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Hal had been in the middle of diplomatic discussions deep in his sector when Diana had come to find him. He hadn’t been too happy about her interrupting his conversation with the local High Priestess but he knew she would never have done that without a good reason.
Diana happened to have a very good one, he realized as she exposed the whole situation to him once he had bid his farewells to the Priestess and promised her to come back to discuss her problems with the people her sister, a warrior princess, ruled on the closest planet very quickly.
Hal could tell the High Princess hadn’t appreciated another warrior princess bursting in in her temple but what was done was done.
“I told you that the zone was unstable at the last meeting, what was he thinking ? We discussed this ! Couldn’t he just wait for me to be back from this mission ? Did he have to mess everything up ? He’s worse than a child claiming for an adult’s attention,” Hal groaned as they walked to their ship.
In spite of his harsh words, he was worried. It couldn’t be too bad, though, if Diana hadn’t deemed necessary to pull a stop to Clark’s current ongoing investigation in Metropolis to ask him to join them to find their teammates.
Diana had asked for his help especially, which could only mean she expected to deal with recalcitrant aliens.
It made sense, since she had told him she had lost contact with Bruce and Barry a few hours before. She hadn’t sounded like she was sharing Hal’s worry at first but she had then explained to him that they had managed to send her a message thanks to Bruce’s gadgets. They were apparently fine but detained in an unknown place in the city they had stopped in.
They had left the ship to do some reconnaissance and Diana had been waiting for them in the ship.
Their goal was to secure an audience with the local merchants’ Guild to find out how a local drug had made its way into Gotham and some other cities of the East Coast.
Bruce was always a bit touchy about Gotham but they were married, for fuck’s sake ! Would it hurt him to listen to Hal for once ?
Hal had had to work with the Guild before and not all its representatives were trustworthy but they respected Lanterns’ authority. Things would have got way more smoothly if he had been there.
For example, Hal was quite certain nobody would have had to get them out of jail. He and Diana had found out it was where Barry and Bruce had been kept, once they had been allowed to meet the Guild.
They had claimed they were honored by the presence of a Lantern. Hal had let them bow and scrape for a bit, and asked what had happened to his teammates - he didn’t have to ask if the Guild was responsible, nothing happened here without the Guild being aware of it.
A few merchants had led them to labyrinthine tunnels under the Guild’s Palace. Their guides apologized profusely, claiming a misunderstanding, for the whole trip. Hal didn’t listen to them, he could only hear the thumping of his heart in his ears as they trailed down the path to the cells.
Hal and Diana heard their teammates before they could see them. Despite the fairy lights - real fairies paid to serve as small sources of light in the tunnels - , Hal’s human vision wouldn’t have been of much utility for him in this almost darkness if he hadn’t been radiating green light.
“I just hope we wouldn’t have frozen over first. And I don’t really trust them to not poison us either intentionally or accidentally but if they don’t feed us before we…” Barry was saying before the cell he shared with Bruce was bathed in green light.
“Too damn bright, Hal,” Bruce groaned, covering his eyes, making his chains rattle.
The last few hours -and years spent in the Cave- had made him accustomed to the darkness.
Hal tore the gate apart with a construct before the merchants could open the cell. Diana went in first and checked on Barry. Hal walked to Bruce.
“Hey,” he murmured, cradling his face. “It’s good to see you.”
Bruce said he was quite happy Hal had decided to stop there too.
“Oh, we’re so having a nice, long talk at home about this,” Hal said, shaking his head as he helped Bruce out of his chains thanks to a construct or two.
He looked back at Diana and Barry to see if the princess needed help with his chains but she had already ripped them apart and Barry was now standing, supported by her.
“Shit, is that blood ?” Hal said, turning Bruce’s face to the right.
Of course Bruce had presented him the other side of his face as if he could hide his wound for long.
Hal glanced down at the darker spots on his gloves.
“It’s okay,” Bruce said, leaning on Hal to stand.
“It’s so not,” Hal said harshly, and Bruce prudently decided not to argue with him.
Hal wished he could have a better look at his injuries but that would have to wait. They needed to get back to the surface first.
The trip back took them longer. Hal didn’t know what exactly the ex prisoners had been through but exchanged a few concerned glances with Diana when Bruce started leaning on him.
“Go ahead and close the curtains in the first room on the left. Make sure to keep the room empty for us,” Hal said to one of the merchants when they arrived at an intersection quite close to the end of the tunnels.
He had noticed the room when they passed by it. It had large seats and a fireplace. Speaking of… Bruce was cold to the touch and they had heard Barry complaining about freezing over. They were both wrapped in blankets constructs Hal had made for them but were still shivering. Hal instructed another merchant to make sure a fire was started in the room.
Soon enough, the teammates and merchants were reunited in the room Hal had requisitioned.
"Bruce. Hey,” he said, as he sat next to him next to the fireplace.
"Hal,” Bruce murmured, letting his head rest on his shoulder as Barry and Diana took place next to them.
"What have they done to you ?" Hal said, his eyes going from Bruce to Barry to the alien merchants squirming in their seats.
“Nothing. We resisted arrest and had taken some blows but we’re okay,” Bruce affirmed and Barry confirmed.
“That and they threw us in a cell colder than the Himalaya,” Barry mumbled, massaging his ankles.
They had probably been bruised by the chains. The look Hal threw the merchants were pure hatred as he rose from his seat.
“What happened ?” he asked slowly.
He had kept a hand on Bruce’s shoulder, as if to ground himself.
None of the merchants felt brave enough to answer him.
“They’ve mistaken us for criminals,” Bruce said quietly, hoping the sound of his voice would soothe Hal.
The fire in Hal’s eyes lost a bit of his power for half a second as he looked down at Bruce, still wrapped in one of his constructs, before it raged back. Bruce realized too late that he must have turned his head slightly and that seeing the blood on his face hadn’t calmed Hal, on the contrary.
“What have you done to him? Do you have any idea how many laws you have breached ? I couldn't think of a species stupid enough -" Hal seethed, his hand squeezing Bruce’s shoulder hard enough for it to be uncomfortable.
Hal seemed to notice it and let his head hung low for a second as he took a few calming breaths.
"This man is a Lantern’s spouse, morons. My spouse. Do you have the slightest idea how angry I am right now and what I am capable of ? I could erase all life from the surface of this world in a few seconds if I so wished,” Hal said.
Bruce heard Barry’s gasp and Diana’s surprised intake of breath but didn’t spare a glance in their direction. His whole attention was on the man who had just spoken.
Maybe Hal should have taken a few more calming breaths but Bruce couldn’t deny that his husband looked incredibly hot when he let people see how much power he held into his hands.
"We didn't know. I promise we didn't know. We would never have…” one of the merchants started saying so rapidly Bruce had a hard time catching what she said.
"Spooky, tell me they were lying,” Hal said tiredly a bit later, after he had put the fear of the Guardians into Daeoa’s merchants’ Guild and they had found themselves back in their ship.
He was the one steering it but Bruce was starting to wonder if it was a good idea. He doubted his answer would help Hal to stay in the state someone directing a spaceship should be in.
Bruce didn’t pretend he didn’t know what Hal was talking about. They all knew.
“They weren’t,” he said calmly.
Diana was looking at him curiously. Barry had his eyes on Hal.
"Then what did they mean, they didn't know ? Was there some misunderstanding ?" he asked, uncomprehending.
"We said we'd wait,” Bruce replied.
Hal’s eyes grew as large as saucers and he straightened up, giving up his relaxed pose.
"Are you kidding me ? You're married to a Lantern and you just didn't tell them ? It's an intergalactic get-out-of-jail card, you -" Hal started saying, furious, turning his seat around to better stare at Bruce.
"I promised you to wait until you were ready,” Bruce reminded him.
And he had intended to keep that promise.
"Well, no promise you've ever made to me is worth you dying,” Hal said. “Or even being hurt. Idiot. What if you had been seriously hurt ? Or Barry ?” he said, standing up and brushing Bruce’s temple after having triggered the autopilot mode.
A local doctor who had studied in Oa -and knew thankfully more about anthropological beings than Bruce and Barry’s jailers- had a look at it and assured them it was a superficial wound and that Bruce would heal quickly. In addition, Bruce and Barry also had bruised ribs, Bruce had a sprained wrist and Barry had sprained his left ankle.
“I wouldn’t have let it come to that,” Bruce said. “You’re worrying too much.”
“Seriously ? They had taken your gear away, you were vulnerable. You realize those people had no idea how to keep a human alive ? Imagine if -”
“Shhhh,” Bruce said softly, interrupting Hal’s rant to kiss him.
Hal kissed him back a bit desperately.
“Such an idiot,” he mumbled as they pulled apart, but he gave Bruce’s lips another peck. “I’ll ask you to never pull that kind of thing again but I know better.”
“I’m fine,” Bruce promised, holding Hal tighter and kissing his head.
“You’re aware we’re still here, right ?” Barry eventually asked. “Just checking,” he added when Hal frowned at him.
“Bruce, can we have a word ?” Diana asked.
If he was surprised by the Amazonian warrior’s request, Bruce didn’t show it. He followed her to the next room.
“Actually, I have two words for you : interpersonal relationships,” Diana said, her hands on her hips.
Bruce had the good grace to look ashamed.
“Ah. I should have anticipated that discussion,” he admitted. “How angry are you ?”
“Just tell me you weren’t already with Hal when you gave us your little speech and complementary disapproving glares,” Diana exiged.
“I wasn’t.”
He had been sincere when he had told Clark and Diana that he didn’t think dating a teammate was a good idea. He just hadn’t taken Hal into consideration at the time.
“I’m glad you’re happy with him. But don’t you dare comment on my romantic life ever again,” Diana warned him.
Bruce nodded. He had no intention to defy an Amazon.
“And I’m happy for you two.”
Diana hadn’t said it so clearly, but her insisting that he stayed away from her romantic life was clue enough. She and Clark must be back together. It would explain Clark’s slightly guilty air when he was around Bruce.
Bruce had thought it was because he was seeing someone other than Lois and knew that Bruce and his ex-wife had stayed friends after the divorce and hadn’t looked further into it as he debated telling his friend about Hal, but it must have been because Clark was hiding his relationship with Diana to him.
“What ? No “each of you is powerful enough to end humanity on your own, what would happen if you two went rogue” this time ?” Diana asked in a doubtful tone.
Bruce couldn’t blame her for being suspicious. His friends hadn’t shown much interest in his concerns back then but he had been quite vocal about them.
He had been quite aware of the irony when he and Hal had started dating about two years after his tense conversation with his two best friends.
“I’m married to a man who’s just threatened to wipe a whole alien race off the face of their planet because of our own interpersonal relationship and could theoretically do it. If your love life poses a threat to humankind, so does mine,” Bruce developed.
Too many people underestimated Hal’s power. Bruce had never made this mistake. His husband was one of the most dangerous men on Earth and he knew it. It was probably part of the appeal.
“Does Clark know ?” Diana asked, crossing her arms.
“Does he know what ?” Bruce asked, distracted by his thoughts.
“About you and Hal.”
Bruce hesitated. Surely Clark knew something. What, exactly… There had been the divorce with Lois, and then he had gotten back with Diana… Hal had been away for a few missions with the Corps for a while, Clark had his own investigations… He could have missed things, but Clark was a good detective and an even better friend, not that Bruce would ever tell him.
He had probably been aware of Bruce and Hal’s mutual attraction for years. He could have noticed that they had actually grown quite a lot closer than good teammates did.
“I don’t know,” he said.
“He could have told me,” Diana grumbled, not fooled by Bruce’s mild answer.
“He didn’t tell me about you two either,” Bruce commented.
“It looks like the four of us need to have a few conversations. I suppose Hal needs to go back and finish that diplomatic mission he had to put a pause to but he was hoping it’ll only take a few days so what do you say about having dinner together next week ?” Diana asked.
Bruce seemed to hesitate.
“I know Hal has a Corps’ mission the week after, but that’s just one evening, Bruce.”
“Fine. If Hal agrees,” Bruce yielded.
Hal would agree, he knew it and Diana knew it too. A satisfied smile stretched her lips.
“As long as you don’t cook,” Bruce added, a bit annoyed.
Diana was usually not bad at cooking. She wasn’t exactly a whizz in the kitchen, but she did alright. Unless she was stressed out. The veggie lasagna she had made for one of their first informal meetings had become a horror story that was on its way to be passed down over many generations.
“Says the man that has never touched a kitchen ustensile in his entire life,” Diana quipped, because Bruce was the last person who should be allowed to comment on anyone's cooking.
The two of them were still laughing when they came back to the main room.
“We’ll be at the Watchtower in two hours,” Hal informed them.
“Are you… ?” Bruce asked without asking.
It didn’t bother Hal, who easily got his meaning. He smiled slightly.
“Only a few hours and then I’ll have to go back. Can we… ?” he said, his voice trailing off at the start of his second sentence.
“Sure,” Bruce said.
He was looking forward to making the best of the few hours they had together, even if they would have to spend them in his or Hal’s quarters in the Watchtower, as Hal had implied.
He noticed Barry and Diana sharing a mystified look as he got closer to Hal.
“How long have you been together, again ?” Barry asked.
“A while,” Hal answered, smiling at Bruce, and his husband smiled back at him softly, squeezing his shoulder.
Interpersonal relationships weren’t that bad, actually.