quiet_tiger: (Batman)
quiet_tiger ([personal profile] quiet_tiger) wrote2010-06-14 09:40 pm

Ficlet: Line of Scrimmage (In the Sand)

Title: Line of Scrimmage (In the Sand)
Author: Quiet Tiger
Genre: Comedy
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Dick, Damian, Tim, Roy Harper, Lian Harper, Mia Dearden
Word Count: 499
Warnings: none
Summary: Bats versus Arrows in a friendly game. Friendly-ish.

Note: Written for [livejournal.com profile] batfic_contest theme "Flag."


~*~

“This is embarrassing.” Damian’s scowl was mirrored, albeit upside down, by Dick’s grin.

“Don’t be jealous that Lian is kicking your—cleaning your clock.” Dick smiled down at the little brunette girl, who had that ‘I’m gonna stick my tongue out at you’ look in her serious eyes. “She’s fast.”

She beamed up at him. “Thanks, Uncle Dick.” She waved the flag that had been on Damian’s belt until a minute prior. “This is fun.”

Roy gave one of Lian’s pigtails a loving tug. “I knew you’d like it.” He turned to Mia as he said, “All right, our turn. New strategy this time…” He ushered his teammatess close so the Bats wouldn’t hear his plan for the next play.

Tim rolled his eyes. “Dick, why are we playing this again? Shouldn’t we be training or something?”

Dick gestured as he answered, “You’d rather do sit ups and run laps than play football with your friends? And what, Damian, stop scowling, or I will suggest you need more laps.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Damian answered, “We’re losing to girls.”

Dick’s lips quirked up. “And Roy.”

“Whatever.”

“Then play better.”

“I’m afraid I’m gonna hurt her. She’s fragile.” Damian’s gesture was interpretable as ‘Lian is breakable.’

“We don’t have to guard by age. You take Mia and Tim’ll guard Lian.”

Roy’s question was audible over Damian’s grumbling. “You girls ready to play? Not that that is in any way an insult to my beloved ladies on my team.” Mia’s raised eyebrow made Roy add, “We’re going to kick Bat butt, right?”

Raising her fist in the air, Lian yelled, “Right!”

The Arrow clan lined up, Roy playing quarterback with Mia and Lian as receivers. He stared down Dick, who narrowed his eyes before wiggling his eyebrows. Tim leaned down in his defensive ready position to be eye-to-eye with Lian, and Damian bristled when Mia smirked at him.

Just another Arrow/Bat picnic, with a fight always looming. At least this time it would be over football and nothing more or less serious.

“You’re going down, Grayson. You and your birds.”

“We’ll see about that, Harper. We may have a trick up our sleeves yet.”

“Never.” Roy set his shoulders. “We ready?” Fierce nods from his teammates. “Okay. Hike!”

~*~

Half an hour later, three Bats and three Arrows entered Wayne Manor looking for leftovers. Roy dug through the fridge as he said, “We should have bet.”

Pouring water from a pitcher, Dick answered, “You’re only saying that because you won.”

“Obviously.”

Continuing to scowl, Damian mumbled around a mouthful of chips, “This was stupid.”

Tim shook his head. “Stupid would be playing with the speedsters or the supers. At least here we were evenly matched.”

Finally emerging with chicken, Roy asked Dick, “What’s next? I chose flag football.”

“Basketball? Or maybe Bruce or Ollie or someone will want to play something.”

“God forbid. And twenty bucks says we’ll beat you guys on the court.”

“You’re on.”

Just another Bat/Arrow picnic.