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Hal hadn't left Bruce's room for a minute when he came back inside.
"Did you change your mind about staying the rest of the night ?" Bruce asked
They had gently argued about it earlier but Hal had said he had late paperwork to do for Carol and really needed to go now to be at FerrisAir early.
"Ah uh - I've found your Robin in the corridor," Hal said, pointing at the door behind his back.
Bruce sighed, turned a lamp on and got out of bed. He was still as naked as Hal had been a few minutes prior.
Hal's gaze lingered on his figure. Perhaps he should have stayed.
"I’m coming. Can you keep an eye on Dick in the meantime ?" Bruce gestured toward the door as he started grabbing some clothes.
"Of course," Hal had said.
So, Hal had found himself face to face with the kid once again. The boy was sitting against the wall in his pajamas.
Hal crouched in front of him.
"Hey, your father said he'll be there in a minute," he said, squeezing Bruce's ward's shoulder.
"Bruce's not my father. My father is dead," the child sniffed.
Hal bit his lip. He had known that, he should have been more careful with his words.
"Come here, your feet must be ice cold," Hal said, picking the boy up. "I'm sorry about your parents."
Dick Grayson was heavier than he looked. Well, if he was performing with his parents back at the circus, the boy must have developed some muscle. Robin's training probably helped with the muscles too.
"I want them back," the young acrobat cried against Hal's shoulder.
Hal's heart broke for him.
"I know, kid," Hal said, stroking Dick's hair gently to comfort him.
The boy was glued to him like a koala could be to an eucalyptus, his teary face buried in the hollow of Hal's shoulder.
Hal rocked him a little. What was Bruce doing ? Hal didn't really have a father's instincts.
How old was Dick ? He didn't seem older than Hal himself had been when his own father had died.
Or older than Bruce had been himself. It was another thing they didn't talk about, Bruce's parents. Hal had mentioned his family occasionally but Bruce had always been tight-lipped about the Waynes.
Which didn't mean Hal had never woken up to Bruce calling for them in his sleep.
It had happened often enough during the course of their arrangement for Hal to not be much fazed by it anymore. Usually, he would just wrap his arms around Bruce tightly and they both pretended it didn't wake the vigilante as they both got back to sleep.
Bruce was taking an awfully long time to join them as Hal did his best to comfort the child in his arms. He wasn’t really parent material.
"Hey kid, why don't you tell me where we can find some ice cream in this house while we wait for Bruce, uh ?" he finally asked.
Maybe giving the boy something sugary before taking him back to bed wasn't such a great idea, but Hal was a bit at loss here and Dick was still quite upset.
So Hal carried him to the kitchen.
They were halfway through their second servings of mint chocolate chip ice cream and Hal was starting to run out of funny stories about his teenage years when Bruce joined them.
He had heard Dick's childish laugh from the corridor.
"Look, I almost got expelled this time but it was so worth it, just for Mrs Turner's face," he heard as he entered the room and Dick laughed some more.
The sound warmed Bruce's heart. His gaze caught Hal's and they smiled at each other.
"I'd better stop telling you about my middle school shenanigans or Bruce's going to kill me. It was nice to meet you, Robin. You’re a good kid."
He ruffled Dick's hair a bit awkwardly if fondly as he left the kitchen.
Bruce followed just after, just the time to instruct his charge to stay inside while he talked to Hal.
Hal had crossed his arms on his chest. Bruce didn't exactly look like he just wanted to talk.
"What's wrong ?" he asked.
He could read Bruce's body language well enough to tell that something was off.
"Hal, I'm sorry but there's an emergency. Could you stay over and watch the kid ? Alfred will only come back in the morning. I wouldn't ask if -"
Hal stopped him with a simple hand gesture.
"Correct me if I am wrong, but is it a Batman sort of emergency ?"
Bruce nodded tersely.
"I have a better idea. You share the rest of this delicious ice cream with your child and I deal with the threat. Deal ?" Hal offered.
"I -"
Hal grabbed his arm.
"Shhh. He needs you more than this city does, Bruce. So, what's the threat ?"
Bruce seemed to ponder whether or not to leave his city at Hal's mercy for a moment but finally ended up telling Hal everything about the new development in the Winslow's investigation.
"I got this," Hal promised.
"Be careful," Bruce said, a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah yeah, I know you'll be on comms just in case but I'll be fine. You should just relax and take care of Robin. Please say goodbye for me. I guess I'll see you at the next meeting," Hal said.
He cupped Bruce's cheek and kissed him softly before leaving the room.
Bruce turned toward the kitchen's door. It was open. Barely an inch, but Bruce was certain he had closed it five minutes ago.
He was also quite certain he hadn't imagined the surprised squeak and quick footsteps retreating toward the center of the kitchen when Hal had kissed him.
"Who is he ?" Dick prompted when Bruce came back into the kitchen and sat next to him.
"A good man. What did I say about staying in the kitchen ?" Bruce asked, helping himself to some ice cream a bit mechanically.
"I didn't leave," Dick protested.
The boy had some ice cream on his face, which made him look even younger than he was.
Christ, what was he doing ? What made him think he would make a good role model to a traumatized child ? Dressing up as a bat to fight crime wasn't a healthy way to deal with grief.
"I should have made my instructions clearer earlier, but I'm now explicitly forbidding you to spy on me ever again," Bruce eventually said.
Parents were supposed to set rules, after all.
Dick nodded, head lowered.
"So, you're not going ?"
There was a touch of hope in his juvenile voice. Maybe Hal had been right to make Bruce stay.
"My… friend can handle the threat." Bruce said. "How's the ice cream ?"
His mind was already derailing to the case and he had to be focused on Dick.
"It's great. Do you want some more ?"
Bruce shook his head. He didn't have Hal's affinity for anything mint flavored.
"Bruce, I saw - did he kiss you on the lips ?"
He should have been prepared for the question since Dick had obviously seen them but he hadn't thought the kid would ask about it.
"He did," Bruce said cautiously.
His whole body had tensed.
Maybe he could avoid having this conversation now. Dick crunched up his nose.
"Why ?"
Apparently not.
"Because we both wanted him to do it," Bruce said.
The simpler explanations were the best. It kept you from lying and sometimes was enough to placate nosy questions.
"He's not a girl," the kid said, yawning behind his hand.
It was way past his bedtime. Bruce should bring him back to bed. And weren't the kid's detective skills on point ?
"He isn't," Bruce confirmed.
"Boys can kiss boys ?" Dick asked hesitantly as Bruce lifted him in his arms and took the direction of the boy's room.
Bruce knew this expression, the kid had the same when he did math homework and faced an equation he had trouble with.
"They can," he confirmed, remembering the sensation of Hal's lips against his.
"Does it feel good ?" Dick asked, his eyes closing.
Well, it was a good thing he was on his way to fall back asleep, maybe his nightmare hadn't been as bad as it had seemed. Bruce doubted he would even remember the answers of the questions he was asking.
"Kissing boys ? For some people, it does," Bruce answered truthfully.
"The ice cream guy, is he your boyfriend ?" Dick mumbled, his eyes still closed, his arms wrapped around Bruce's neck.
Bruce was glad to realize Dick had fallen fully asleep before he had to give him an answer, just before he had reached the child's room and tucked him into his bed.
Was Hal his boyfriend ? Of course not. They were… friends, at best. Who slept together whenever they could. Not that he could have told that to Dick.
Bruce couldn't deny the attraction between Hal and him but that was all it was, lust. Loneliness was the thing that had brought them together.
Surprisingly, it worked for them. They had even become better friends along the way. They were good for each other.
Well, they had been until now. It wouldn't last. Couldn't. Bruce having a kid changed things. As long as Dick and Hal didn't interact, it worked, but the dynamics between them were going to shift after tonight, Bruce knew it.
He couldn't have Hal and Dick interact too often if he didn't want the kid to know about their relationship. It was one thing to keep their liaison from the League. It was another to keep it from his own son. Son. Bruce was still getting used to the word.
There could have been another solution to Bruce's dilemma but he couldn't ask Hal to step in and become family to the kid. They were nowhere near that step and he couldn't have Dick growing attached to Hal - their relationship wasn't the kind that would last. Bruce's never were and Hal's record in this area wasn't great either.
They were still so young after all, he didn't want to trap Hal in this situation. Chances were Hal had never considered having kids. He had certainly not thought about it himself before Dick.
Hal had probably no wish to become a parent. He had been good with Dick earlier but that wasn't the same.
Their arrangement had become impractical the second Bruce had become a parent and he had refused to see it. Bringing Hal here tonight had been a mistake.
And yet, Bruce's mind rebelled at the idea of calling it so. Hal had woken him up from a nightmare earlier. He had taken care of Dick and of the Killer Croc's issue even if he had wanted to be at FerrisAir early.
The end of their arrangement was quite unremarkable. Bruce did some talking and Hal shrugged and nodded at the right places. They also drank quite a lot and Bruce had woken up with a hell of a headache on Hal's couch.
Bruce hadn't offered many explanations, merely saying that he now had family obligations to fulfill and didn't have time for distractions anymore.
Hal hadn't protested, just letting Bruce end things in contemplative silence and emptying his glass' contents repetitively as Bruce explained to him how their relationship could no longer work in excruciating detail.
Bruce had drunk too and must have fallen asleep since he distinctly remembered waking up. His head hurt. He had been laying on the couch, covered in a thin blanket.
He had folded it neatly and looked for Hal. Hal was in the kitchen, looking at the sleeping city from the window. When he turned around, Bruce noticed that the lack of sleep and alcohol consumption had turned his eyes red.
Hal smiled weakly. He looked tired.
“Sorry for falling asleep. You should go to sleep,” Bruce told him.
“It’s okay,” Hal had replied but he had rubbed his eyes.
It was quite early in the morning but Bruce didn’t insist. It wasn’t his business.
Hal had accompanied him to the door and closed it softly behind Bruce and let his forehead and palms rest against the wooden door. Unbeknownst of him, Bruce was doing the same thing on the other side of said door.
As he left Hal’s building, Bruce had reached the conclusion that their separation was for the best. It would only take Hal ten years to prove him wrong.