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"I do not regret that, however. I regret the conversations we never had, the time we did not spend together.
/I regret that I never told him that he made me happy, when I was in his company. The world was the better for his being in it.
/These things alone do I now regret : things left unsaid.
/And he is gone. And I am old."
- Sandman #71, Neil Gaiman
They knew it had to happen. It didn't mean it didn't hurt when it did. Hell, it didn't even mean they had been prepared for it, not really.
Their hair had been greying and their moves were slightly slower than they used to be. In their occupations, that was enough to get killed, and that was what happened. However, it wasn’t just a job you could just retire from. People needed them.
Both of them had feared the words on the other's arm. Deliberately, they had hidden the words from their soulmate. Knowing them would only make things more difficult in the end. They would try not to say them without success.
They hadn't needed them to know they were soulmates, anyway.
They had just... known. Their feelings toward each other had always been intense, too intense to be anything else that the forming of a soulbond. They had had a hard time accepting it, at first, but as they got used to it, their relationship had become easier to maneuver.
After some time, they had allowed their feelings to show, they had been honest and built a couple relationship based on trust and respect.
They had fought side by side for many years, had been part of a whole for as many and loved each other for quite some time when it happened.
They were simple words. They could have said them so many times before.
Bruce and Hal had not known if the fact they were parting words was any comfort.
Hal had been about to leave for Oa.
“Come on, just one more kiss.” Hal had pleaded.
It was going to be a dangerous mission, but it wasn’t the first. There had been so many of those. So many near misses.
Bruce had indulged him, laughing. His hand had caressed Hal’s hair familiarly. His eyes had been so bright and crow’s feet shouldn’t be so charming, really.
"Go save the world, Lantern." he whispered against his lips.
Those words would have made Hal blush with pride in another context, but he froze. It lasted barely two seconds, but it was enough for Bruce to notice his tenseness and frown.
Hal offered him a weak smile and stroked his jaw. The last time he got to do it, he realized. Bruce tightened his grip on Hal, unsure of what was wrong. He opened his mouth, but Hal stopped him.
"Everything to keep you safe." he said softly and Bruce paled.
He got the meaning of it. Those were the words on his skin, no doubt.
Hal kissed him again but said nothing. Others had tried to defy destiny before them and none had achieved it.
Hal had been aware he wouldn’t live long for quite some time. It wasn’t really a possibility in their world. It didn’t mean he was ready for it.
His mission was a close call. One of his fellow Lanterns almost died. Hal got suspicious when he survived the fight, but he only knew for certain when he saw Batman in the Watchtower, and the silhouette was all wrong.
It was too lean, not broad enough. He took a few steps back until his hands met the wall and leaned against it heavily. Batman met his eyes, and Hal was grateful for the lenses right then, as the man got closer to him.
"Hal."
The voice was wrong too, and Hal knew why. Dick Grayson taking off his cowl and telling him in a low tone what had happened, how he tried to save Bruce, as his red-rimmed eyes misted over was superfluous.
Hal let him anyway. He let the kid - no longer a kid now, not really - spill his guts. He could hear the ache in his words, the excruciating pain and the weight of new responsibilities, his worries about his siblings.
He should say something. Anything, really, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t, and Dick kept talking, and he couldn’t hear, he couldn’t…
And then Dick had stopped talking and just started sobbing and Hal had wrapped his arms around him a bit mechanically, the way Bruce would have done it, and cried with him.
Them saying their last words to each other hadn't been because Hal was going to die. He could have dealt with it, but this ? It was so much worse.