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The first time he says it, it’s to Barry Allen.
They need all the help they can get, so Hal calls in The Flash. When he arrives in a blast of lightning, Hal greets him with “Hey baby” and a ridiculous smirk.
And it’s stupid. Clearly it’s stupid because Barry rolls his eyes at Hal and says something about it being better than Hal calling him his real name in the field. Bruce narrows his eyes at the two, annoyed because Hal is unprofessional and reckless. Because he smirks at his teammates and calls them “baby.”
It's because he’s still annoyed at Hal that Bruce accidentally grips Barry’s hand a little too tight.
The Justice League’s temporary headquarters are, regrettably, the Batcave. Bruce already has a few different plans for potential bases, but for now he has to suffer through weekly meetings in his home.
Hal seems to come up with a new nickname for him every meeting.
At first it’s “Spooky,” then it’s “Batsy,” and then it’s “B-Man.”
There’s also “Dracula,” and, Bruce’s least favorite, “Old Man.” Hal had said the last one with glee after Jason had passed through the cave and into the manor, throwing a “cool work friends, old man,” over his shoulder. It’s annoying that Hal had made Jason laugh within a few minutes of meeting him.
Hal doesn’t have as many nicknames for everyone else. He only seems to have one, actually, which is how Bruce knows that he does it to annoy him.
Hal calls Clark “baby” in the middle of a meeting.
“Hell yeah, baby,” he says in response to some jab or something that Clark throws at him. Bruce’s face gets hot because it’s unprofessional and they’re trying to hash out important details. And Hal’s wink is stupid.
Bruce knows that Hal is attractive. Objectively. But no matter what Dick says, Hal Jordan is not his type.
“Yeah? Well I remember a story that Alfred told me about a teenage Bruce getting his heart broken by pretty boys with motorcycles,” is what Dick says. Maybe Bruce had a thing for dangerous bad boys in high school, but this is different.
Hal Jordan is a test pilot. He doesn’t have a motorcycle and a leather jacket. He flies planes and wears a flight jacket.
Hal Jordan isn’t a bad boy, he’s a reckless superhero. And pretty is hardly the adjective Bruce would use to describe him. More like annoying and arrogant and beautiful.
Oh. Huh.
Hal calls Oliver Queen baby two minutes after Bruce introduces him to the League. They’re finally in the Watchtower, and it’s big enough for the current members and so many more. Bruce had been keeping tabs on his friend in Star City since his return, and he was an obvious choice.
Bruce was regretting his choice as Hal looks the archer up and down and says “Hey there, baby, I’m Hal.”
Bruce catches himself fucking growling and quickly turns it into an annoyed groan. Oliver raises an eyebrow at Bruce before responding to Hal.
“And I’m married,” Oliver says, but it’s with a smile and another knowing look towards Bruce.
“Oh trust me, that won’t stop the pet names. It’s that or get called your actual name while in costume,” Barry says. Oliver laughs and seamlessly jumps into a conversation with the rest of the League.
Bruce silently wills him to keep his mouth shut about their high school years.
The first time that Hal calls Bruce baby isn’t exactly ideal.
It was a rough fight. The Justice League is still finding its footing, especially with the new additions to the team. So it’s not really anyone's fault when Batman gets hit.
He’s fighting beside Hal and Oliver when one of the robots they’re fighting gets lucky. Oliver isn’t used to working with them yet, and it gets past him.
Bruce goes down with a surprised shout, used to relying on Hal’s presence to defend his blind spots.
“Bruce!” Hal yells, and before Bruce can grumble at him for using names in the field, another robot is descending on him and he’s slipping from consciousness worryingly fast.
When he pulls his eyes open next, the noises of battle have faded and he can no longer see the sky. He tries to push himself up, get a look at his surroundings, but a searing pain shoots through his side. A gentle hand guides him back down.
“Hey, it’s okay, I’ve got you. Hold on baby.” Hal’s voice sounds far away, and Bruce tries to focus on it, but the world fades out again.
When he wakes up again, he’s in the Watchtower’s medbay. There’s a mess of brown hair resting next to him on the bed, and a warm hand in his.
Later Bruce will realize that it took a bullet to the leg and stomach for Hal to call him baby. He tries to bring this up to Hal, but soon they’re too busy kissing for anything else to matter.
Hal pretends to dislike public displays of affection and grand romantic gestures at first. Bruce respects that Hal isn’t that kind of person, and it takes a couple of weeks for Hal to quietly admit that he wouldn’t mind it, and that he’ll like it if it’s Bruce doing it. Bruce tries to force down his grin and thanks Hal with a kiss that quickly turns into more, something that seems to happen a lot for them. Bruce suspects that kissing Hal will always make him feel like he’s on fire.
Later that night, while Hal is asleep on Bruce’s chest, Bruce begins planning.
Bruce arrives at Ferris Air at exactly 5pm in one of his flashier cars. Hal isn’t waiting out front like he said he would be, and Bruce rolls his eyes. He’s probably lost track of time, again. But Bruce expected this, so he puts his car in park, grabs the flowers from the passenger seat, and walks inside.
Bruce Wayne walking into Ferris Air in designer clothes, roses in hand, is quite the sight to see.
He smiles at the receptionist, says “I’m here to see Hal Jordan?” and she mutely points through a set of doors that lead into the flight hangar. Bruce thanks her and wonders what percent of Ferris’s budget goes towards security. He’ll have to ask Carol.
When he walks into the flight hangar, he immediately scans the room for Hal. He ignores the way that the other employees in the hangar are gaping at him, because Hal is standing in the middle of the room with his back towards Bruce.
Bruce was right, he’s still in the middle of repairing a part of a jet, flight suit still on. The man next to Hal points behind him and Hal spins around. His eyebrows raise in surprise, a grin brightening his face. Bruce walks towards him, heart suddenly in his throat because god Hal is beautiful.
“Hey, baby,” Hal says, his voice soft. Bruce’s breath stutters. He’s supposed to be the smooth one dammit. He’s Bruce Wayne. But his boyfriend is standing in front of him, grinning with windswept hair and calling him baby.
“Hi,” Bruce whispers. He knows that his face is turning pink. Hal chuckles at him and starts packing up his tools.
“Sorry I got caught up in work, I’ll be ready in 5,” he says before leaning forward to kiss Bruce’s cheek and heading towards what looks like a locker room.
Bruce is so screwed.