Chapter Text
They were too many to all get in the elevator at the same time.
“Jason and I will take the next one.” Hal assured them.
They had. But after taking a peek at Bruce hugging Damian and ruffling Tim’s hair, they had just retreated a bit further in the corridor and talked about the weather.
“What are you doing ? Come in.” Dick, who must have caught sight of them, had called them from the doorframe before going back inside.
Hal waited with Jason for a few more seconds.
“You should go in there.” the young man finally said.
“I know. You could come too.” Hal remarked, already knowing Bruce's child wasn’t going to.
“I am good.” Jason said, shaking his head.
They shook hands and Hal gave Jason’s shoulder a little tap.
“Take care.” he said.
“You too.” Jason answered back, and a second after he was gone and Hal was pushing Bruce’s hospital room’s door open.
He didn't feel half as confident as he looked, walking inside.
“Hal. You’re here.” Bruce said once Hal had gotten a bit closer to the bed.
Hal felt bad for the note of incredulity in his husband’s voice.
“I can -” he said, looking over his shoulder at the door, ill at ease.
“Stay.” Bruce said, grabbing his wrist before Hal could flee.
Hal looked down at the familiar hand on his arm. He and Bruce hadn't touched since the handshake in Hal's apartment.
Bruce must have mistaken his grimace for uncomfort as he immediately let go of Hal's wrist. It took all of Hal's will not to seize Bruce's hand and put it back where it was.
“Hey, why don’t we let you two catch up and go grab something for dinner ?” Dick asked with zero subtlety.
Tim threw Hal one last icy glance but followed Dick out of the room after a quick goodbye to Bruce. Damian looked at Hal with hopefulness in his eyes.
“You’ll be there when we come back ?” he asked.
“I promise.” Hal said, brushing a strand of hair away from Damian’s eyes.
Barbara gave Hal’s wrist a discreet squeeze on her way out as she said her goodbyes to Bruce. Hal took the chair Damian had deserted and sat next to his husband.
“Hey. Rough week, uh ?” Hal said after a few seconds.
Talking to Bruce had never been so scary but not talking to him felt much worse.
“No one managed to get themselves killed, so I suppose it wasn’t so bad.” Bruce said with a small smile.
Hal almost asked if he was serious, if he hadn’t seen their red-rimmed eyes and the dark circles under them, if he hadn't noticed Damian hugging him so fiercely it must have been painful.
“Don’t joke about dying.” Hal said and he let himself grab Bruce’s hand this time.
Bruce let him and Hal breathed a little better.
"There’s something we need to talk about.” Hal said before he could think about how it sounded and regret it.
Bruce had tensed and flinched slightly. Hal's hand had tightened around his.
“If you’ve brought the divorce papers, I’ll kill you with my bare hands.” Bruce had vowed, looking at Hal right in the eye.
He sounded dead serious.
“You know that I didn’t. Not here.” Hal said.
It wasn't the first time one of them found themselves in a hospital and they had that tacit promise of limiting the arguing where they were in one.
He could have told Bruce what he had decided right away but he wasn’t sure how to do it. Maybe Bruce had changed his mind. What if Bruce had changed his mind ?
He could feel Bruce intertwining their hands.
"Hal, if you really wanted a divorce, I would sign the paperwork in a heartbeat. I would never force you to stay married to someone you're not in love with anymore." Bruce said softly. "But I think we're still very much in love with each other."
He seemed hesitant and Hal couldn’t blame him. Their last discussions about their marriage hadn’t been a walk in the park.
"It's not about that. Look, I've not asked just to hurt you or something. I have a reason." Hal sighed.
A reason that seemed more and more futile each second he spent in Bruce's company.
"I know. If it's what you really want, I'll sign the papers." Bruce said, his eyes fixated on his ring finger - it wasn’t bare, as Hal had suspected, spotting the titanium band. "But first, I want you to hear my piece."
Hal nodded, wondering which of the kids had brought his wedding band back to Bruce. They would have to know where he kept it when he wasn’t wearing it and the sentimental value of it. That and Hal couldn't imagine Bruce asking one of the kids for it. Alfred ?
“I know what you were trying to do. I tried to do it before, for you. I broke up with you once, about a year before we got married. I suppose you remember that ?"
Hal nodded. It had been painful, even back then. It was still nothing compared to what Hal had put them through.
"But then you almost managed to get killed on your own and I figured that if it was going to happen any time soon, I’d rather have you at my side for the time we had left.”
They had gotten back together after a Corps' mission that Hal had almost not come back from and Bruce had started putting marriage ideas on his head not long after.
Bruce pressed their hands against Hal's face.
“I know what happened to your friend’s family and I am sorry for them. Hal. Villains go after us all the time. Sometimes, we even seek them out. Our lives are always on the line.”
Hal looked puzzled for a second before his eyes lightened with realization.
“Barry told you.” Hal said, a bit displeased even if he could appreciate what his friend had been trying to do.
Bruce misinterpreted his frown.
“Let me finish. You think you were protecting me. Or the kids. It’s a nice thought but you can trust my experience here, you don't protect them better when you stay away. If you want to get through this, be my guest but you’re just causing us a lot of unnecessary pain and we gain nothing from it.”
Hal waited for a few seconds before he allowed himself to speak.
“Are you done ? Great. I- it was a bad idea from the start. Yes, I was doing it because I thought it would protect you and the kids. I am sorry I made you go through this, I am sorry I've not told you about everything that was going on so we could figure out what to do together.” Hal said.
He was now holding both of Bruce's hands into his.
"I am sorry I treated you so badly. You deserved so much better." Hal said softly.
"You… Do you not want a divorce anymore ?" Bruce asked, confused.
"I don't. I realized that when we were waiting for Leslie to update us on your condition and I was talking to Barbara. I’m sorry I've only managed to hurt us both and I hate it when you're in pain and you've been so awfully nice about the whole thing and then you’ve got physically hurt and I thought I’d never get a chance to tell you how much I love you again and that Tim was going to hate me forever if you didn’t make it. I just couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t -”
He didn't have to find the next part of the sentence - he was being kissed by Bruce, and oh how much he had missed that.
"Come closer." Bruce said and Hal climbed onto the hospital bed so they could make out more efficiently.
"I love you.” Hal said after some time, resting against Bruce’s left side, one arm loosely draped over him.
The hospital bed was barely big enough for the two of them but they had made it work somehow.
“Next time you want to prove it, don’t file for divorce.” Bruce sighed. “I love you too.” he said, kissing Hal's head.
“Bruce, can we talk about Damian ?” Hal asked after a little while.
“I thought Tim was the one who had a problem with you.” Bruce said with amusement.
Tim had fierce protective instincts when it came to his loved ones.
“I suspect we’re going to get along better now that you’re not dying and that we’re not divorcing."
Bruce decided against telling Hal that he was delusional if he thought Tim wasn't as proficient at holding grudges as the rest of the family.
"What do you want to tell me about Damian ?"
"He had a nightmare about you dying and was freaking out about who would get guardianship.”
Bruce stilled for a second, winced, and relaxed his muscles. Hal had known that Alfred would be the one who would be granted custody, hadn’t he ?
“He told me about his Mom’s letter. I know there are things we should talk about together first but is adopting Damian something you still would want me to do at some point in the future ?”
“If you both want it.” Bruce said softly and Hal hummed happily as Bruce let his fingers run through his hair.
“Jason was here earlier too, you know ?” Hal said after a while, yawning.
He knew Bruce worried for Jason a lot. Maybe it could do him some good to know that the reverse was equally true.
“I know.” Bruce said, stroking Hal’s hair.
His ring caught a ray of light as he did so and he couldn’t help a soft smile from gracing his lips.
When he had woken up, he had taken notice of the familiar velvet box next to his pillow. His wedding band was in it.
He had checked his messages - he had received a lot of them from friends including a few voicemails from Barry surprisingly - and found one from an unknown number.
You owe me one. it read.
Bruce had struggled to find the right answer as he put his wedding band on and finally chose not to send one for the moment.
Maybe he could just refrain from interfering into Red Hood’s cases for a while. Maybe he could send thousands of those chocolate bars Jason loved as a young teen to one of his suspected safehouses but compromising one of his son's safehouses was probably not the way to go. Or he could get him an autograph from Diana. Teen Jason would've loved that. He doubted Jason would appreciate it that much now.
It could wait. For now, Hal was quite literally back into his arms and Bruce didn’t want to think of anything else.
That's how Clark found them, Hal curled up against Bruce, a hand clinging on to his hospital gown and fast asleep, and Bruce watching him, tracing patterns on his back.
"How are you feeling ?" Clark asked, frowning.
He was disapproving of their reconciliation, then. He probably thought that it was happening too soon and that Bruce should have made Hal crawl for it.
"I'm good." Bruce said, sparing one more glance at his husband.
His right side hurt like hell despite the pain killers and Damian's hug had been so painful that it had shown on his face and Dick had removed the kid from him before Bruce had to howl in pain.
But Leslie had told him that he'd heal with time and Hal was back at his side.
"I take it you two are good too ?" Clark had asked.
"It's going to take us some time to get back there." Bruce said, his hand stroking Hal's shoulder as his husband mumbled something in his sleep.
They would have to rebuild a climate of trust together.
"But we will." Bruce added confidently just as Hal stirred next to him.