10001 Nightmares Party

[Fic] oh, if i could (DCU)

Summary:

Hal figures it out pretty much instantly.

Notes:

Batlantern Week 2k21: Day 1 - Soulmates

Work Text:

Hal figures it out pretty much instantly.

He’s got a bat rapping around his ankle after all, and really, it’s kind of funny. The thing has been an abstract concept for as long as he’s been able to remember (except for that brief period he thought his soulmate was a vampire) and he’s a lot of things but stupid ain’t one of them. Like, okay, he knows himself. He might miss it if wasn’t so obvious, but it is, and so he realizes What’s Up pretty damn quickly.

Batman—some dude named Bruce Wayne—is his soulmate.

It’s… not the earth-shattering revelation he was kind of expecting. In part because the whole event got outshined by the two-hour war against Darkseif, but also just because… well, soulmates aren’t magic, turns out. There’s no bright shining light tying him to Batman now, and he’s not magically in love with him.

Honestly, it’s a little anticlimactic.

“Well, what now?” Hal asks the empty air where Superman was two seconds ago. Everybody sure did skedaddle quickly, he thinks.

Batman didn’t, though. He’s back in his costume and says, “Just head home and get a good rest, Hal. You need it.”

Hal frowns at him. Looks around, and then at his broken arm, and then the rubble around them again. The city’s in pieces, as is surely much of the rest of the world, and he doesn’t want to bow out now. There’s no telling how many people are trapped under rubble, or in cars, or… anything, really. Now is not the time to quit and go home.

He doesn’t get a chance to say that though, because Batman adds, “You need to get that arm looked at, too.”

This time, Hal scowls. “I can do that later—”

“Go home, Hal.”

His eyes narrow. “Why do you care? I’m good to keep going, and I don’t need somebody to hold my hand while I lift rubble. If it bothers you, just leave.”

Batman looks at him; Hal can’t see the expression behind the cowl. But the silence speaks for itself, and the unending gaze is intense and gets to him eventually. He clears his throat, looks away first, and he hates that he lost at the same time as his stomach warm at the attention. Because they’re soulmates and it doesn’t mean anything—but Batman is so fucking smart. Hal’s only known him for a couple hours and he’s already realized this.

And maybe Hal has a thing for competence. Maybe he looked at Batman so easily finding a solution and just moving to complete it without any hesitation, and maybe his heart clenched and maybe his breath caught in his chest and maybe his hands tingled and maybe his stomach fluttered.

But still. It doesn’t mean anything. Soulmates aren’t a must, aren’t an inevitably, aren’t a be-all-end-all.

Batman sighs, and it sounds so human it’s kind of disturbing. “I’m not—”the man interrupts himself, frowning. Then starts again, “You got thrown around a lot. If you’re not going to rest, you should at least let a doctor look you over quickly.”

“And I suppose you’ve got one on speed dial?”

“You don’t?”

“Oh, shut up,” Hal grumbles, starting to walk to the nearest rubble. People are beginning to emerge from their hiding places, and the sound of sirens is finally overpowering the sound of explosions. The car alarms are still going strong, too, and in the distance he can see helicopters approaching.

Squinting, he looks ahead as best he can through the smokey sky. Batman’s presence at his side is too big to ignore, Hal aware of it on a level he’s not used. Even with Carol, it took him a long time to reach this point of awareness, and he wonders what it is about Spooky that just… slides right past all that.

“You’re not heading back to Gotham?” Hal asks after the thirteenth person they’ve pulled out of rubble together.

Batman doesn’t look at him as he answers, “I’m needed more here,” and Hal supposes that’s true enough.

(He wonders, does Batman know? Could he tell as easily as Hal?)

(He wonders, is Hal’s mark a green lantern?)

(…He doesn’t know what it says about him that he’s scared to ask.)

The rest of the night goes pretty much the same, but eventually the city runs out of heavy things for him to lift, and eventually his eyes start drooping, and eventually the pain in his broken arm shatters his composure, and eventually Hal finds himself at a doctor named Leslie, Bruce still by his side.

“You should have seen a doctor hours ago,” Leslie scolds him, Hal meekly allowing her free range. The pain meds she gave him are drowning out the pain as she fiddles with his arm, putting a cast on it and drawing a little pink kitty on his hand. Hal grins at her, doesn’t have the time to thank her before she’s sweeping out to deal with some other patient. Fair enough. There’s… a lot of patients today.

“Feel better now?” Hal asks Spooky, standing and stretching his back.

Batman crowds him as they leave, muttering a quiet, “You’re impossible,” that sounds impossibly fond. Already. They’ve known each other a day, two at most, and Hal is beginning to think this whole soulmate thing might be on to something.

Because. Well, Batman is hot, and smart, and he’s utterly unbearable sometimes but Hal can still see where he’s coming from and it’s maybe kind of fun.

“You love it,” he retaliates, stretching again, and if his shoulder bumps Batman’s in the process, that’s really nobody’s business but theirs.

The lack of protest tells him everything he needs to know, and Hal laughs, bright and grinning, and the warm in his belly expands and the tingles through his skin is sharp and unrelenting and the bat on his ankle isn’t a chain, isn’t a manacle like he always feared; it’s a just a mark. But Batman… Batman is kind of amazing.

Comments are closed.

#Fandom: Batman #Fandom: DCU #Post Type: Fic #Rating: Teen #Status: Complete #Tag: AU #Tag: Fluff #WC: 1000-5000