#false hope

From the first time he had seen you, he couldn't help but be captivated. The way that you smiled at him made him feel like he held up the sun, your eyes crinkling at the corners. He didn't often come by the Justice League headquarters, mostly just when Hal or John put a request in for extra backup. However, he found himself going back repeatedly when he wasn't needed, pacing through the halls just for a chance of seeing you again.

You were a secretary hired by the Batman himself, keeping things orderly and neat to the eyes of the public. He'd come to get coffee with Hal, looking through the glass wall of the second floor to the reception you manned. He'd watch how day after day you dealt with angry members of the public or crazed fans trying to get past you. Not that they could, everything beyond a certain point was access restricted so they wouldn't be able to do so much as call the elevator. With a sigh and a calm smoothing of your shirt you'd click the call button under your desk, security coming to whisk the person annoying you away.

He also saw you at some of the work functions, little get togethers that Superman held to try and encourage a team environment. You were invited to those too but seemed wildly out of place among all of the superpowered (or in the Bat's case, heavily armed) figures in the room. Since Kyle had been dropping by more and more frequently for months now, they invited him along. Every time they didn't, he asked to come along with Hal.

He yearned to talk to you, yet there was a pit of worry clawing at his gut. He wished he could take off the mask and talk to you normally, like you were both casual civilians bumping into each other on the street. He had debated that exact scenario multiple times, but he didn't want to be a stalker. If you two ever did end up together, he didn't want to have the foundations of the relationship be a lie. That wouldn’t be fair to you.

So, he watched from a distance, studying the way you laughed, the way you smiled, the way you held yourself. Catching sight of Diana coming towards him, he nodded his head in polite greeting. The Amazonian returned the gesture, drink in hand as she leans on the wall next to him. "Rayner," she greets quietly, lips quirking into a grin. "I've been seeing you a lot more at these kinds of things. Don't tell me you're actually starting to enjoy them?" she teases. he shrugs his shoulders, smiling back.

"It's not like the corps are gonna throw a Christmas party anytime soon, I'll take what I can get." he chuckles, raising his glass to hers in a toast. She clinks her own cup against his, and they both take a sip in silence. Automatically his eyes seek you out again, picking you out of the crowd as you talk to Superman. Diana's eyes follow his.

"Have you met our secretary yet?" she asks, curious. He shakes his head, throat feeling dry.

"No, I don’t think I have." he replies, trying to control the thudding of his pulse. She clicks her teeth at his answer, humming lightly.

"They're a civilian that helps us out. Batman hired them to try and manage PR, you know, when people think we aren't doing anything. They help keep those tabloids from running rampant, and they do a pretty good job of it." Kyle turns to look at her, eyebrow raised.

"Doesn't that make them a target?" he asks. "If they're a civilian at the front desk of the Justice League, isn't there enemies of you all that would love to get the chance to take a free hit?"

Diana shrugs in response. "There was at the start, and truthfully it was quite scary." she says. "But our enemies realised rather quickly that to be a mistake. There's always someone at the headquarters, and they just better hope that it isn't Batman's shift." She jokes, waving her hand. "Besides, everyone figured out pretty quick that they've got a guard dog watching 24/7. No one's coming to get them knowing that."

He huffs out a laugh, grin gracing his lips into a smile. "Who's that? Don't tell me it’s the Bat, I won't believe you."

Diana laughs, shaking her head. "No, it's not Batman." she says, eyes sparkling as she smiles. "I thought you would have known."

"Why?"

"Because he's a lantern." she says matter of factly, pushing off the wall as waving as she heads back into the small crowd. His heart thuds in his chest, world slowing down around him momentarily. Did she know about how he felt? rushed around his mind, making his hands twitch nervously. He excuses himself politely, wondering just how often he had to have been caught staring for Diana to put something like that together.

As he heads for the bathroom to wash his face, he fails to notice that you've since stopped your conversation with Superman, instead conversing with the Flash and Hal. If he had paid attention just a touch closer, he would have seen the way you stood a little closer to Hal than usual, and the respectful hand that snaked around your waist to sit on your hip.

Since the night of the party, Kyle found himself inextricably coming back to the Justice League base, day after day. Just for a chance to talk to you, a chance to see you, for your hands to accidentally brush against one another when you go to get water from the cooler. You'd give him a smile and a thank you each time, his heart softening after each one. He couldn’t help the daydream of what it would feel like to have you in his arms, and to wake up with you beside him. What your face would look like as he made your favourite meal after a long day of work or flying you up to the tallest building in the city so he could see the lights reflected in your eyes. Hearing the passing chatter of others did nothing to quell his racing heart either.

The rumours that floated around that you were getting close to a Green Lantern made his heart leap from his chest, hands tingling with excitement and blood rushing to his head. When there was any tearoom chatter that you were dating a Lantern, he brushed it off. He hadn't been that forward, had he?

He tried to push past it, smiling and striking up conversation with you a bit more. His lips longed to ask you questions about what the two of you were. He had just seen it as friends, but did you see it differently? Did you want to be with him even a fraction of the way that he wanted to be with you?

When you mention your respect for the work that the Lantern's did, giving him a genuine thanks, he swore that the sun came out in a halo behind you. Of course he played it off as well as he always did, lovesick smile pulling his lips back and dark hair flopping over his eyes as he laughs and tells you not to worry about it. Every compliment you give him, every time you talk about how much you liked a certain lantern in particular made his chest pound. His throat felt tight, brain racing at the way that you brought it up so casually.

Was this your way of signalling your interest in him? Was he being too dense?

Hope fluttered weakling in his chest each time, making him giddy. When he saw you with Hal, he waved politely at the two of you, carrying on his business. He so desperately wanted to say that if you wanted to get to know him better, that you could just ask him, not Hal. He didn't bite and he didn't have any intention of being rude to you. He chalked it up to you just being scared, a nervousness that he could relate to all too well.

That's why when he sees the two of you leaving one evening, he can only sigh dreamily from the sidelines. So in love and heart fluttering with hope he can barely register the arm Hal has thrown around your neck, or the fact that it's his jacket covering your shoulders. He doesn't take note of the way you kiss Hal's cheek rounding the corner, or the way his coworker smirks and leans down to whisper something in your ear.

Kyle Rayner was a man well and truly in enraptured, with eyes that were lovestruck and hopeful.