Archive of Our Own

Hal had known it was too soon for him to be around friends. The magic specialists he had seen had affirmed that the effects of the truth spell he had been hit with wouldn't last forever, though, and he had waited long enough.

The kids had yet to figure out he couldn't lie. Of course, Bruce knew. He had teased Hal a bit about it but had kept from asking too invasive questions for Hal's comfort.

Hal should have realized an evening with Oliver would be a bad idea. However, after a week, Hal had been quite eager to get out of the Manor and meet other people.

Bruce had looked a bit concerned but hadn't said anything to prevent Hal from going.

"If you need me -"

"I know," Hal had answered truthfully, kissing his husband softly. "See you soon."

The match had been great, Ollie was in an exceptionally good mood and the beer had tasted ten times better -and ten times more expensive - than Hal's usual choice.

The first part of the evening was perfect. The second part, not so much.

When Oliver had to go to the bathroom, Hal had taken advantage of his absence to check his phone.

He didn't notice when his friend came back and almost jumped when he heard his voice.

“Who put such a smile on your face ?” Ollie asked, slumping on the sofa next to him.

“It’s Bruce,” Hal said distractedly, texting his husband back quickly to tell him everything was okay and he shouldn’t worry.

Fuck, he had totally forgotten about the truth spell as the night went on. He hadn't meant to tell Ollie.

He could already tell that the evening was going to take a very awkward turn.

“Well he must send you different messages than the ones he sends me.”

"I hope so." Hal replied without thinking twice about it.

He should have. Couldn't he just shut up ? It hadn't even been a question, he didn't have to say that, it just slipped and now Oliver was probably going to have questions.

Hal turned his eyes back to the screen and made some comment about the refereeing, hoping Ollie would do the same. It was a vain wish.

"What do you mean, “you hoped so” ? What did you hope for ?" Oliver asked, frowning.

Hal hated hanging out with vigilantes. They had a knack for spotting when things were awkward and digging up hidden truths.
Since Ollie had made this a question, Hal had no other choice than answering it. He really hoped the effects of the spell would wear off soon.

"I really hope my husband has never sexted you,” Hal sighed. “That would be awkward,” he added as an afterthought.

"What ? What are you even talking about ?” Ollie said, looking at him in utter puzzlement.

They had both given up the pretense of following the match and were just looking at each other. Hal cleared his throat, uncomfortable. This was a total disaster.

"We're not doing that right now but we do it sometimes and I don’t want Bruce to do that with you,” Hal said against his will.

If he put a sticky tape construct on his mouth, would he still be able to talk ? He was quite tempted to try.

“Did you hit your head lately ?” Oliver asked carefully.

It was quite clear he was aware something was wrong. Well, you wouldn’t have to be a genius to realize that, but Hal could feel Ollie’s nervosity. He had -apparently unconsciously- reached for his own back, as if to grab an arrow. He did that sometimes in unsafe situations even if he didn’t have his quiver at hand.

“No,” Hal said, frustrated. “I’m okay,” he added, for Ollie’s benefit.

“Is this some kind of joke ?” Oliver asked, scratching his beard.

“No,” Hal said curtly.

It wasn’t Oliver’s fault, really, but he didn’t like hearing someone calling his relationship with Bruce a joke. It was anything but.

“So, if I scrolled through your conversations with Bruce -” Ollie started saying, but Hal cut him short.

“I’m not handing you my phone. That’s private,” he said firmly, his heart hammering in his chest.

There was too much of Bruce, too much of them in their conversations. They were theirs and he didn’t want to share. The soft intimacy or the unbridled passion were for his and Bruce’s eyes only.

Hal didn’t know what Ollie could read on his face but his friend didn’t ask more about the texts and he was glad for it.

“No but seriously, why would you be telling me all this now if it was true ?” Ollie asked.

Ah. So, he was still confused. Hal supposed it shouldn’t be surprising, he and Bruce had taken great pains to keep their relationship under wraps. Half of their teammates were convinced that Bruce hadn’t the emotional growth for meaningful attachments, anyway. The thought alone made Hal so angry. Bruce was the more compassionate of them all.

“I’m under some kind of truth spell. Now, if you could shut up, we could see the end of the match.” he told his friend.

“Wait, it was all true ?” Oliver asked.

He was still staring at Hal. It was starting to get a bit unnerving. Hal refrained from standing up and starting to pace the room. He had taken that habit from Bruce. The man was a menace.

“Yes,” he said instead.

"That’s way too much information. But can we come back to the part where you're married to Bruce ? Since when ?" Oliver asked.

Ah. Hal was starting to wonder if Ollie had heard this part. He was just processing it, it seemed.

"Last October. Can you please stop asking me questions ?" he said tiredly.

Trying to prevent the truth from escaping his lips was taking a lot of energy and had provided no positive results so far.

"Wait, you and Bruce getting at it isn't really a surprise. You had that sexual tension going on for years. But did you have to marry the guy ?" Oliver asked clumsily.

"No. I wanted to. Ollie, could you please shut up ? This is only going to get more embarrassing.”

That and he was starting to feel like lashing out, which was probably not a good idea. Hal sighed.

“So truth spells do exist ?”

Of course, Hal had already told him he was under the influence of one but the reminder that it was making him being more truthful than most humans were in their daily conversations made Oliver realize he hadn’t asked about that yet.

“Yes,” Hal said, glaring at his friend in annoyance.

He didn’t offer more information. He didn’t know that much about that kind of spell, or even most spells. It wasn’t really his area. Zatanna had tried to explain the mechanics to him but he had been more concerned about possible remedies and how long he would have to deal with it.

"So it's really all true. Do you love him ?" Oliver asked, intrigued.

Hal didn’t really want to admit it out loud, since that was incredibly personal and it had taken him years to admit it to Bruce, but he didn’t have much of a choice here and it was very possible a truth spell was the only way for Oliver to believe Hal had been telling the true about his relationship with Bruce.

"Yes. Ollie, stop it,” Hal warned him.

In a second, Oliver was probably going to ask him about love potions and he would have to deck him. He wasn’t as sorry about the idea as he should probably feel.

"Does he love you ?" Oliver asked instead.

His voice was full of concern. Hal hadn’t had a conversation that serious not directly League related with Oliver in years, probably.

"Yes. We didn’t marry for taxes, you clown. And I’ve asked you to stop with the questions.”

He was getting nervous. There were only so many questions Oliver would be interested to get an answer to.

"You don't want me to ask you why you didn't tell us. "

Oliver was way more perspective than he usually pretended to be, which explained why a vigilante with the reputation of being so stupid and carefree was still alive and on the field after years of vigilantism.

He and Hal had that in common. People they had never met often underestimated them. The others knew better.

"No, I don’t want to tell you why. Will you ask anyway ?" Hal finally snapped.

Some things weren’t meant to be shared. Hal wasn’t even sure Bruce knew why Hal had insisted on secrecy. Scratch that, he knew that Bruce knew, but not because Hal had told him. He just knew Hal better than he knew himself sometimes.

"No. I think I get it."

“Really,” Hal muttered under his breath.

A few minutes ago, Oliver couldn’t even fathom why Hal would get married to Bruce.

“You wanted to protect him.”

Hal didn’t say anything. It wasn’t a question, he didn’t have to deliver a reply against his will and his silence was answer enough, he was certain of it.

“It’s good,” Oliver said after a few long seconds of silence during which they had both pretended to be overly interested by the ads on the TV screen.

“What is ?” Hal asked warily.

Oliver could have been talking about the game. Hal doubted it.

“That you have someone like Bruce in your life,” Oliver stated after a few seconds of silence.

He rarely took the time to organize his thoughts before blurting them out but Hal appreciated the effort, here. Arrow was clearly doing his best to manage Hal’s sensibilities.

“Someone like him ?” Hal asked, dreading his friend’s answer.

Oliver wasn’t usually cruel, but he wasn’t necessarily one for subtlety and Hal was fiercely protective of his relationship with Bruce. The archer took a few more seconds before formulating his answer.

“Someone who won’t hesitate for a second to burn the whole world down and fight Heaven and Hell in order to keep the people they love happy.”

A soft smile tugged at the corners of Hal’s lips.

“I’m lucky.”

“I’d wager that he is too,” Ollie said immediately, not waiting to express his thoughts this time.

He was being sincere. Hal felt oddly moved.

They shared a smile. Hal took another sip of his beer. Ollie started shouting after the players again. Hal felt his phone buzzing on the couch and caught Ollie’s amused look before he had the time to grab it.

“Shut up,” Hal said, before answering the call. “Hey, love,” he said as a greeting, gratified by Ollie’s coughing fit, “Missing me already ?”

Maybe truth spells weren’t that bad, in the end.