The Despero Intersection

"Here, have a towel."  "No, have this one, please."  "Mine's cleaner!"  "Thank you both," Wonder Woman said politely,  taking Booster's offering.  "See? Women just despise pathetic grovelers,"  a smiling Booster whispered to Beetle. "You'll never get any being desperate."  "Diana, I'll take you to your room and you can  change there," said J'onn, glowering at Booster and Beetle. "Some people should get busy before there is serious water damage."  "You alone are dry, J'onn," Princess Diana said,  raising an eyebrow.  "Oh, sorry. As a Martian, it still feels a bit  of an extravagant indulgence to be all wet, so I must have unconsciously shielded myself psychokinetically."  "See? That finally explains the smell!" Beetle  said with a grin, turning towards Booster.  "Allow me to apologize, Diana. I should have  kept you and the others dry, too," J'onn continued.  "My Armani would have been grateful..." mumbled  Maxwell Lord, walking off, towel in hand.  "Well! It figures!" said Fire, walking in,  wearing a white terry-cloth bathrobe that may have fit her at age ten. The stare she leveled at the Amazon Princess could have easily withered up plant life or livestock.  "I can dry you off with my power ring, Toots,"  said Guy Gardner, looking over the wet Amazon. "Just let me take off those wet things first and-"  "I knew it! I knew it!" Fire said.  "You could've used your ring to keep off the  water in the first place, Guy," Oberon interrupted, rather miffed that the sudden shower had not improved at all his embarrassing condition. "Made a giant green umbrella or something. Of course that would have required brains, so..."  "You onna death wish, Half-Pint?" Guy snarled.  "Or did the water shrink your wits to match your body?"  >>>>ENOUGH!<<<< broadcasted the Manhunter in  the telepathic equivalent of a slap, making all the Leaguers present wince.  "Please follow me, Diana," J'onn said in a soft  voice amidst the sudden silence. "I hope you can forgive this childish behavior. The Earthling male brain seem to instantly turn off in the presence of a beautiful woman."  "No problem," Diana replied, blushing, as she  began to walk up the main stairs.  J'onn J'onzz stood still for an instant, before  following the Amazon.  *'Beautiful woman'? Did I really say that?*  J'onn asked himself with embarrassed amazement.  "I'll go fix up some hot chocolate for her,"  said Beetle, running for the kitchen.  "An omelet! You can never go wrong with an  omelet!" added Booster, following him.  "Ah, fuck it," spat Gardner. "My beer's getting  warm. I'll better deal with it."  "Good riddance," Oberon said. "I'll go clean up,  maybe another shower... You comin', Scott?"  "Uh, ah, no..." said Mister Miracle, his full  bodysuit completely soaked. His eyes seemed unfocused, and he seemed unable to decide on which foot to settle his weight.  "Oberon, dear," said Fire, with a mischievous  smile that would have made Mae West proud. "I took this robe from your closet. I hope you don't mind."  "Mmm? Oh, sure. Use it."  "How does it look on me?," she asked, leaning  forward and to a side, displaying generous amounts of skin.  "Oh, fine, I guess," Oberon answered, shrugging.  "Excuse me, I'm getting cold."  "Oh, great. THANK YOU!" Beatriz spat, and began  to curse in gutter Portuguese through gritted teeth while Oberon left.  "Was that Wonder Woman?" asked Ice as she  walked down the stairs, buttoning a loose-fitting man's shirt over drawstring pajama pants patterned with funny animals. "Gee, I had forgotten how tall she is."  "What else could scramble like that the meager  brains of these prepubescent idiots?" Fire answered dryly. "Silicone, baby, and lots of it."  "Silicone?"  "You bet."  "Bea, I don't think-"  "It's all silicone, believe me, I know that  subject," Fire huffed. "And she has no hips. Real women should have hips."  "Really? She actually seems very curvy for such  an athletic type."  "HA! She's had enough liposuction to allow an  army of plastic surgeons early retirement. And look at that outfit! Her tits must pop out every five minutes. Doesn't that spell 'slut' to you?"  "Didn't you tell me that if you had it, you  should flaunt it?  "It's different! I was talking about US!"  "Why does she make you angry, Bea? I like her.  She's nice."  "OH, SURE! YOU TOO! EVERYONE THINKS SHE'S NICE!"  Fire said, smoke beginning to rise from her skin quite literally. "I could walk in here naked, with 'Please fuck me' tattooed on my ass, and they would all just talk about HOW NICE SHE IS!"  "You don't need to be jealous, Bea." Ice said,  frowning with concern.  "Jealous? Me? Of that fat cow? DON'T MAKE ME  LAUGH!"  "But-"  "Those types are just image. I bet she's lousy in  bed. And all those Amazons are surely dykes, too!"  Ice looked at Fire for an instant, and then she  simply turned around and walked out.  *Oh, shit,* Fire thought, feeling like a complete  idiot. She stomped her bare foot on the wet carpet and turned around to see Mister Miracle standing with a lost look on his face.  "What the fuck are you looking at?"  "I am Scott Free, Mister Miracle, the world's  greatest-" he began uncertainly.  "I know that, you moron," Fire interrupted.  "Why're you standing there like an idiot? The nice star-spangled girl get to you?"  "Excuse me?"  "Are you daydreaming about getting into Little  Ms. Perfect's starry panties, too?"  "No," he answered. "Should I?"  "You wouldn't want to bed Wonder Woman?"  "No. Should I?"  "So you don't think she's prettier than me?"  "No-"  "AT LAST! A man with good taste!"  "-Should I?"  "You bet NOT!"  Fire smiled, and got very, very close to him.  "You aren't saying that only 'cause you're married, right?  "No. Should I?"  "So you wouldn't really prefer to sleep with  Wonder Woman there than with... let's say, me?"  "No. Should I?"  "You know, I'd never noticed before, but you're  kinda cute, besides being smart...," Fire said in a low, throaty voice, running a finger over his broad shoulders. "It's such a pity that you're married, Scott, there're so many things I could've shown you."  "What things?"  "You're not afraid to find out?" Fire said,  letting her hand go lower.  "No. Should I?"    *******************************************    "Thank you, J'onn," Diana said with another of her radiant smiles at the door. "I'll see you later."  "Uh, yes," J'onn said. He suddenly felt a strong  urge to offer help in unzipping her top, so he turned around and left. "Later."  J'onn breathed out slowly as the guest room's  door closed behind him.  Kilowog was standing there, a strangely modified  vacuum in hand, as he sucked the moisture from the carpeting. His Walkman was playing some Reggae.  "Got any Oreos?" J'onn asked.  "Sure," Kilowog answered, producing an opened  package from a pocket of his coveralls. "Still a few there. Go easy on them."  J'onn sighed, nibbling on the cookie carefully,  mindful to make it last, knowing he had promised himself to cut back.  "She's cute, eh?"  "Uh?"  "I mean, she's too damned thin, for sure. Needs  a couple hundred pounds more on them bones," Kilowog said. "But I dunno, I still find her kinda cute. Oh, well. Keep the stash, man." He shrugged and went on, mumbling the words to a Marley song.  J'onn frowned. Kilowog found Diana 'cute'? The  massive alien's idea of cuteness started around Sumo wrestler levels. This both relieved and worried him. It meant Booster and Beetle were not getting to him and he was not going crazy. There was indeed something about Diana.  Entering his own room, J'onn fought off the  urge to finish the Oreos, sat down lotus-like on his bed, relaxing both mind and body, letting his adopted form revert to his true shape, as he let his vision turn inwards.  Yes. The spark of desire was fading now, but it  was still there. It was a surprising realization.  As a Martian, J'onn had always lacked any  physical interest in human females. His shape-shifting powers allowed him to mimic humanity exactly, and his natural shape was basically humanoid, too, but even the huge Kilowog was in many ways more human-like than him. While Martian sexuality was also bipolar, it had no fixed genders for individuals, and J'onn's typical use of a male human-like shape was just a matter of convenience. His being sexually attracted to a human female was an absurd notion.  He was certainly not used to having an erection.  *Heavens, has it been THAT long?*  He had from their first meeting found Diana  very interesting, recognizing her as an extraordinary individual. But it was one thing to admire her spirit and another to feel crude physical attraction. Had it always been there and he had noticed it only in the present casual circumstances? It was all very disturbing.  Going deeper into his self, he sought to  isolate the exact source of the physical reaction, but failed.  After some thought, he let his mind flow  outwards and sought Wonder Woman's room. He could feel her mind there, clear and bright as always, but he could not feel any telepathic coercion field surrounding her.  This needed investigating. The League was  enough of a mess already. Sex could make everything worse.