Work Text:
“Fuck, what have you done ?” Hal muttered through gritted teeth, doubled up with pain.
He shouldn’t be hurting this much. If it was how bad he felt here, he couldn’t imagine how bad it would feel on Earth. How bad it would even feel to be a first hand recipient of this pain. His soulmate should be unconscious.
Which would have been convenient - it would mean Hal wouldn’t feel their pain anymore. Hal closed his eyes for a second.
One of the aliens he had been talking to must have some knowledge of human expressions since they asked if he was alright.
Hal tried to convey that he was more or less okay and that they shouldn’t worry over him, just give him a second through a handful of inspirations and hand gestures.
He had to make a quick decision. The chances he would faint himself on the trip back home were reasonably high. The chances his soulmate would be dead in a short time were reasonably high too. This was looking more and more like an impossible choice every passing second.
Good. Hal made those twice a week. Unfortunately, the choices he made always seemed to imply more pain for him.
He said goodbye to the locals, let their tentacles pet his forehead gently, hoped they’d wait for his return before they decided to attack the planet next door and prepared for the trip back.
When he landed in the Watchtower, his whole body was burning with pain and his eyes were watering. He ignored it and went to the control room.
Barry and Jessica were on monitor duty, chatting casually. They turned around before he could speak.
“Hal ?” Jessica asked hesitantly.
He was supposed to be on a mission and had only been gone for a day. Something must have gone very bad for him to come back so early, they hadn’t expected him to return before a week or two.
Barry knew Hal better than her and was already at his side to support him.
“What happened ?” he asked, helping him into his seat.
“Bruce is in trouble.” Hal said.
Even talking hurt. Stupid soulbound.
“Are you okay ?”
Jessica offered him a couple of painkillers and Hal swallowed them dry. He was quite certain you needed a script for those ones. They could be glad to have people with medical backgrounds working in the League.
“Bruce. It’s worse than usual. Call the Robins.”
Jessica hesitated for a second, met Barry’s gaze and pressed a few buttons on the operation panel in front of her.
Soon enough, the image of an unmasked teenager in a black and red costume sitting in Bruce’s seat in the Batcave appeared.
“Hey, I don’t think you’re supposed to call us from there. What’s wrong ?” the teen asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously in an attitude very reminiscent of an older man.
“You tell me. Where’s your Dad ?” Hal pressed him.
The kid looked confused for a half-second.
“You mean Bruce ? No one calls him that, not even D-”
Hal thought about making some quip about Tim’s intelligence but decided to focus on the urgency of the situation instead.
“Whatever, this is very important. Bruce isn’t here, is he ?” he insisted on knowing.
Jessica and Barry had stayed silent even if Hal knew they were having some sort of silent exchange behind his back.
“Recon with Damian. Something basic. What’s going on ?” the teenager asked.
“Try to contact them. Now.” Barry said.
Hal’s eyes flickered to him. He must have figured things out.
“Bruce isn’t answering.” Tim said after a few tries.
“Try your brother.” Hal urged him.
The pain wasn’t increasing anymore but it still felt like he had been ran over by a car or something just as painful. Hal suspected quite a few broken bones.
The boy’s eye had twitched at the word “brother” but he hadn’t protested, clearly in alert mode. He looked more like Bruce now that he had two minutes ago.
“Is he answering ?” Jessica asked after a minute had passed.
“No.” the teenager said, mumbling something under his breath that sounded like a swear before manipulating his comms. “Oracle, this is Red Robin. Do you have a localisation for Batman and Robin ?” he asked.
Just as Hal noticed that he didn’t feel pain anymore. The painkillers were effective. Very effective. Too effective, to tell the truth.
“Shit. Bruce’s unconscious.” he realized.
He stood up and paced in the room. Hal could swear he had never paced much before meeting Bruce. Apparently, it was contagious.
“How could you know that ?” Tim asked.
Hal sighed. If he remembered well, Tim was the one with the best detective skills out of all of Bruce’s kids. He chose to ignore the question. With Bruce as a parental figure, the kid was probably used to it.
“Send us the coordinates Oracle gave you. And don’t go there without backup. We’ll be there as soon as possible.” Hal said before ending their conversation.
The screen went blank. Hal sighed. He felt Barry’s hand on his forearm and met compassionate blue eyes.
“Hal -”
“Not now, Barry. We have to get to Bruce.”
“I’ll stay at the Watchtower, we need someone on monitor duty.” Jessica said. “Keep me informed.” she demanded, but she was looking at Barry.
“Sure.”
Barry brushed past her and it could have been a figment of his imagination but Hal thought his best friend may have pressed Jessica’s hand for a milli-second while doing so.
They didn’t say a word as they followed the coordinates Tim indicated but Hal could feel Barry’s insistent side glances.
When he felt the pain going back in full force, Hal knew it meant his soulmate had been jolted awake, and that the more likely reason was that someone had found him. Now, how to know if it was an ally or an enemy…
“Go ahead !” Hal shouted to Barry. “I’ll manage.” he added under his breath for himself, leaning against a wall.
The good thing was, Bruce was definitely alive. The bad thing was, it was painful as hell.
Soon enough the pain receded and Hal could run instead of just forcing his body to put a foot in front of the other one step at a time. Bruce must have been sedated. Or he was dead. Hal ran faster.
They hadn’t been far away from the scene when he had doubled over in pain so he didn’t have to run for long before he had to stop.
“We have them. You should call Leslie. I think Robin is fine but B… Yes, call him too. See you, Oracle." Tim was saying, crouched next to a dark form.
Barry was at Bruce's other side and Red Hood was holding a weakly protesting Robin in his arms ("Unhand me at once, Hood !)
Hal checked on Damian first ("What are you doing ? I am perfectly fine !"). According to Jason, the boy had been unconscious when they found him but apart from that and a sprained ankle, he seemed fine.
Jason said he was going to take the kid home. Tim, Barry and Hal should be able to deal with B on their own.
In any case, they should move B. They weren't safe in this alley.
Hal nodded and went to kneel next to his soulmate.
"You've sedated him, right ?"
Tim nodded.
"When I checked him for injuries he started thrashing. He was in so much pain… Jason thought it best to sedate him."
"That's a good thing." Hal said as he made a construct to transport Bruce's body safely.
He wouldn't have been able to maintain it if he was in too much pain.
Hal didn't remember much about the rest of the night.
They had reached the Manor and Alfred and Dr Thompkins had taken over.
Bruce's kids had gone in and out of the medbay repetitively. Hal could feel the start of a headache.
The doctor had declared that Damian was indeed alright.
Bruce had many broken bones. There was talk of surgery.
Hal was trying to pay attention but he was dead on his feet. Leslie noticed and forced him to rest in the medbay with the complicity of Bruce's butler.
Hal only planned to shut his eyes for a bit and stay awake for the rest of the night.
Yet, when he woke up he felt like he must have been asleep for several hours.
He would have slept even more if it wasn't for the return of the pain. Bruce was obviously awake. And on painkillers since Hal could actually move. He was still feeling like shit but there was a neat improvement - he could walk without the help of the wall.
He walked to Bruce's bed and collapsed in the chair nearby.
"Hal ? You're not sleeping ?"
Hal groaned and threw him a dirty look Bruce couldn't even see in the dark.
"It was easier when you were unconscious, to be honest.”
He was quite certain that Bruce had known they were soulmates for a long time. And if he hadn't, Red Robin was probably going to share his observations with him anyway. Surely Tim had already figured it out.
“I am sorry for the pain.” Bruce said, sitting up.
He extended his arm to reach the lamp and Hal swore.
"Don't you dare to move." he said and he switched the light on himself.
Bruce looked like… like he couldn't sleep because he was in pain and Hal could bet he didn't look much better.
“Sometimes I really resent the fact that my soulmate doesn’t have a desk job, you know." Hal sighed, holding his ribs.
“I do have a desk job.”
Hal closed his eyes and rubbed them.
“Shut up. Forgive me for not asking how you feel but I can imagine. How could you even stay conscious ?”
“I have a high pain tolerance.” Bruce said, shrugging.
They both winced at the gesture.
“I’d say that I’ve never noticed but that would be a lie.”
“For how long ?” Bruce asked.
Hal hummed.
“I’ve known you were in the vigilante business since I’ve become one myself. It explained the blows. That or you were in the mob or something, but I used to think you were just someone in extreme sports before I was beaten black and blue by a meta in a back alley and thought “oh that’s it, that’s what my soulmate goes through on a regular basis”.”
Bruce made a move toward him.
“Hal -"
He didn't acknowledge the pain but Hal had to grit his teeth to keep from screaming.
"Please just stop moving. At all." he said.
Bruce made a face but complied.
“Of course I couldn’t figure out if you were a superhero or supervillain but finding my soulmate wasn’t a priority. I had more important stuff to care about. Which was great as long as we kept some distance between us.”
“But then we met and the League was founded.” Bruce interrupted.
Hal looked at him and nodded.
“Yes. Of course I didn’t know it was because of you but I sure as hell knew that all the pain I felt post-battle wasn’t mine and that I could feel yours almost as intensely as mine on the battlefield and during our following meetings. I could figure out one thing or two from there. It had to be one of you. That or one of the things we have fought, but I hoped it wasn’t that bad.”
Hal paused then.
“We weren’t that many. I figured it out rather quickly.”
Hal stayed silent after that. Bruce waited for a minute before speaking up.
“You’ve never said anything.”
“Neither have you.” Hal retorted.
“Shouldn’t you be into space ?”
It was clearly a diversion but Hal let Bruce be. They were too exhausted for a good arguing session.
“I was. Until I started feeling like I had fought against the Hulk."
“I thought distance dulled the pain.” Bruce said and he was genuinely surprised.
He was now looking at Hal the way a scientist looked at a frog he was about to dissect.
“It does, usually. You had to be in agonizing pain for me to feel it so badly on another planet.”
Hal wondered if Bruce could hear the frustration in his voice.
“Why did you come ? Surely it must have felt worse with the proximity.”
Hal couldn't help but laugh at that.
“It did but I wanted to be here in case it was the end. There’s only one thing worse than saying goodbye - not being able to.”
“Well, I am afraid you’ll have to carry my pain with you for a bit longer.” Bruce said.
Hal slouched a bit more in his chair.
“I shouldn’t feel relieved, should I ?” he sighed.
They stared at each other silently for a few seconds.
“I haven’t said thank you yet.” Bruce admitted.
Hal shrugged. They spent their lives saving each other.
“Congratulations, you just did.” he said.
“I mean it. For Damian’s life as much as mine.” Bruce insisted.
“He was fine, just unconscious. Thanks to you, I bet.”
“Jason and Leslie updated me. And an unconscious vigilante is a prey, you did save his life.”
“Now, can you tell me why I feel like shit ?"
The kid had hinted that it was because of him somehow but self-flagellation was a thing in the family so Hal had ignored him.
"Damian was grappling from one building to another. It would have been fine if the villain of the day didn't cut the wire. I did my best to catch him."
Hal closed his eyes. He wasn't going to yell at Bruce. He wasn't.
"So you jumped from a building so you could break Damian's fall ? You're so lucky to be alive. No wonder I thought you were dying."
"I was not. Leslie said my life wasn't in danger."
"Yes ? I am not a doctor. I couldn't know. Don't do that ever again." Hal snapped.
He had been so worried when Bruce had been unconscious. It was a shame that Bruce didn't seem to realize that.
"You know I can't promise you that. And you should go back to your interplanetary negotiations, it would hurt less."
"Yes, I know. And I am fine." Hal affirmed even if Bruce's every move made his eyes watery.
"Really ? You feel fine ?"
Bruce was looking at him with incredulity.
"No. But it's good to hear your voice. And to feel that you're alive even if it's quite painful."
"Could you come closer ?"
"What for ?" Hal said, obeying automatically.
"This." Bruce said before he grabbed Hal's face and kissed him.
Hal could feel Bruce's muscles protesting in his own body but he couldn't care less as he let Bruce deepen the kiss and bury his hands in Hal's hair.
It felt great until Hal brushed Bruce's ribs with his arm and they both hissed and separated.
"Let's stop there for now." Hal said before going for a last chaste kiss only to be interrupted by a squeak.
They both looked toward the door. Barry was standing there, mouth wide open.
"Barry." Hal greeted him in a tone that he reserved for threats.
"I just wanted to check on Bruce, I didn't realize you'd be here. I'll tell the team that you're already feeling better, Bats. See you both later !"
"Right. Say hi to Jess for me." Hal yelled as Barry closed the door behind.
"Barry and Jessica ?"
"It would seem. Stranger things have happened." Hal said, a small smile gracing his face.
Bruce smiled back at him.
They sat silently for a few minutes, lost in thought.
"Bruce, I have to go back." Hal eventually said.
"I know."
Hal's thumb caressed his soulmate's jaw slowly.
"Get better. I'd like to have a talk with you when I come back." he murmured against Bruce's lips.
"I'd like that too." Bruce murmured back when Hal was no longer in the same room.