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Hal hated his soulmark. And his brothers knew it, always making fun of it growing up. What kind of weirdo had a bat as their soulmark?
But then Hal almost completely forgot about it after high school and joined the Air Force and joined Ferris Air and became a Lantern and before he knew it he was best friends with the Flash and formed the Justice League. Fucking Superman was his coworker!
Then there was Spooky. When they faced off against Darkseid, Hal thought about it again. His bat-shaped mark. But nothing seemed to bother Batman about Hal’s anything really. Maybe Hal’s soulmate was Hades, Diana had told him a lot about how much that guy also likes bats.
But of course, duty calls. Bats and Hal had been sent to Japan for some natural disaster assistance when they were attacked by some kid who called himself the “Toyman”. How in the everliving fuck did a literal 10-year-old get the equipment for a giant mech?
Of course it was yellow, so Hal couldn’t do anything to it physically and it seemed to have a counter to everything. Hal could see Bruce scaling a building and his brain was screaming, knowing the guy was going to try to get on the mech.
Hal threw at least a dozen buses at the thing, his only goal to distract Toy-twerp long enough to make it safe for Bruce to get on it. Well. As safe as jumping on a mech could be for a guy without superstrength nor a power ring.
Hal had to admit, there were parts to Bruce that he enjoyed. There was a protective fierceness about him that had Hal in awe when he saw it in a fight. And as much as the guy was an ass, he was great with kids. Like, more kids wanted to be comforted by him than Diana. And he always listened to them and was able to make sense of all those ramblings kids seemed to go on. And Helena liked him. For some reason. Hal might need to have words with his niece about that one.
When they were on the same page, however rare that was, Bruce was ok. Well, ok was an oversimplification. Bats was jacked and that voice just did things to Hal. Bats was a walking wet dream and, admittedly, was right most of the time. He was a selfless jerk, but he was a decent guy too.
Bats almost made it to the cockpit but the Toyman noticed, moving to flick him away with a gigantic finger. Hal went on instinct, moving in between the finger and Bruce, creating a shield around both of them. He felt the shield crash through brick and drywall and Bruce’s weight pressing down and back, trying to stabilize himself in the ball. They finally stopped and Hal cursed when he noticed they were trapped under the rubble of what had to be another apartment building.
Hal looked back at Bruce to see him grimace in pain, his left leg swollen and probably broken. “Ah shit.” Hal blanched, maintaining the shield that encapuseled them under the rubble. “Ok, shit. Listen, I’ll dig us up and get you somewhere safe. Then I’ll come back and hold him off until --”
“No.” Bruce said, offering no other option.
Hal already huffed in annoyance. “Jesus dude, I know you’re not saying that because you care, but --”
Batman huffed this time, interrupting Hal. “You have to be the densest person I have ever met. You have a bat soulmark across your shoulders.” Then he pulled his sleeve up, riping his glove off while he was at it. There was a big Green Lantern symbol on his forearm. “I do almost everything that I do in reference to you because I care.”
Hal was almost silent, for once, but he had so many questions. “I...you seriously knew? For how long?”
“Not as long as I knew about your involvement with Mrs. Ferris.”
Hal groaned at the response, grabbing Bruce’s face and pecking a cheek. He would’ve kissed his lips, but he was sure Bruce would’ve broken his nose. “Who’s dense? I haven’t been ‘involved’ with Carol since junior year. Now, I’m beating the shit out of a child in a 75-foot mecha and you’re waiting for the extraterrestrials to come and take you to see a medical professional. Ok?”
Bruce seemed to process the information he was given, as well as the cheek-kiss when he answered. “Right.” He sighed as Hal unburied them, lifting them onto a platform to a still-standing building. As Hal began to fly away, Bruce spoke up again. “Just don’t do anything stupid, Jordan.”
“Come on, Spooky! Why would I do anything stupid?” Especially now that he finally had something to come back home to.