Chapter 32: Team Sleepover
Animal Sleepers:
Dick- Robin
Wally- Lion
Roy- Fox
Kaldur- Orca
Conner- White Wolf
M'gann- Flamingo
It was about four in the afternoon at the Watchtower and everyone was busy with work and other various tasks. There was also a big hubbub as a crew readied a jet for a big mission. They worked tirelessly as this was not just any mission but one for the original seven. The founding members of the Justice League which included Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Aquaman.
Initially many of the original seven were apprehensive about accepting this mission as it meant being separated from their protégés. Normally this wasn't a problem but after the fiasco of the mission the junior team had experienced just two weeks ago it made them nervous. This wasn't just because of their own personal worries, but some of the events of that mission had left the protégés with unexpected mental challenges.
For those two weeks after the mission all the kids had been having bad nightmares every other night. They would see their teammates kidnapped with them helpless to rescue them, themselves left in a jungle all alone in the dark, Bane preparing to shoot them as they tried to escape, and other disturbing images. The kids may have been tough cookies and brave little kids but that didn't exempt them from suffering trauma, especially considering their current maturity levels.
But luckily Black Canary had an idea that was able to sway all of them. She and Green Arrow were going to have a comfy party for the whole team. Now many wondered what that exactly was, having never heard of such a thing. Well in essence all the kids would get in their most comfortable sleepers and be brought into a room full of soft mattresses, blankets, pillows, and their favorite stuffed animals. Together they would have a perfectly wholesome time filled with fun games, team building exercises, yummy snacks and food, a movie, and absolutely nothing remotely scary.
All the mentors wholeheartedly agreed to this idea knowing this was precisely what they needed. So after a few days of planning and setting up the "comfort zone" as it was dubbed, the day of the comfy party had arrived just in time for the League's mission. All the mentors were carrying their protégés to the comfort zone, each dressed in an adorable animal themed sleeper and accompanied by a soft plushy friend.
"Don't you think I'm a little too old for this, I'm not exactly soft and little anymore." Roy said bashfully from the place in his mentor's arms.
Roy felt slightly embarrassed at the fact he was dressed in fuzzy red and white fox sleeper with paw-like feeties, a plush tail, and a hood that had adorable tall ears on top of it. Not to mention he was holding his plush companion, a well loved koala named Bruno. It was one of the few possessions he had from his former life and it always brought him great comfort to have it around.
"Roy you may be the oldest on the team but you're still only 10. Besides you deserve to have a little softness and babying every once in a while. Especially with how cute you look in your sleeper." Oliver said tenderly as he adjusted the 10 year old in his arms.
Roy gave no response, only blushing even more as he felt like he was the little six year old Oliver met once more. He of course wouldn't say it out loud, but he kind of liked it, enjoying the feeling of being cared for and held by the man he views as his father.
Soon enough the two were in the comfort zone, and boy were they greeted with quite the sight. Mattresses, pillows, and blankets galore as well as five other children dressed in comfy and adorable sleepers all running around and playing together.
Dick was of course dressed in his red Robin sleeper he got for Christmas while Peanuts and his bat blankie were sitting on top of a mattress. Wally was dressed up in a golden yellow Lion sleeper with paw-like feeties, a thin tail with red fur at the end, and a hood with ears and a mane of red fur around it. He was accompanied by his life long friend and protector Tesla. Tesla, as in Nikola Tesla the inventor of the superior was to conduct electric currents, was a Teddy Bear Wally had had since he was born.
It was given to him by his parents and they had told him it would protect him from the monsters under the bed and other scary things. He of course knew they just told him that to make him feel safe when he was really little, but he still held onto Tesla as he both loved it and it was one of the last things he still had from his parents before their death.
M'Gann was in a bright pink, which of course goes great with green, flamingo sleeper with bird feet slippers over the pink feeties, wings attached at the arms like Dick's sleeper, and a hood with a half mask that had a large beak on it. Her stuffed friend was a large Manta Ray named Jerry she got from an aquarium her uncle had taken her to in her first few weeks on earth.
Kaldur was a black and white orca with a large tail dragging behind him that could be zipped up like a sleeping bag over his legs. It also had flipper mittens that would zip up over the hands, a plush dorsal fin on his back, and of course an orca head hood. His plushy companion was a fluffy penguin he named Triton, after the son of the sea god poseidon. He was a personal invention of Batman who, under the request of his son, made the atlantean boy a toy he could take under and out of the sea. The adorable toy was made of a special waterproof fabric with fluffy water resistant fur on top that was both soft and machine washable. Kaldur absolutely loved him and was always exceedingly grateful to the dark knight for his gift.
Now last but not least was Conner who's sleeper reflected his beloved pet Wolf. It was bright white and incredibly fluffy and soft with paw-like feeties, Velcroed on paw mittens, a fluffy plush tail, and of course a hood with pointy ears. His stuffy was a white wolf as well named moon, after the celestial body he'd met his father under. It was actually what drew him to Wolf when he met him as he looked almost exactly like his beloved stuffed animal.
Everything was as soft, comfortable, and safe as possible in hope of promoting good dreams and protecting the team's childhood innocence for just one moment. Also there to assist on this mission was Wolf and Ace who stood as guard dogs at the door. Initially the two were quite unwary of each other as both had their babies with them, aka Dick and Conner, and didn't know if they could be trusted. But it luckily didn't take long, just a butt sniff really, for them to realize they had the same goals. So an alliance was formed and now they sat tall and proud as the sentinels they saw themselves as.
All the mentors watched as the kids played, getting their last glimpses in before they left for their mission. They still didn't really want to leave even with what they saw, you could say they were experiencing a little separation anxiety.
"I believe it's coming time for you all to leave, I'm sure GL and Wonder Woman are waiting for you all." Oliver said, now dressed in his own pajamas.
"You are probably right, but are you sure you can handle this?" Arthur asked a little worriedly.
"Come on now, you gotta give me some credit! I've taken care of Roy by myself since I first found him! Plus Dinah is here with me and we all know she's a natural with kids. They're going to be fine, now get going, they'll be right here when you get back!" Oliver insisted.
Somewhat assured, the five heroes finally said their goodbyes to their protégés and left for their mission. This left the remaining 8 in the room to play and have their comfort party. For fifteen more minutes Oliver and Dinah let the kids do whatever they wanted, figuring it was another way to get them good and tired. They couldn't help laughing though as the room looked like a little zoo with the kids running around dressed in their animal sleepers. Eventually the two decided it was time to start their festivities so they wouldn't be too tired before dinner and the movie they were watching.
"Alright everyone, come circle around me, time for our first game!" Dinah called out.
Immediately all the kids came to her, each with their fluffy friends in tow, and sat down in a neat circle.
"Very good, now have any of you played Red Light Green Light before?"
Almost all the kids shook their heads except Roy who'd played the game many times back in his early elementary days.
"Hmmm looks like only Roy does, well it's luckily very easy to explain. Basically you all will line up against that wall while one of you will stand on the other side with your back turned to the people behind you. That person will be it and stand still there while the others will try to come up and tap you on the shoulder. But here's the catch: you can only go when the person who is it says green light and as soon as they yell red light you have to freeze. Now you can try to sneak to the front while the person who is it is turned around, but they get to randomly look behind them for a quick second to make sure people are following the rules. So if they catch you they make you start all the way from the beginning again. Does everyone understand?"
All the kids caught on easily and nodded their heads.
"Good, for our first round I will be it. So everyone line up along the back wall!"
Everyone immediately scrambled to the back wall, the younger ones particularly jittery and excited for this new game. Smiling at their excitement Dinah turned around and waited for a second.
"Green Light!" Dinah called out.
Immediately she heard the stampede of little feet start to run.
"Red light!" Dinah said nearly seconds after.
She then heard the screeching sounds of halting feet as all the kids froze. Dinah turned her head round quickly to make sure no kids were moving without permission. Much to her surprise all the kids were as still as can be. So she turned around once more.
"Greenlight! Redlight!"
For a minute she yelled out theses phrases till at one point even though he was so close Dinah saw little Wally tip toeing over to her during a red light.
"Ah ah Ah, Wally no moving during the red light back to the start little one." Dinah instructed.
Wally sighed and then turned around to obey Dinah's commands. From there the round went on for a bit till Roy won the first round. Everyone was very excited and now more determined to win. The game went on for two more rounds with Dick and M'gann winning them simultaneously.
"That was very good everyone now on to the next game. Oliver if you would please." Dinah requested, ready for a little break before the next game.
"Of course, ok kids this next one is one you should definitely all know. THE FLOOR IS LAVA!" Oliver yelled excitedly as he hopped onto a nearby mattress.
All the kids squealed in delight as they hopped off the floor onto any nearby furniture they could.
"Only one rule here and that's no flying! So M'gann, Conner your grounded for this game, meaning I better see both feet planted firmly beneath you."
"Awwweee!" Both flyers whined, but quickly got over as they got into the fun.
Dinah laughed and snapped pictures as she watched the kids hopping around from furniture to furniture to avoid the ground. Though one moment about made her heart stop when Dick trying to do an acrobatic trick landed badly and almost fell head first to the ground. Luckily Oliver was nearby and save the little boy by grabbing his arm.
"Be careful there Dickie, we wouldn't want you getting hurt." Oliver said as hugged the boy to his leg.
"I will." Dick said gratefully.
"Here to be sure, how about you ride on my back for a bit." Oliver suggested as he squared down.
Dick happily accepted, loving piggyback rides. From there the game went smoothly with Wally being the first to fall into the "lava", followed by M'gann, Oliver and Dick, Conner, and Roy. This left Kaldur the winner which everyone cheered excitedly about.
After the floor is lava, they all had an old fashioned pillow fight together. Though with a bunch of kids with meta abilities and specialized skills this was no ordinary pillow fight. Pillows flew across the room, the slams from the impact could be heard to the league mess hall. To say this fight was rowdy would be an understatement, it was mayhem.
"Take this baby flash!" Roy yelled as he hit the little speedster from behind.
"I'm not going down that easy!" Wally laughed as he hit Roy with the support of his super speed.
"Come on Kaldur you can hit me better than that!" M'gann squealed as she swinged her pillow hard into Kaldur's face.
Immediately the little atlantean fell flat on his back. Luckily the fall was pretty much broken by his plush dorsal fin on his back.
"My king always taught me to never hit women!" Kaldur groaned painfully as he rubbed his face.
But then he reached for a pillow not too far from his head, and swinged it right at M'gann, sending her flying into a mattress.
"But I am afraid I must make an exception this time."
As all the commotion went on below no one noticed Conner up in the air with Dick on his back and a bunch of pillows in his arms.
"Are you ready Dick?! Conner asked excitedly.
"Ready!" Dick squealed.
"Then let them have it!"
Immediately pillows began to rain from the sky as Conner flew around with Dick launching a barrage of pillows. All the kids tried to find cover but most were ultimately hit by the raining pillows. As this went on, Dinah and Oliver watched the whole event and began to feel a little concern.
"I think they might be playing a little too rough at this point. We might want to end it before someone gets seriously hurt." Dinah suggested very worried someone was going to get seriously injured from either a bullet speed pillow, stray punches, and any number of things.
"Yeah you're right, I'll tell them it's time to eat. Hopefully that will stop the pillow fight of death going on here." Oliver chuckled nervously.
So doing his best to avoid being hit by flying objects, Oliver went into the middle of the commotion.
"Alright kids, it's time to put away the pillows and eat!" Oliver yelled out as he narrowly dodged a speeding throw pillow, for which the irony was not lost on him.
Unfortunately his call fell on deaf ears as the kids were far too amped up to listen. So pillows continued to fly and break the sound barrier. Knowing that another call was going to do nothing, Oliver knew he needed to use another strategy. For a minute the poor man looked like he was trying to bring back jazzercising as he dodged pillows on the brink of bursting open and trying to think of a more effective way to get the kids to listen.
It was then Oliver remembered something he heard Bruce did during particularly rowdy training days or exercises. It sounded utterly ridiculous and something entirely out of character for the dark knight, so it was probably just a weird rumor, but he was at least willing to give it a try.
"Na na na na na na na na na na na na na!" Oliver started to sing out loudly.
"Batman!" All the kids immediately screamed with happy smiles as they stopped absolutely everything they were doing.
This left both Dinah and Oliver stunned, if there was one thing they knew about Bruce it was that he hated that theme song. It was the bane of his existence since that stupid cheesy sitcom aired shortly after he started being Batman. He would give his worst bat glare to anyone he dared hearing even hum it. Yet here he was using it as a way to get the kids to stop and listen. Dinah did her best to muffle her laughter at how both funny and adorable it was. While Oliver chuckled maniacally as he now had something to give Bruce hell over. But he'd have to do that later now he had to take advantage of getting the kids attention and quickly, lest he lose it.
"Alright you bunch of little maniacs come over to the kitchen it's time to eat. It's breakfast for dinner today and Dinah made everyone her special apple cinnamon pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and homemade buttermilk syrup." Oliver said excitedly as he motioned over to the kitchen.
All the kids ran excitedly to the kitchen knowing all to well that out of all the Justice League Dinah was the best. Not only that but she was making her special apple cinnamon pancakes. They basically tasted like an apple pie melted in your mouth with perfectly cooked apples that has been soaked and baked in a cinnamon butter mixture. Then Dinah would drizzle the leftover mix over the pancakes as they cooked on the griddle making fluffy cinnamoniy goodness. She only made these on special occasions due to the amount of work they required, but for the Justice League's junior team she would make them without any hesitation.
"Woah woah woah not so fast, we need to adjust your sleepers a bit. I know how messy you all are when it comes to syrup, and we do not need a bunch of sticky little animals before bed." Dinah chuckled as she stood in front of the kids before they reached the food.
Despite their excitement Dinah and Oliver managed to wrangle the kids into a line and began to make the proper adjustments to their sleepers. It was luckily a pretty simple task, all they did was unzip the top half to about their belly buttons and then tied the sleeves around their midsections to prevent them from falling off. So now they had a bunch of bare chested little boys besides Roy and M'gann who had undershirts on. Roy because he thought he was too mature to be shirtless in front of people now, and M'gann since she was a girl. Lastly before they finally let them dig in, they tied a big white napkin around each of their necks, even Roy who begrudgingly let them, to prevent any splatters, spills, or sprays from ruining their efforts.
Once preparations were complete they let the kids loose on the food. To say they went ham was an understatement, they gorged themselves on the pancakes, eggs, and bacon with the appetites of full grown men. It was good thing too they had their clothing protection on because food was flying everywhere. Dinah and Oliver knew they should have insisted on better manners, but it was honestly too cute and they couldn't help but love watching the kids be so care free. Even Kaldur was for once acting his own age if not a little younger than. Though the two adults did wonder how much food was actually making it into the kids mouths compared to themselves, the floor, and table.
Luckily for them Ace and Wolf were more than happy help clean up some of that mess as they licked up and ate all the food not on the kids plates. Not that they were just getting scrapes, oh no, the kids fed them directly too out of the kindness of their hearts. Needless to say they ate well that night and were the luckiest dogs in existence at that moment.
Eventually though everyone was full and done eating leaving almost no leftovers to be seen. Once sure everyone was done Oliver and Dinah went to work at cleaning the table and the kids off. It was quite a process as the kids just wanted to go back to playing and having fun. But with a bit of luck and elbow grease the two Justice League members got each child's face clean, dirty napkins removed, and sleepers all zipped back up and on all the way.
From there they let the kids play again, to help work off the sugary pancakes and syrup they just consumed. It also gave Dinah and Oliver a chance to clean up the kitchen mess, which they knew they wouldn't want to clean later. After about fifteen minutes, clean up was finished and it was now time to settle down for the movie. So with help from the kids Oliver got all the mattresses set up while Dinah got the projector and movie all set. After that stuffed animals and blankies were distributed to each child as they got cozy on the floor or a mattress.
M'gann and Conner cuddled up on the floor and leaned against a mattress, which was quite adorable to say the least. Wally and Dick snuggled up to Dinah on a Mattress, Dick in her lap while Wally leaned against her. Similarly Oliver had Kaldur and Roy with him, Kaldur sat in his lap and leaned against his chest while Roy just sat next to him. Initially this made Oliver a little sad, but he knew the night was still young and he had a feeling Roy might get tired and eventually lean against him.
From there they started their movie deciding on Lilo and Stitch since it was very wholesome and about family. As the movie played, to say the kids enjoyed it was an understatement. They laughed hysterically at Stitch as he caused mayhem and said childish little quips like "stupid head" or "I like fluffy". They also loved Lilo and her wild but caring nature as she made a sandwich for a fish and also attacked Myrtle. They also
loved Jumba, Gantu, Pleakley, Agent Bubbles, Nani, and of course the fat tourist who kept losing his ice cream.
But the kid's favorite scene was when Nani and Lilo were in the hammock together on the beach. As Nani began to comfort Lilo with a lullaby version of Aloha 'Oe all the kids snuggled even deeper into each other or Dinah or Oliver. What both surprised and didn't surprise Oliver though was the sudden pressure on his shoulder. He turned to see it was in fact Roy snuggling into his side, finally getting comfortable. With a big smile on his face Oliver wrapped his arms around Kaldur and Roy, drawing them closer to him.
From there they enjoyed the rest of the movie, all of them moved by Stitch calling Nani and Lilo his family. As the credits began to roll Dinah and Oliver immediately noticed all the kids were asleep, all of them deep in dreamland. So the two adults smiling at this then went to work on putting the kids to bed.
Gingerly they lifted the kids and divided them amongst the four mattresses they had in the room. On one mattress they laid Conner and M'gann together, figuring they'd be happiest there. Then they put Wally and Dick on a mattress and lastly Kaldur and Roy on the third bed. During this Kaldur had woken up and requested help in zipping up his Orca sleeper as land always made him much colder. Doing this happily Dinah helped unzip the tail and put his little legs into it, then she zipped it up over them and helped him with the flipper mittens. To say the little atlantean boy looked adorable was an understatement, luckily they managed to discreetly get a picture of it.
Once that was all done the two adult's covered the kids with sheets and blankets, tucked them in nice and snug, and kissed each one on their little heads. After that Dinah and Oliver got on the last Mattress and curled into one another, both tired from caring for the six kids.
Everyone slept so peacefully and all was quiet, the only sounds being of light breathing and occasional turning. So for the first time in a while the whole team slept without waking up. For instead of nightmares they finally justâdreamed. Smiles on their faces as they had sweet lovely dreams fill their little heads. This was what the other members of the Justice League saw when they stopped by after their mission. It warmed all their hearts immensely and it was needless to say but many pictures were taken. And that was how the Junior Justice Leagues first and soon to become annual sleepover was started.