welcome to the justice lounge

"-- Also, the other day I was wondering what you and Guy together would look like -- as in, if you were in a relationship -- and I decided you'd be the Perons."

"Oh godddd, Ollie, really? Fine, I won't tell you what I *AM* in the mood for, even if I'm not looking to actually do it at the moment." Kate turns up her nose with a faint air of sulk.

Ollie regards her mildly. "Should I cheer for you from below the balcony of the Casa Rosada?"

"Are you getting into a mood?" Kate cocks her head at him, and Ollie rubs one hand along her thigh, leaning in to kiss her neck. "mmmm, working my way there."

More than a little on the edge, Kate worries her lip with her teeth. "Oh...that kind of mood."
Her lips shift into a half smirk as she stretches out on the sofa like a cat, and Ollie lets himself slump down half-along her. "So am I to take it you're in the other kind of mood?" he inquires. "The persnickety kind? Maybe the discombobulated kind."

"Actually, no. I'm really appallingly horny."

Ollie perks up a bit. "Appallingly, no less!"

Kate gives him a long slow look. "The wriggling in my seat trying not to think of anything sexual kind, Ollie."

Ollie pushes his hand up the inside of her thigh again, with less casual affection and more insistence this time. "I tend to be fairly interested in the actions of your seat, my dove."

Groaning low, Kate presses down into his hand without any modesty. "You know what I want?"

( you shall have every breath in my body )

The Arrow house was eerie when it was empty. It usually had a steady buzz of noise and activity, between people, stuff, and the dog. But spending a night in it alone had been…strange. Hal wasn’t used to being alone anymore, he realized. Not that he couldn’t handle it, it was just…weird.

Now that Kyle was on board with the whole idea, Hal was surprised at just how excited he was. Of course, securing a little special transport had a lot to do with it, but still. A vacation…a REAL vacation. With the people who mattered most to him. What could be better?

He knew Kyle would be there soon, so he had to finish packing quickly. Ollie had insisted on buying him some new clothes for the trip, mostly to make sure his precious avocado didn’t end up frost bitten. Hal shoved some socks and underwear into his boots, then crammed them into his duffel. The last thing to go in was his lantern. Just because they weren’t planning to use their rings didn’t mean they wouldn’t have to at some point. He had just enough time to put on his jacket and sunglasses before he heard a thump above him. Perfect timing, as always.

Hal headed outside quickly, duffel bag on his shoulder. He grinned to see Kyle, setting his bag down and moving close to hug him. He stole a kiss, grinning at him.

“Good morning,” he said, nuzzling him. “Guess you’re as eager as I am to get going, hm?”

Kyle had barely made his landing on the patio when Hal caught a hold of him, tugging him down to a brief kiss, and gentle nuzzling. It was really one of the things Kyle liked so much about being with Hal - the constant contact; it seemed Hal instinctively knew it was what Kyle craved…or perhaps even more delightfully, Hal enjoyed consistent closeness as well.

“Holy wow do you look good,” Kyle said, leaning back and surveying Hal appreciatively. He wasn’t much into judging what people wore, but he always did appreciate when they looked aesthetically pleasing. Hal in his jacket and sunglasses, bathed in the warming California morning…well. Well.

( with our compliments )

He was glad she was able to see him; it had been a few days since they’d talked, everyone in the League was still decompressing, healing, licking their wounds, taking whatever steps they needed to to recover from the emotional impact of what had collectively happened to them. Some, Guy thought grimly, would take longer than others.

The conflict with the Eden Corps and the League of Assassins hadn’t finished inflicting its pain, though; there would be at least one more casualty as a result, before he left this place. The door opened to him, and they exchanged smiles.

“Hello, Dinah.”

“Guy,” Dinah said, her smile slightly tired. It’d been a long couple of days—the amount of everything that had come and gone was so daunting that she was pretty sure she’d only taken in a small portion of it, along with the endgame. Everything had turned out okay in the big picture.

But that was the big picture. Everything else, it seemed, showed cracks, from hairline fractures to full-on shards.

“Come in, do you want a beer?” she asked. Her injuries, while better, probably wouldn’t be best suited for alcohol, and she did have some bottles just sitting around. “Coffee or something?”

She tried not to think about the last time he’d been here, considering it hadn’t been…ideal.

“Water’d be great, actually,” he replied, closing the door behind him and shutting out the heat of Star City’s early-evening. He looked around, the place hadn’t changed much since he’d last seen it, when he and Kyle had come to arrest Jason. “How are you feeling? Your shoulder still sore?”

He and Kyle had spent as much time as they could during the crisis using their power rings to accelerate the healing on her worst injuries: a nasty concussion from being pistol-whipped, and a through-and-through bullet wound to her shoulder. What concerned him more, though, was what his ring couldn’t heal: her emotional trauma.

“It stings a little,” Dinah said, wryly. Hell, it stung a lot—the Lanterns were getting pretty good at the healing thing, but they couldn’t completely regenerate nerve damage after a delay like that. She went back in through the house, going into the kitchen to get him some water from the filter. It disconcerted her, a little, Guy turning down the offer of a beer.

It almost made her think something was up, but then again, right now everything seemed to be that way. She couldn’t even seem to figure out her own brain right now; initially she had thought it was the concussion, but despite being told there was no lasting damage, the feeling of discontent had lingered. Maybe Guy was feeling it too.

( one for the road )

[before all the current high drama, when there was relative quiet]

Kyle heads back to the penthouse with Hal, then hesitates a bit as they land on the balcony. “You *sure* you’re sure about this?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” Hal clasps his hand, the serene look on his face lending credence to his assurance. “Don’t worry so much.” Motions him to follow and heads inside.

Ollie’s rattling around in the kitchen, yawning and cracking brown eggs into a pan. Hal had been gone when he woke up, which isn’t new, but at least eggs’re quick to make if he comes back in time for —- hey, and there it sounds like Hal’s back already.

“Hey, baby — feel like scrambled this morning, or easy ove…” Ollie trails off as Hal comes in with Kyle Rayner in tow. “Uhwuh. Easy … hey, Rayner.”

Kyle finger combs his hair furiously and shifts his stance. “Good morning. I…I’m stopping by.” Looks over at Hal, who barely manages to keep from shaking his head at the two of them, both staring at him as if it’s inconceivable that they should all three be in the same place at the same time. As if one or all three of them should for some reason be ashamed.

Well, Hal reasons, time to be shameless. He smiles at Ollie, going over to give him a peck on the cheek. “I was hoping Kyle could join us for breakfast. Is that ok?”

( dancing about architecture )

Zatanna leans back in the sand, letting Ollie have his way with her feet and his sand sculpting. "Oho! I am triumphant!" he crows, and she holds up her hands, defenseless. "Uncle, uncle..." Ollie immediately sets about constructing a pineapple for one shoe and a Green Lantern symbol for the other.

Zatanna shifts up to inspect Ollie's work, "You know, once you get used to it the sand over your feet actually feels pretty good."

"I know, right? All warm and toasty." Ollie regards his work and then rubs his hands together. "And now you're trapped here FOREVER."

Zatanna gasps dramatically, "How could you!"

"Muahahah! I tricked you with the promise of fancy shoes!! It's a tale as old as time, fair maiden!! And now you'll be trapped here until the tide carries you out." Clark looks over and gives Ollie a thumbs-up for his sand artwork, fairly impressed, and Ollie grins and shoots Clark finger-guns in response as Zatanna flops back against the sand, "Noooooooo!"

Crawling over her, Ollie keeps laughing menacingly until his nose brushes against her chin and he lifts his head to look down at her. "Betcha know what price your freedom comes at, lovely magician ..."

Clark determinedly keeps his eyes away from Ollie and Zatanna, asking Dick questions as Zatanna smirks gleefully. "You bet I do..." leaning up as close as she can to him, "But will I pay, that is the question."

( salt and moonlight and thou ... also thou )

Kyle busied himself enough that he didn’t feel that weird pang in his chest; well, not /too/ poignantly. Having a silly fun weekend with Steph Brown and then having Kate visit, that helped. It helped a lot. Guy and him were trying out some sort of meditation thing for - as Guy suggested - getting his own focus back, as well as Kyle’s anxiety attacks. That helped too, in a weird, kind of amusing way. Anything to foster his and Guy’s relationship as much as possible, given how…frayed everything seemed to be right now. Kyle wasn’t too sure why, he just knew he had to keep trying.

Everything helped, sure. But it still didn’t stop Kyle from waking up in the middle of the night, feeling restless and bright eyed and having to take long, overly hot showers before crawling back to bed and praying for sleep.

One middle of the night, feeling vaguely sleep-deprived, he sent a ring transmission to Hal.

——Ring Tx: Calling all Hals.

( no long distance charges )

Another day, another Green Lantern assignment. Kyle signed off with Salakk and went to check in on Guy, who was slumbering peacefully. It was like the big guy was making up for all the rest he’d sacrificed over the past three weeks; and really, who could blame him? So Kyle wouldn’t have a partner for this assignment, but it really was for the best.

He left a note on Guy’s bedside table, and headed up into space.

At least it was just a routine mission. So routine, Guy would probably gripe about it all the way to planet Aoran and back, Kyle reassured himself. So it was probably for the best that Numero Uno Honor Guard Lantern convalesced, while Kyle handled this boring bureaucratic stuff on his own. Still, Kyle missed the partner banter.

Kyle had just made it past the Watchtower when he noticed a green glow slowly but steadily rounding the dark side of the moon. Kyle paused and watched for a bit, and then grinned in excitement and flew over.

“Buenos outer spaceos, Mister Jordan,” Kyle pulled up in front of Hal, who was looking mild as he floated over a moon hill. “Busy hunting for moon sapphires, or are you interested in playing green buddy cop with me? I got a mission from Salakk.”

( but wait till you see the hazard pay )

While she probably wouldn’t have told him as much, Kate had given serious (if momentary) consideration towards ambushing Ollie as he entered the training room. Momentary, though—in the end, she’d decided that it’d be more fun starting on a level field.

The only time he’d seen her in action, she’d been without her suit. Now, though, she was fully dressed, perched at the top of the gallery, standing on the rail and leaning against the support pillar. She resisted the urge to tap her foot in feigned impatience.

(Kate Spencer, it should be said, resisted a lot of urges on a regular basis.)

She was managing not to think about the other things on her mind (the questions people on the message board had asked about her and Ollie and Hal, and living together, and jealousy—that’d teach her to play the question hunting game). Time to get her own gameface on. Despite her bravado in their banter, he had substantial skill and strength on her, and she wasn’t as certain that she could beat him.

Hand to hand, maybe, thanks to the suit. Armed, not so much.

Kate’s eyes narrowed in thought as she developed the bare sketches of a plan.

Being suited up and about to tango with a lover in the training room wasn’t a new thing for Ollie, exactly, but this was *Kate* and that made it new. Even having seen her battling Literati-droogs that time in the park wasn’t much in the way of preparation for what he was gonna encounter in her fighting style, because in that case she’d been carefully trying not to hurt mind-controlled civilians, and in this case —

He pulled an arrow from his quiver and nocked it, keeping his bow lowered. It was one of his more whimsical ones, a medieval-style roving head arrow and a blunt one at that, but Ollie wasn’t sure yet just how serious he was supposed to start out.

“Kate?” he called, seeing her standing up on high in her scarlet Manhunter getup. “Honey, how’re we doing this?”

( superhero foreplay involves strategy )

"Looks like it’s coming back slowly…" Hal said consideringly as he patted Ollie's stubbly cheek, then chuckled. "You just don’t look like yourself without it."

Ollie sighed gustily and wriggled his toes, looking out the window of Hal’s guest room. “I know,” he said. “Who knew when I grew that thing back on the road that it’d come to be part of how I friggin’ *define* myself?” He let his head loll back against the headboard.

Hal shifted comfortably on the bed, pillowing his head better against Ollie’s thighs. “mmmm,” he hummed. “I get to see the awkward growing-in stage again.”

“And it won’t be as cute as it was ten years ago.” Stroking Hal’s soft brown hair between his fingers came so naturally now, Ollie mused, watching Hal’s eyes drift shut. His lazy Lantern. Hal snoozed more than a narcoleptic cat, but Ollie kind of liked it; he knew Hal had manic jags of energy to offset the lounginess and reserves of stamina (that vaunted willpower, there) to withstand whatever was thrown at him, and the contrast was an exciting and appealing one.

“Hey there,” he said, rubbing his thumb between Hal’s eyebrows. “Dontcha think it’s about time you moved out of this guest room? I hear there’s some pretty stellar accommodations just down the hall.”

( sleeping arrangements )

Walking down the hallway, Wally rubbed the back of his neck. Why was it so hard to just go talk to Dick? They’d been friends for…well since FOREVER it felt like, really. They’d started the hero gig young and grown up side by side, in and out of the Titans…And then things had kind of split. Wally took over being Flash, Dick became Nightwing…that all seemed like it was ages ago. The number of times in recent days that he’d picked up the phone to try and get in touch was obscene. But they were here, now…they could pick right back up, right?

He hesitated outside the other’s door, hands in his back pockets. What did he SAY? One liners only worked in battle, and his ever so smooth pick up lines were best on the ladies. Dick knew better, Dick knew HIM better. Shaking his head, he finally just raised his hand and knocked. Whatever happened happened. No turning back now. Not like he could run off faster than Dick could get to the door….

What the hell was he DOING here?

Dick was doing some easy stretches, pacing around the room on his hands. It was so nice to see so many from his old Titans family up on the Watchtower. Their lives had just got so busy and everyone had sort of drifted apart.

The one thing they said they’d never do.

( coming back together )