Of bonded souls

Of bonded sould

Kaldur finishes debriefing to Batman, reporting the team's first mission in space as a complete success, but no one leaves the room, and that is the first clue that something is off.

The second clue is that Nightwing isn't looking at him in the eye. The third is that Kid Flash looks like he might start crying any minute now and is trying to hide behind Dick, despite being taller than him.

"And?" Batman turns to Kaldur, demanding an answer. The Atlantean seems completely speechless for a moment as he turns to face his teammates. No words are spoken out loud between them, but Batman is aware they they're discussing something in the mind link.

Artemis suddenly snorts, Zatanna elbows her on the arm, and can't help, but mimic the smile on her friend's face. Kaldur sighs, his entire body language making it obvious he regrets being the one to deliver the news.

"Kid Flash and Nightwing... They, uh..."

"We may have gotten kind of alien-married. Accidentally." Nightwing raises his head and speaks for the first time since they've entered the room.

Batman turns to his former sidekick. "Explain. Now."

xxx

"We were undercover in opposite factions and, during one of the confrontations, we did something, a hand gesture, I think, that was misinterpreted as a marriage proposal by the natives." Dick explains for the third time; the first was to the team, the second was to Batman and now he's doing it again because The Flash just got there. He focus on Flash, instead of Batman, because he just can't look at his former mentor. It's been almost an year since they've last talked to each other and he'd rather stay this way.

"Someone screamed something, pointed to us and suddenly everybody stopped fighting." Wally takes over as he senses the other's turmoil. "Marriage is something sacred to them, you know, really important stuff? We were taken to the leaders of our factions and it was the first time both of them were in each other's presence? We totally made history that day."

"We asked for the end of the war as our wedding gift and the majority of the population stood behind us on this. Kaldur came in to help the peace negotiations and that was it." Dick finishes for him. "We helped them end the war, fulfilling our mission, and we didn't even had to engage in combat. We just had to..."

"Get married." The Flash chimes in, amused. Hal had seen the team arrive and told him everyone was in one piece, but the urgency on Batman's tone when the dark knight called for him made Barry worry; what if something happened to his nephew? It must have been something serious for the mission to be cut short like this. He had made the way from Central to Happy Harbor in record time just to be told that something did happen to his nephew. Wally had gotten himself married. To his best friend. In space. Oh, man. Barry is torn between laughing because he's relieved that Wally's okay, laughing because he kind of saw it coming a long time ago, - Dick and Wally had always been close, way too close to stay as best friends, - but oh, god, he did not see this coming, and laughing because this is crazy and he doesn't know what else to do. "So, congratulations are in order, or what?"

"It's not like this, uncle B." Wally feels his cheeks heating up at the insinuation on his uncle's voice. "We got married because we had to, the aliens wouldn't have it any other way. Plus, alien marriage is waaaaay different than actual human marriage, you know? It didn't resemble our marriage at all, it was more of a...uh, kind of a soul bonding ceremony."

Batman's expression doesn't change, but Wally can feel the air growing deadlier somehow.

"Kid." Barry finally starts laughing and maybe it's because the whole thing is a bit funny. "Kid, you're not exactly helping yourself."