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Superman blinked slowly, baby blue eyes trying to focus on the blinking screen before him. "Dang it, Clark, c'mon." He rubbed his eyes and rolled back his shoulders as he attempted to get down to business but once he stared back at the screen, his thoughts would instantly shift.
He groaned.
The Kryptonian knew he was being pathetic, pitiful, lame, and a bunch of other synonymous words. He had an important job of monitoring duty and should be taking it seriously but, well, there was only so much he could do besides checking and updating the status report on the few ongoing missions – two in New York and another in Chicago. Other than that, he was left to his thoughts, his many swarming thoughts, of a certain dark-haired reporter with eyes like...
Superman shook his head. He wished he was somewhere else.
It was a busy day at the Watchtower, full of on and off-duty members roaming about the halls, quarters, and cafeteria. Their voices and laughter drifted past the dim monitor room where Superman sat, dejected, as he glanced at the hallway behind him. While he had requested to work the shift solo, practically begging to Martian Manhunter's confusion, he almost wished there was someone else here to distract him. Sighing once more, Superman turned away from the glass hallway and faced the screen.
"Lantern to – damn, shut up – Superman."
Superman scrambled in his seat and cleared his throat as he raised the volume to the comlink. "Roger?"
"Requesting permission to replace support. I swear, Flash is driving me crazy I just can't."
The Man of Steel smirked. "Doesn't he always?"
"Well, crazier than usual. You know what I mean. Like, arggh, damn it, Flash, so help me I will…"
Their banter wasn't enough to lighten his mood so when Batman emerged into the monitoring room a mere thirty minutes later, he was presented with a visibly crestfallen Superman complete with drooping shoulders and a slight pout.
"J'onn isn't here." Of course Batman never asked questions, instead opting to simply state them matter of factly.
"Hmm?" Superman raised his head and then shrugged as he continued staring at his boots. "Yeah, he's probably somewhere in the pantry or shamthunkshh…"
While the Man of Steel's words were muffled by his hands as he rested his cheek against them, Batman only quirked an eyebrow and crossed his arms in response. Of course the World's Greatest Detective detected the obvious sadness emoting from the Kryptonian the second he passed the monitoring room but he wouldn't be the Batman if he actually asked his friend what was wrong. He didn't even acknowledge that Superman was his friend to begin with.
"And that would be…"
The Kryptonian shrugged again. "I requested a single shift. Does it matter?"
He could've easily taken the bait, the obvious attitude seeping into Superman's words and his negative vibe would cause any other JLA member to leave the room and give the man some space. But, Batman could never take Superman seriously, especially when he was in a mood, so he walked over to the nearby seat, slipping off his utility belt as he did so, and sat down.
"Uh…" Superman raised an eyebrow as the masked vigilante began tinkering with the belt, taking out objects from each pouch and inspecting them. "Can I help you with something?"
"I doubt they taught you about advanced technology updating and weaponry at farm school."
The Man of Steel frowned. Honestly, even on a good day he wasn't in the mood for Batman's insults and sarcasm. "Then why don't you go and be a smart-ass somewhere else? You designed the thing. I'm sure there's a brooding quarter nearby."
"Too crowded."
"Isn't that why you have your own cave?"
"Under re-construction."
He almost threw up his hands. Fine. They could both stay in the monitoring room and be miserable together. Even though Superman kind of wanted some company merely as a distraction, Batman wasn't his first choice. Not even top three. The guy was always miserable and wasn't the best option for providing moral support. Superman blew the curl out of his eyes and keyed a few buttons half-heartedly, updating the status report. He was a fool – ironically enough of all days. Clark Kent should have known better that Lois Lane was out of his league and that all of the flower bouquets, chocolates, and stuffed animals in the world wouldn't get her attention. What did his mother say again – Lois was more of a "woman of today"? Well, he was now the man of yesterday. Apparently, polite and kind gentlemen were out of fashion.
He glanced at Batman and suppressed another sigh. It was guys like Bruce Wayne that could get Lois' attention and affection. The next few minutes passed in silence – occasionally typing and sighing from Superman with grunts from Batman. But, suddenly, a flickering red light at the corner of the Kryptonian's eye broke him out of his trance. The small device Batman was working on blinked red again as he clicked the side of it together.
"What're you doing?"
"It's nothing harmful." Batman shook the device and clicked it again. "It emits a low-powered infrared light. I restricted the" –
"You mean a laser?"
"Power source and adjusted the distance and frequency. Not all of us have super vision."
"So, it's a laser pointer then."
Batman paused and stared. "A laser diode. But yes."
"That wasn't so hard now was it?"
The detective scoffed and flicked the light on again, aiming towards the large window that overlooked one of the main hallways. Booster Gold strolled by, carrying a stack of papers in one arm, and skipped when the red light suddenly appeared to the right. He looked around, still walking except with small frown, but the light had already disappeared.
Superman raised his eyebrows and coughed, trying to cover up his chuckle at Booster Gold's reaction. "Um, what exactly are you" –
"Testing."
"Really."
"A trial run. It would be juvenile of me to assume all of my devices work flawlessly. Some of the best inventors know that."
"Hmm. Interesting theory."
The two heroes were angled behind large file cabinets, obstructed, so when Green Arrow and Black Canary came into view and sharply spun around at the flickering red beam, their eyes were unable to land on the culprit. Superman chuckled as Green Arrow began pointing somewhere else, eyebrows furrowed, all the while Black Canary ignored him and continued walking.
Batman tested the laser again as a larger group passed down the hallway – Orion and Vixen listening intently to Wonder Woman, hands gesturing as she spoke. This time the beam reflected off the Amazon Princess' tiara, the light dispersing and shining into Orion's eyes. Superman grinned and adjusted his chair for a better view as he watched Orion shouting and covering his eyes. The other two members gave the demi-god an odd look but glanced around disinterestedly for any threatening signs.
"Surprised she didn't fling out a sword," Superman said, earning a snort from Batman.
More entered the hallway, as it was a busier day than usual, and all the while the Man of Steel chuckled and snorted, grinning ear to ear, as Batman continued to test the laser pointer on various unsuspecting JLA members. Hawkgirl flung her mace down the hall, hitting the exit sign, Zatanna dropped her top hat, and Dove punched Hawk in the arm.
"I know it was you!"
"You're an idiot." Hawk scowled, rubbing his arm as he left. "You know that?"
"Oh, no, wait, wait." Superman pointed to Captain Marvel, who now appeared munching on a candy bar. "Reflect it over there, Bats."
The red light circled on the candy wrapper and the hero instantly dropped the chocolate remnants onto the floor with a soft and prepubescent yelp. Mouth shaped into a perfect o and eyebrows furrowed, Captain Marvel's expression caused the Man of Steel to laugh with his head thrown back. He finally quieted down when Batman turned back his seat and slipped the device back into one of the pouches of his utility belt. After rubbing his cheeks from the soreness of laughter for a few seconds, Superman returned to the blinking monitor screen.
"Test complete then, huh?" But he shook his head as Batman simply folded a pocket in response, never answering. The Kryptonian fiddled with the mouse but almost dropped it when the detective finally spoke.
"I'm assuming Lois either looked at you wrong or didn't laugh at a joke at work today."
Superman opened his mouth, closed it, and cleared his throat. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You should also add improving your lying skills underneath learning about weapons technology."
"I…" he sighed. "She came in with a boyfriend at the office."
The detective took out another object from his belt, signaling Superman to continue.
"I mean, it's her life and it's not like we're even super close or anything but…" he gestured his hands but trailed off, knowing he would sound even more pathetic if he said anything else. And one ever wanted to look like a pathetic excuse of a person in front of Batman.
"They're not going to get married."
"I know. It's stupid really, I know, but" –
"You can't help it."
Superman nodded, surprised at the comment. He was so used to his subtle insults and cynicism. Was he actually witnessing a Sympathetic Batman? "Pretty much."
The detective glared as he fiddled with the belt, but Superman recognized the pondering look in the white slits of the cowl. "Give it time."
It wasn't much – there was much more Batman could have said like quote a philosophical saying, echo the sentiments of a poem, or even offer a personal example – but it was something so little that actually worked. Because, at that moment, he realized that strange laser beam test was another gesture from the Caped Crusader all together. Something that actually caused Superman's shoulders to droop less.
The door swung open, revealing a suspicious Wonder Woman and a visibly disgruntled Green Arrow. The Amazon placed her hands on her hips. "There have been some strange incidents involving a red light only in this particular sector of the Tower." She paused and glanced at Batman who was standing up. "Would you two happen to have any answers for such disruptions?"
"Hmmm…" Superman covered his mouth, trying cover the smile that was tugging at his mouth. "I didn't see anything on the screen."
"Oh, bullshit, you haven't been looking at that thing for the past hour." Green Arrow glared. "Lantern's been calling and says no one's answered."
"Batman?" Wonder Woman tilted her head as the detective walked passed her and slipped on the utility belt.
He opened the door but looked over his shoulder. "April Fools."
Superman didn't try to cover the smile this time.
