dance tomorrow?"
"No, I have somethings to do" Tatsu shook her head and then added with a smirk "If all the heroes in Metropolis are in the school's dance, who is going to protect the civilians?"
"How...?"
"First of all, when I stole your soul I had stolen the souls of your teammates and I kind of assumed that they were from your group of friends thought I wasn't so sure because I didn't pay attention to their faces"
"Then...?"
"You are not as subtle in your heroic escapades between classes as you think Diana" She explained a bit amuses "And the boys are even worse, Allen makes deliveries in his Flash suit and let's don't talk about the stuff with Queen during Zatara's play"
"Oh" Diana blushed and then asked worriedly "Does anyone else noticed?"
"I don't think so; people here seem to turn blind eye to the obvious things"
Both friends laughed at that.
Barry was working as always in Sweet Justice.
The time was passing by slowly as his friends weren't there yet, though he didn't know if they would drop by that day as they were really busy.
He was wondering about tomorrow's night. He kind of knew that he was expected to pick up Babs but he hadn't thought that he would have to do it. As a speedster he was just too used to go anywhere he needed to or wanted to go by himself running as fast as he could.
The scarlet speedster was pondering on that while serving the clients who notices that despite having the orders right he wasn't using his usual enthusiasm and a few of them asked him about it.
"I'm just thinking about school" Was his response to every person who asked.
It was already late when Kara entered with Hal, Oliver and Jessica in tow.
"Hey! What's up? What's the latest? The usual?" He asked his friends excitedly.
They all nodded and smiled at his antics. His friends sat on the counter to talk with him.
"Let's talk about tomorrow, shall we?" Oliver said in his business tone.
"What about tomorrow?" The speedster asked confused at his friend's straightforwardness.
"Since you didn't think about how are you going to get to the dance..."Hal started to say.
"We were thinking that since you have no plans to pick up Barbara tomorrow..."Oliver continued.
"You two should go with Zee in her limo..." Kara completed.
"As she has already kindly suggested" Jessica finished the idea.
Barry stopped his dessert making and looked at his four friends and then said "It's a good idea but... why?"
"I'm sure Babs will enjoy it" Jessica shrugged "Even if the limo doesn't have a grappling hook"
"Grappling hook?" Barry asked curiously.
"Once I tried to do carpooling when my mom let me have her car for the week" The Latina explained "When Babs got in the car she started to play with the buttons and asked which one released the grappling hook and was really surprised, and somewhat offended, that my van didn't have one... then she broke something, I don't remember what" She finished with a pensive face.
"Remind me to never let that girl in my car" Hal said with Oliver nodding at his side.
"I don't have a car" The speedster shrugged and his friends looked at him "Well my dad has one but he wouldn't let me use it...ever"
"Why not?" Kara asked curiously.
"He says that I need to work in my focus" The blonde speedster said "Apparently I can't fouls on a thing for more than a moment and that's why I crashed the car in our garage when I was trying to learn"
"Well...you can't focus" Hal said sheepishly "When we are on missions you are always getting distracted by anything"
"Hey! I'm not that bad"
"Yes, you are" The emerald archer said looking to nowhere in particular as if seeing something.
"You are just like Babs" The kryptonian said "You may as well be soulmates"
Barry blushed at the comment but didn't say anything about it, instead he asked Kara "So have you found a date for tomorrow?"
"Yes" Kara said quickly looking at Oliver menacingly while the blonde boy lifted up his hands in peace.
"Are you going to tell us who is it?" Jessica asked putting a hand on her friend's hand.
"No" The blonde girl said taking a sip of her milkshake "You'll have to wait until tomorrow"
"Not even if I ask repeatedly?" The brunette askes playfully.
"No"
"You are no fun" Barry said.
"Well, we have to wait only until tomorrow" Hal said putting a hand on Jessica's shoulder "Shall we go?"
"Yeah" She said standing up "See you tomorrow guys"
Hal waved at them goodbye and both Green Lanterns left the café. For a minute it seemed that they were holding hands but their friends weren't sure.
"What did just happen?" Kara asked in disbelief.
"I have no idea" Oliver said standing up "I have to go as well, so goodbye my friends"
He shook hands with both blondes, then he left.
Kara stayed with him, chatting about nothing in particular and Barry actually found the Kryptonian company enjoyable.
"So... are you going to tell Babs that you have a crush on her?" Kara asked out of the blue.
Barry opened his eyes on surprise, he thought that no one knew about his small crush on the redhead.
"Don't look so surprised, almost everyone knows it...maybe except Babs"
The blonde boy thought about it for a moment and finally he said "Maybe I will...but not tomorrow"
"Why not?"
"I don't think it's the right time" He said and then with a teasing smile he added "Why I'm talking about my feelings with Kara "Love-Its-For-Idiots" Danvers?"
"Hey, I can talk about feelings and romance sometimes" The kryptonian defended herself "On especial occasions"
"Like Saint Valentines?"
"Like Saint Valentines" She affirmed and looked to the clock.
"You have to go?" He asked looking at the clock too, it was already 10:30.
"Yeah, my mom wants me home at eleven" Kara said rolling her eyes "I don't know why they worry so much"
"They are your parents Kara, it's their job to worry" Barry said.
Kara just rolled her eyes, again, and said "Take care Allen"
"Take care Danvers" He said.
On Saturday night
Selina Kyle, Carol Ferris, Pam Isley and Leslie Willis arrived at the school at nine o'clock. Their friends Harleen Quinzel and Doris Zeul weren't going to the dance, Harleen because was back in Gotham for "business" with someone and Doris was grounded by her parents.
Selina was the only one in the group with a date as she had been asked out by Mortimer Drake.
"Have fun girrls" She said taking her date by the arm as soon as she saw him.
The other three girls looked at each other and shrugged.
Leslie was just interested in the gossip and the happenings that the night could bring out.
Pam was kind of pushed out of her house by her parents who wanted her to socialize with someone who didn't have leaves.
Carol wanted to outshine everyone in the school and win Hal Jordan's love back (not that she had lost it ever).
The three of them sat on a table that let them look at the dance floor and see who was with who, what they were doing and if it was worthy to be recorded by Leslie.
Then they saw Barbara Minerva walking towards them with an amazing speed.
"Don't make any trouble today" Barbie warned Leslie.
"Me? Making any trouble?" Leslie asked faking an offended tone.
"You know what I mean" The blonde socialite said menacingly.
"I don't promise anything" The blue haired girl said with a smirk.
Barbie groaned and then looked at Carol "Control your beast"
The Star Sapphire scoffed "Whatever"
A few moments later Oliver Queen arrived with Kara Danvers by his arm, it was a surprise to everyone since it could be considered a mismatched pair.
"That is something unexpected" Pam commented.
"I have to admit that Danvers looks good" Carol admired looking at the blonde girl, Kara had put on a very nice navy blue dress for the occasion and actually brushed her hair.
Then a group of people arrived: Barry Allen, Barbara Gordon, Diana Prince with a blonde boy, their little friends and finally Zee Zatara with a somber looking blonde boy. Diana and her date soon left their group to go dancing.
"I wonder who he is" Leslie said with a strange smile.
"He is not from here" Pam affirmed.
"How do you know?" Carol asked the redhead.
"He doesn't look like it" The ecologist said shrugging.
They saw Queen and Danvers walking fast towards Zatara and they didn't hear what was they were talking but Queen and Zatara seemed a bit annoyed at the other.
At the same time
"Congratulations on finding a date" Oliver said giving his hand to the unknown boy "The name is Oliver Queen"
The boy looked at him without expression and said "John Constantine*"
"Ah, British" The archer said.
"Aye"
Then Zee turned to Kara and said "You had to come with HIM?!"
"Yeah"
"Why?!"
"Why not?" Kara responded a bit annoyed.
To her slight shame she had been having a good time with the archer before the others came. Oliver admitted, in his mind obviously, that he was enjoying her company.
"Because he wouldn't have asked you if it wasn't..."
Barry covered her mouth with his hand and John grabbed her by the arm and dragged Zee to the dance floor.
"If it wasn't for what?" Jessica asked crossing her arms and surprising the group as they had not noticed Hal and she coming.
"Zee and Oliver made a bet about who got a date for this dance first but then turned into a bet to get a date for this...and blah blah blah" Kara explained with a bored tone.
"Well...Zee seems to have forgotten about that" The archer said and then asked to Kara "Wanna dance?"
"Why not?" She said dragging him to the dance floor.
Barry blinked a few times and said "I wasn't expecting any of this"
"Me neither" Babs said.
"She looks good" Karen commented.
"I cannot believe that they made a bet" Jessica said and nudged Hal's arm "Did you know about this?"
"No, I'm just as surprised as you" He said.
"I heard something about that" Barry admitted.
The group looked at him with an accusatory glare and he blushed " I may have heard some of Kara's conversation with her cousin the other day...I just didn't know that she was going to be Ollie's date"
"Barry!" They all said in unison.
"What?" He asked.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Babs asked a bit annoyed.
"It isn't our business" The speedster said.
"That's true" Garth admitted.
With Oliver and Kara
For their part, Oliver and Kara weren't dancing but they were sat on the bleachers drinking some punch.
"I have to admit that sometimes your company can be enjoyable" Oliver told her.
"Yours too" She said "I thought that I would get bored to dead today"
"Am I that boring?" He teased.
"No, but these things are not my kind exactly" The kryptonian explained.
"I know" He said "Not my kind either"
Kara raised her eyebrow and she asked "Wanna ditch and go eat somewhere?"
"Why not" He shrugged "But nothing too greasy"
"You owe me Queen"
"Okay" He rolled his eyes "One time won't kill me"
"You won't regret it" Kara said smirking in a way that didn't reassure anything to Oliver.
Then the kryptonian and the archer left for a place Big Belly Burger.
"I don't know how you can eat here" The blonde boy muttered.
"It's not that bad" She said biting one of her three burgers.
Oliver gave a bite to his own and tasted it, then he admitted "It may need more ketchup"
Kara laughed and then said "It always needs more ketchup"
They were the only ones in the dinner save for a young man who was trying not to get sleep on his table while drinking his soda and a couple that was snogging in a table by the corner.
"Next time we go to a place of my choosing" The archer declared looking around.
"Next time?" She asked confused.
"Yeah, I don't like here" He said.
"Sorry for bringing you here your highness" Kara scoffed.
"Pardoned" He said a bit teasing.
Oliver didn't hate it (much) in the end and decided that spending more time with the blonde girl wouldn't be a bad idea.
Back in the dance
Then they heard a loud noise, it was Carol Ferris cry of rage.
"Jessica Cruz, I should have known it was you!" She said with an angry tone that could have made her a Red Lantern instead of a Violet one.
"Oh no, not again" The female Green Lantern said face palming.
"I'll never let you have him!" She yelled running towards Jessica.
"This is so interesting" Leslie said recording the scene with her phone.
Diana looked at her friends but then returned her attention to Steve when Babs gave her thumbs up.
Hal stood in front of Jessica and Carol stopped on her tracks surprised.
"Carol, we have to talk, seriously" He said trying to stand up to her even if he was really nervous inside.
"Why...What did I do" She asked confused.
"Please Carol" The male Green Lantern said a bit firmer.
The Star Sapphire opened her mouth a few times trying to saw something but she couldn't let any word out.
"We'll talk later" She finally said then turned her back and left to her table.
That left everyone in their group, and anyone who was paying attention to their drama, speechless.
"How did you do that?" Jessica asked surprised.
"Do what?" He asked back smiling at her.
"Standing up to her instead of hiding behind the bleachers"
"Oh, that" He rubbed his neck "She was going to try and hurt you, we both know it"
The female Green Lantern smiled at him and grabbed his hand while saying "Let's go"
Hal smiled back while following her. No one noticed the Violet Lantern ring he was grasping in his hand and then put in his pants' pocket.
Garth and Karen followed just a few seconds later. They looked really cute together.
"I felt as if I was intruding on a personal moment" Babs said with her eye trembling.
"It was a personal moment" The speedster said "They may end up together...someday"
"Do you think?" Babs said a bit sarcastically looking at her Green Lantern friends who were dancing closely.
"They are stubborn" Barry explained "Hal always says that they have a strong bond because of the Green Lantern Corps"
"Jessica says the same, though she also says that he is a pain in the neck"
They were silent for a moment then Barry asked "Do you want to dance?"
"Yeah" She said.
Just went they entered the dance floor, the DJ decided to put a slow and romantic song.
Both blushed.
"I don't know how to dance this one" Babs said.
"Neither do I" He said sheepishly.
"But we can try" The bat said "I may have learned a bit back in Gotham"
"Really?" He asked amused.
"I'm not telling" She teased.
Barry looked at her and realized that maybe it was the right moment to tell her about his crush on her.
He was trying to find the words to tell her about how he felt when the lights went out.
"No" He grimaced along with many other students but Barbie's shriek of anger was the loudest.
Two questions:
Why do you think that Hal took Carol's ring?
Who do you think that got the lights off in the end?
*It kind of means "chocolate for the favorite"
*One of Zatanna's love interest in the comics and the movies. May reappear in later stories.
So this is the last chapter of the story, I may post extra chapters on what happened after that ;)
Thank you for the comments.
Till next time :D