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Bruce tried to blink the blackness away. One minute, he had been fighting aliens alongside his teammates, the next the floor had dissolved under his feet.
Well, Barry, Hal and him had managed to evacuate everyone before the building had collapsed for good, which was good.
They had gotten out of the building too and watched it starting to collapse.
However, a piece of colored fabric in the rubble on the second floor had caught Bruce’s eye and he had gotten back into the building, thinking it could be a child. It was just a hoodie. Before Bruce could get out again, the floor of the damaged building had collapsed under his feet and he had fallen down, just like parts of the building above him.
That had been quite painful, even if the armor had protected him. So painful that his vision had got blurry, but the damages would be much more important if he wasn’t wearing his suit. He was lucky nothing too heavy had fallen on him and crushed him but he couldn’t have taken the risk of letting a child die in the rubble.
“Bats !” he heard one of his teammates - Hal ? Barry ? - call.
“Over here !” he had managed to cry out as loud as he could before passing out.
When he regained consciousness, Hal was at his side.
“Oh good, you’re back,” the Lantern said, letting out a relieved sigh.
They were outside, in a deserted square. Hal had gotten him out of the rubble.
“Do you think you can walk ?” Hal had asked, looking at him dubiously.
Bruce gritted his teeth and let Hal pull him up. He could already tell that he hadn’t broken any bone but his body hurt like hell.
“Maybe you shouldn’t stand up,” Hal said when he saw Bruce’s pained face.
“Too late,” Bruce said. “Give me a few seconds and I should be able to walk on my own,” he demanded, taking a few breaths, leaning on Hal.
Hal let him, not saying anything as the seconds morphed into a minute.
"Let me help you,” he eventually said quietly.
"I can walk on my own,” Bruce assured him, letting go of Hal and taking a few -painful- steps on his own.
Hal didn’t move and crossed his arms.
"Not what I meant,” he said, looking pointedly at his friend. “I can take away the pain, Bruce."
They both stayed silent for a few seconds after Hal said that. Only soulmates could do it. It didn’t heal a wound or make bruises disappear but the touch of your soulmate could lower the pain considerably, even make it go away entirely if your bond was strong enough.
"I should have known it was you,” Bruce said, shaking his head.
He had made a chart with his potential soulmates a while back but hadn’t thought about it in a long while. If Hal had been on it, it was mainly for the fact that he felt closer to him than he should have.
"Um,” Hal said.
He was looking at the floor. There was something he wasn’t telling him, Bruce realized.
"You've done it before,” he said.
"Yes,” Hal said truthfully.
"I thought you were getting more tactile because we were getting along better but you did it because you knew it would relieve my pain."
Bruce wondered how many times he had thought that the painkillers had actually just kicked in but Hal had been the one relieving the pain by grazing his hand while handing him paperwork or brushing arms while they were side by side.
That explained why Hal was much more tactile when they were in relaxed settings. Hal didn’t necessarily touch him because he was a tactile person. He did it in order to spare him pain.
"How did you figure it out ?" Bruce asked, curious.
"Do you remember that time I blacked out and my construct collapsed under my feet ? I broke a rib and bruised a few more. You were the one who got to me first. I could barely talk and you had to get your ear closer to my mouth. Your jaw and mine entered in contact briefly. It was enough to relieve me from most of the pain,” Hal said.
“One second, I was in so much pain I could barely talk and the next I felt like my ribs had never suffered any damage.”
“You kept insisting that you didn’t need morphine,” Bruce remembered. “I just thought you were good at hiding your pain and didn’t wish to be heavily medicated in case you were needed by the Corps.”
Hal had been looking at Bruce closely and didn’t miss his slight grimace.
“Speaking of pain, do you want me to do something about yours or are you too stupidly proud for that ?” Hal asked.
“Do it,” Bruce said, glaring at him.
"I have to touch you to make it work," Hal reminded him.
"Yes."
Bruce knew how having a soulmate worked, thank you very much. Hal licked his lips. Bruce tried to not let it hypnotize him.
"You're wearing the Batsuit,” Hal said.
"Indeed,” Bruce retorted.
Hal was apparently determined to state the obvious.
"So I have to touch your face," Hal continued.
Bruce nodded his assent and met Hal’s calculating eyes. Ah. That was where they were going. The pain had obscured Bruce’s judgment for a bit but he was now quite certain he knew what Hal had in mind.
"I'd like to try something,” Hal said.
Bruce nodded.
"Go for it.”
Hal cupped his face to make sure they were on the same wavelength, giving him one last chance to back away.
"Okay,” he said, when he realized Bruce was not going to push him away.
He took a deep breath and kissed Bruce.
Bruce didn’t hesitate before kissing him back. It did feel a bit painful at first but when the hurt receded, oh when the hurt receded, Bruce wished they could just keep kissing forever.
“Do you feel better ?” Hal asked once they had pulled apart to catch their breath.
“My shoulder still feels a bit sore, maybe we could do something about that.”
“With pleasure,” Hal said, and they were kissing again.
It just didn't have anything to do with pain relief this time.