Decaf

decaf

Hal might have physically made it to the emergency Justice League meeting Batman had the audacity to call so suddenly at 4 o'clock in the morning, but mentally he’s still half asleep. The room is dead silent, even though mostly everyone has arrived by now, save for Barry—who they’re expecting to be fifteen minutes late as usual—and Clark. The only solace Hal is able to draw upon is that he’s clearly not the only one royally peeved by the ungodly wakeup call, as Dinah and Oliver are both glaring daggers at Bats and Arthur has already made three snappish comments since he got here five minutes ago. 

All Hal knows is there better be a damn good reason for this.

Clark showing up a minute later with his arms full of donut boxes and coffees doesn’t exactly ease the high tensions in the room, but Hal does perk up a bit when the smell of strong coffee hits his nose. He mumbles a quick, “thanks, man,” when Clark places a coffee with Green Lantern written on it in front of him. Grabbing it, he’s about to take a long, desperate gulp when he sees, out of the corner of his eye, Clark place a cup labeled Flash in front of Barry’s empty chair. Even through the brain fog that’s severely impairing his ability to think, he remembers something important. 

“Hey, that’s decaf, right?” Hal asks, breaking the silence in the room. Clark turns and gives him a questioning look, so Hal points at Barry’s coffee and elaborates. “Barry’s coffee. It’s decaf, right? He doesn’t drink anything with caffeine in it.”

“Oh! Yeah, it’s decaf,” Clark clarifies, offering a cheery, chipper smile that burns Hal’s retinas. He looks well rested and ready to start the day, the midwestern farm boy in him making him stick out like a sore thumb amongst the rest of them. “Don’t worry, I didn’t forget.”

“Cool, cool,” Hal nods, settling back in his chair. He finally goes in for a sip of his coffee and barely manages to refrain from moaning out loud when the bitter taste hits his tongue. “Thanks,” he adds as an afterthought. 

The silence resumes. Only, Hal realizes that instead of everyone in the room staring at Batman, they’re now all staring at him, with varying looks ranging from confused to bewildered. Or, in Bruce’s case, unamused and unimpressed.

“What?” Hal frowns.

“That was just very, um,” Arthur trails off, as if he can’t find the words to complete his thought. 

“Cute,” Dinah interjects to finish the thought hanging in the air. She suddenly seems wide awake now, leaning forward eagerly whilst gripping the edge of the table with both hands, eyes glimmering with way too much knowing for Hal’s comfort. “Adorable, even.”

“Shut up,” Hal rolls his eyes, but to his horror he can feel his face begin to heat up. He fixes Dinah with a glare and hopes to god Clark will have the decency to not call attention to the way his heart has begun to pound against his ribcage. “For the last time, Barry and I are just friends. And for the record, making sure your buddy has the right drink does not mean you’re in love with him.”

“Uh, huh,” Dinah says, but the smirk on her face tells Hal his point didn’t quite land the way he’d intended it to. Meanwhile, at the opposite side of the table, Hal sees J’onn pull out a miniature notebook out of his pocket and begin carefully writing notes, as he tends to do when conversations about human culture come up.

“Why didn’t you ask if my coffee is decaf?” Oliver cuts in, sounding oddly hurt.

“Do you… drink decaf coffee?” Hal asks, confused. 

“No,” Oliver glowers, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at his untouched cup of coffee.

“Then why would I—”

A hand slams down onto the table, and with that the room goes silent as everyone turns to where Batman is looming over them, appearing in no mood for small talk or discussion of Hal’s love life. Hal thinks this might be one of the rare times when he and the Bat find themselves in strong agreement.  

“Might I remind everyone at this table that we have an emergency, globe threatening situation on our hands?” Bruce glares around the table. “We should begin briefing now; Flash can be filled in on what he missed at the end.”

Ten minutes into a very tense briefing, Barry finally decides to show his face. His face is even more shadowed with sleep deprivation than anyone else, and Hal instantly suspects he didn’t sleep at all, but he figures he’ll grill him on that later. Barry’s eyes brighten when they land on the cup of coffee and full box of donuts in front of him. 

Barry picks up the coffee, inspects it for a second, and that’s when Hal leans in and whispers, “I checked—it’s decaf.”

And the way Barry beams at him, it does what even Hal’s coffee couldn’t achieve—it has him teeming with energy, ready to start the day.