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The first time Hal had said his name, Bruce had thought he might have imagined the tickling. The second time, he had been quite sure of it, so Bruce had quickly decided to stick to Jordan as he slowly started to get on a first name basis with the rest of the team.
It meant that Hal had never realized they were soulmates. Or if he had, he must hate Bruce because he kept saying his first name regularly, even when Bruce wasn’t with him.
Bruce’s skin was getting itchy even when Hal didn’t pronounce his name, probably in anticipation. It was getting annoying.
However, Bruce knew that he wasn’t imagining it and that the familiar tickling was back at the moment.
Both of them were at the Watchtower. Bruce had arrived early to prepare for their team meeting and Hal had just come back from a mission.
Why the hell was Hal saying his name again ? He was in the showers, couldn't he shut up and enjoy the water pressure like a normal person ?
Bruce felt sorry for the poor teammate who was getting their ear talked off as they were just trying to shower in peace. He hadn't thought anyone else had been there and he was sure their teammate that had made it early was regretting it now.
Unless… Maybe Hal was there alone, after all.
Bruce himself had grunted Hal's name on a few memorable occasions in the shower.
Was he - was he saying Bruce’s name quietly under his breath ? It would be ill-advised for him to say it louder in this place, anyway. Did Hal know that Bruce was his soulmate ? Was he determined to drive him mad ?
Or was it merely accidental, as accidental as saying someone’s name when you showered could be ?
He needed to get out of here. Or he could…
Hal said his name again, several times. Bruce could feel it, the tickling was back. He took a deep breath, decided he needed to put a stop to Hal’s little games and took the direction of the showers.
He didn’t know what he was planning to say or do but felt slightly relieved when he found Hal in the locker room. It would be easier to have a reasonable conversation with Hal here. He was already half dressed. He was toweling his hair with a construct to get the worst of the wet off before putting a shirt on.
He met Bruce’s eyes when his teammate entered the room. Bruce didn’t let his eyes trail down Hal’s naked torso.
"Bruce,” he greeted him with a friendly smile.
"Stop saying my fucking name,” Bruce growled.
"Bruce ?" Hal asked hesitantly as his friend invaded his personal space, not sure what it was about.
Bruce never did that. Batman and Brucie did, though. Well, Hal was quite sure he wasn’t facing the seductive harebrained socialite.
"Hal," Bruce snarled just before slamming him into the lockers.
Hal’s towel construct disappeared as he broke his concentration. The sudden violent collision of his bare back with metal and the odd tickling he had felt in his whole body combined had made him lose focus.
"Oh,” the Lantern realized, turning a bit pale. “That's the reason you never call me Hal ?" he asked.
"You're a fucking genius. Stop teasing me,” Bruce grunted.
He was trying very hard not to let his gaze wander away from Hal’s face.
“I’m not complaining but I’d like to point out that you’re the one who insisted upon pinning me against a locker without any explanation,” Hal said, shaking his hands lightly.
Bruce noticed he was still holding Hal’s wrists and released them.
“You didn’t break from my hold,” he said, knowing Hal could have done so easily.
His grip on Hal’s wrist hadn’t been tight and besides, Hal had his ring on.
“Those are nice observation skills you have there, detective,” Hal said, smirking, leaning against the locker Bruce had pushed him against a few minutes earlier.
“You’ve enjoyed it,” Bruce accused him.
“Yeah, maybe a little ?” Hal said shamelessly, brushing his naked arm against Bruce’s armored one to grab his shirt.
“We’re soulmates,” Bruce insisted to drill the fact in Hal’s head, just in case.
“I felt the tickling,” Hal confirmed, as he put his shirt on, humming.
Bruce didn’t let that distract him from their conversation. He had seen Hal put shirts on dozens of times, possibly even hundreds of times.
“And you’re still here,” he said.
Hal could easily have grabbed his clothes and left but he had chosen to talk with Bruce instead and take the longest time to dress up.
“Deduce whatever you want from that,” Hal said, shrugging. “Bruce,” he added, smiling at him brightly.
There was this amused smile on his face that Bruce wished he could wipe away. Actually, he could. And he could tell that it was what Hal wanted, too, what he was coaxing Bruce to do.
Bruce didn’t like being manipulated, even if it was done quite openly. However, maybe the end could justify the means here.
“You want me to kiss you,” Bruce said, checking with Hal.
If it was a big misunderstanding, it would be better to stop here and limit the damage. It would be worse if he pushed this further first.
Hal leaned forward nonchalantly.
“But do you ?” he whispered against Bruce’s ear before stepping back, letting Bruce the choice of closing the distance between them or not.
Bruce didn’t hesitate. He reached his gauntleted hands up to cup Hal’s face and kissed him. It was a lot more tender than Hal had expected after being thrown against a locker but he responded in kind.
Earlier, in the Watchtower showers
"Damn meeting. It’s not like it’s going to be any different than usual. Bruce always knows better than everyone. Bruce is this and Bruce is that. Bruce bla bla, Bruce, Bruce, Bruce. Bruce is hot and a genius and he has a heart of gold but Bruce is a fucking brat,” Hal muttered under his breath.
He was possibly being unfair but it irked him to have a meeting right after he had been back. He knew Bruce couldn’t have predicted he would come back from his mission early and be able to go to this meeting but he couldn’t help but resent him a little.
Well, on the bright side, it meant he would get to argue with Bruce right after coming back on Earth. The banter was always nice, and it had been a while since the last time he had seen his teammates.
“Okay, Bruce isn’t that bad. He’s just… Bruce. Annoyingly Bruce-like, whatever it means,” Hal muttered, shaking his head as he went out of the showers. “I guess we just like him that way.”
Hal wasn’t so naive to not know he was the one who liked Bruce being the way he was. He was quite certain some of their teammates wouldn’t have been opposed to Bruce getting a personality graft.
Hal knew for a fact that personality grafts were hella expensive -and also not really legal- but that you could get one if you knew the right place on the right planet. He wondered briefly if Bruce had that kind of money as he started putting clothes on. If he converted American dollars into Smudaran pearls, he could easily find out…
A personality transplant costed about 40 000 pearls, if he remembered well, and Hal’s memory was a fantastic thing. That would be… ten billions, roughly ? Maybe closer to nine, though. He wondered how much Bruce was worth and considered checking on his phone.
“Bruce, Bruce, Bruce…” he muttered before deciding against it and started making a towel construct.
Ignoring others’ privacy was something Bruce did, not Hal. Which was probably why he barged in the locker room less than a minute later.