Archive of Our Own

When people asked him what form he wished his dæmon would take when he’d be older, Bruce always gave it some thought.

Many kids picked impressive animals : chameleons, giant pandas, flamingos, okapis… but some others, like him, thought about what they wanted their soulmates to be like.

Indeed, if your dæmon settled as a chameleon, it could mean your soulmate had an ever changing temperament or if they changed into a flamingo maybe your soulmate would be an attention seeker. Bruce wasn’t sure he wanted that. Personally, he didn’t think he’d like encountering the soulmate of someone with a porcupine dæmon.

His dæmon’s final form would show his soulmate’s inner-self to the world and he was a bit wary about it. He wished Lucie didn’t have to settle. Her constant shape-shifting pleased him and she was happy with it. Luckily for him, it would be years before she had to settle.

Most people’s dæmons didn’t settle before they turned fourteen or fifteen.

“A bird would be nice,” Bruce usually told curious minds, looking at Lucie fluttering around him.

She liked having wings, and he liked the idea of a carefree soulmate. She also looked very nice as a dragonfly, elegant and elusive.

Many kids thought insect dæmons were pointless but Bruce’s mother’s dæmon, Saltan, was a honeybee who buzzed happily around his head when Martha talked with her son or played with him. He was quite sociable and went along well with other dæmons at galas and receptions.

Bruce’s father’s dæmon, a female sable, was, not unlike Martha Wayne, of a shyer nature. Apollonia might look haughty at first glance but Bruce had seen her exposing her belly to ask his father for a belly rub like a domestic dog too many times for him to think of her as such.

When you saw her in more relaxed settings, Apollonia was just as playful and sometimes even mischievous as she was dignified in formal ones.

Lucie also had a mischievous fiber to her and liked playing with Apollonia, taking the form of a mustelid of some sort, usually a pine marten, or, when she was in a more ferocious mood, a wolverine.

His dæmon was Bruce’s best friend. She liked turning into animals having prehensive tails and grasp branches to play with him in his tree house. She would turn into a green tree python, an emerald green boa and wrap around a branch or another to hiss affectionately into Bruce’s ears as he patted her scaly head.

Sometimes she also changed into a squirrel or a spider monkey but she often turned into green animals such as geckos and quetzals, Bruce had noticed. Maybe his soulmate was overly fond of gardening. Or maybe Lucie was just into green. Bruce preferred blue, personally, but he had always found Lucie pretty, even that time she had insisted on being a mole for a week.

Most dæmons would try out their definite forms a few times before settling into it in a permanent manner, but it wasn’t Lucie’s case. Bruce still wondered if it was because their trauma had forced her into her final form before she was ready. If she hadn’t settled when they were so young, could she have had a chance to experience her definite form in a less traumatic, gentler way ?

Bruce had always felt guilty about Lucie’s settling despite her protestations. She hadn’t been ready. dæmons weren’t supposed to settle when you were under 14. They certainly weren’t supposed to settle when you were barely 10 and hiding under the covers of your bed because you were scared of the monsters hiding in the dark, shivering against your beloved dæmon, who rubbed her muzzle against your arm sorrowfully to comfort you.

His parents had been dead for five days and Alfred had slept in the same room as him for as many nights, but this specific night, a thundering storm had caused the power to go out. The bedside lamp Bruce had kept on at night since the murder of his parents had gone off not long after he and Alfred had gone to bed.

He hadn’t been asleep yet, only pretending to be, and Alfred had left the room, presumably to switch the power back on.

In the dark, as thunder resonated through the house, Bruce’s memories about his parents’ murder had gone back full force. The man and his dog dæmon, his father stepping in front of him and his mother, Martha screaming and protecting her son with her body, the wolf…

Bruce closed his eyes tight, his fingers buried in Lucie’s fur but it only made things worse so he opened them again and met Lucie’s eyes. It was too dark. How long had Alfred been gone ? Thirty seconds ? An hour ?

Bruce wished he at least had Algie with him. The Barnacle goose would have been of some comfort in the absence of his human. (Much later, Bruce would realize that Alfred hadn’t been used to take care of a child, back then, and hadn’t thought about leaving his dæmon behind to comfort his younger self.)

The electric counter was in the basement. How long would he have to wait for there to be light ? His heart was beating too fast in his chest but he didn’t dare sneaking out of bed in the darkness of the Manor.

If only there could have been light. What wouldn’t he give for it, just the tiniest ray of light.

And suddenly, it was here. Bruce had looked at it with awe. No, not it, her. Lucie. It was his Lucie, producing light. His beloved Lucie, here for him when he needed her the most. He cupped his hands around her, stroked her small body.

Lucie went to rub her body against his cheek, making him laugh. He hadn’t laughed in five days.

“I can’t turn anymore,” Lucie suddenly told him, certainty filling her voice.

She wasn’t even producing enough light to lit up the room in the slightest but her glow had been enough to distract the child from his fear of the dark.

“Surely you can, silly. We’re only ten,” Bruce said to calm his dæmon, brushing a finger against her elongated body.

Lucie buzzed against his face. He was quite sure it was an angry buzz.

At that moment, he noticed that the room was no longer dark. The power was back and the storm must have calmed down, he couldn’t hear the thunder anymore, only the rain.

“You don’t make light anymore,” Bruce said, the faintest hint of disappointment in his voice as Lucie flew to his hands.

“I think I can only do it when it’s dark,” Lucie answered. “How do I look ?”

“Perfect,” Bruce whispered as he took a closer look at the brown bug wandering his fingers, just as Alfred came back into the room, his loyal Algernon following him.

“You shouldn’t be awake. Is everything alright, master Bruce ?” he asked, noticing Bruce’s humid cheeks and disheveled appearance.

Bruce opened his mouth to say that he was good and put his head back on his pillow obediently but Lucie seemed against the idea.

“Tell him I can’t change,” she said softly.

“Have you tried ?” her human murmured back.

Insects couldn’t roll their eyes but Bruce was quite certain Lucie had given it her best try back then.

His young charge’s lack of answer incited Alfred to check on him more closely.

“Do you need anything, my boy ?” he asked, sitting on the edge of the child’s bed and wiping Bruce’s cheeks with his handkerchief.

“Lucie says she can’t change back but she’s being ridiculous. We’re ten,” Bruce explained.

The angry buzz was back but Bruce ignored it when he noticed how grave Alfred’s face had become.

“She can’t have already settled, can she ?” the boy asked, as Lucie landed on his ear and tried to make herself comfortable there.

Alfred put a bony hand on his shoulder and looked at both of them. He was stroking Algie’s feathers with his free hand.

“Certain events affecting their humans can make dæmons settle earlier than they would have otherwise, Master Bruce.”

“What kind of events ?” the Waynes’ boy asked, frowning.

“What you’ve gone through this week could have incited Lucie to settle.”

There had been studies on the subject that suggested it could be a dæmon’s attempt to bring stability to their human but at the moment, Alfred hadn’t known about them and Bruce was too young to hear about them.

“Oh,” the child had said, and he had hugged his guardian tightly.

Alfred had held him a bit clumsily, running a hand through his hair in an attempt to appease him. Bruce didn’t notice, but Alfred hadn’t released his grip on his own dæmon since he had sat on the bed.

After a bit more talking and hugging, Alfred had gone back to his cot.

“Are you happy about settling ?” Bruce had murmured to Lucie.

“I have wings,” Lucie said against his ear, as if it was answer enough.

For her, it probably was, Bruce mused as he fell asleep before he was able to question her further.

When he had met Hal, Bruce had almost laughed, but even if the man was a pilot who occasionally wore a luminescent green uniform, he was also nothing like Lucie.

For one thing, Bruce didn’t like him and would rather not have him for a soulmate. Jordan was too brash, too impulsive, disrespectful and full of himself.

Bruce had never seen Hal’s dæmon and couldn’t confirm his impression but doubted he was his soulmate, despite Lucie’s lightning bug form. He had had no interaction with his dæmon but couldn’t stand the man.

Vigilantes liked to hide their dæmons, it was a known fact. It allowed them to keep their civilian identity for longer and many vigilantes tended to have secretive personalities.

Of course, it was easier to hide a ladybug dæmon than a giraffe one. Thankfully for their dæmons, not many amateur vigilantes tried to fight crime with their giraffe before eventually giving up.

For obvious reasons, flying animals were much more common among vigilantes but birds weren’t always easy to hide. Well, Jason did a good job to hide his hummingbird when they had both resuscitated. They only made Hero come back to life three days after Jason had and Bruce always felt surges of rage at the mere mention of it.

A person without a dæmon was no more than the shell of the person they had been. Alone, terrified, mutilated. Most criminals -it was a bit different in Gotham, though- refused to touch dæmons. No children, no dæmons, it was usually the rule.

Separating a person from their dæmon was one of the most terrible things you could ever do to them. Bruce didn’t know how his son had managed but he and his little violet sabrewing seemed to have overcome this.

He didn’t doubt that his son was plagued with nightmares. Jason had been prone to them, younger, and he had gone through so much since.

Bruce himself had nightmares regularly. The most recurring ones included his parents’ death and Jason’s.

When he woke up, he could still feel the thick fur of the gigantic Northwestern wolf Lucie had turned into when his parents had been killed under his hands.

Only Lucie’s light buzz next to his ears, proof if he needed one that she wasn’t currently a canine with blood soaked fur, could appease him.

“Lucie,” he would murmur and the compassionate bug would land on his hand and wander his fingers and palm, letting the comfort of her touch soothe him.

“Go back to sleep sweetie, I’ll watch over you,” she would then say in that no nonsense tone she had certainly borrowed from Alfred and Algie.

Lucie had assumed many roles for him over the years. She had been a companion, a friend, a sister, a confidant, a counselor and, on her own way, a mother.

Only Alfred and the kids knew Lucie. A few others knew about Lucie, but had never been presented. Most people didn’t know anything about her.

Even among Leaguers, few were the ones who knew her name. Only Clark knew, but most people couldn’t perceive the noise a bug made in her box inside Bruce’s utility belt.

Selina also knew that Lucie was some kind of bug, but had never expressed the wish to see her, even if she had never hidden Tiffany, her magpie dæmon, from him. Maybe it was for the best.

Bruce had also known about a few members of his team’s dæmons early on.

He’d seen Dinah’s golden retriever, Samson, in the field quickly enough since his human considered him too big to be concealed and extrapolated that Oliver’s dæmon had wings.

Barry always had a cigarette pack with him when he was in civilian clothes but had never even mentioned smoking, much less done it in front of them so he had deduced that it was probably just a well disguised insect box. They were usually the size of a matchbox and some were custom made.

It could be that or it was just bluff from Barry’s part but then Bruce was impressed by the thoughtfulness of his scheme.

It wouldn’t be so dissimilar to Clark’s own way to hide the fact that he didn’t have a dæmon : he kept a delicate insect box on him for Billie, his imaginary bug that spent the day in torpor in her sweet little box.

Arthur didn’t have a dæmon but had one of these fancy glass waterbags with fake algua, rocks and other aquatic decoration in it and pretended his fish was hiding behind them when he was around humans.

Bruce also knew that Diana, who didn’t interact with humans quite as much, didn’t go as far as Arthur and Clark. People almost never assumed you didn’t have a dæmon when they couldn’t see it. Surely it was not far away, maybe taking a nap on a shelf or hiding in your coat’s pocket.

Bruce remembered how unnerving it had been, realizing that Clark, Diana and Arthur didn’t have a dæmon. He had heard whispers about him not having a dæmon either, but he had also heard whispers of him being a vampire. He was quite certain he had Jordan to thank for that one.

Jordan. He had never seen his dæmon ever, but somehow nobody made up theories about Hal not having a dæmon. However, it could be because Hal actually talked about Skye from time to time and Bruce never said anything about Lucie.

Not that Hal had said much about his dæmon through the years, even if he had grown on Bruce. He had misjudged him. Hal wasn’t half as reckless as he let on, probably three times as bright and a very good person. And maybe, maybe he reminded Bruce of Lucie a little.

He wondered if he reminded Hal of his dæmon too but Hal never said much about Skye. Probably not, the Lantern would probably have said something by then.

Knowing Hal’s love for flying, Bruce really hoped his dæmon wasn’t a poor terrestrial animal with a fear of heights.

“Skye doesn’t get space sick,” he had overheard Hal tell Jessica, once, at the Watchtower. “But I know that Hester does, sometimes, you should talk to John.”

Jessica had been holding her peregrine falcon in her arms, looking quite concerned but Hal’s dæmon had been nowhere in sight, even if she couldn’t have been far.

Not for the first time, Bruce had wondered what Skye could be. Well, it depended on Hal’s soulmate, didn’t it ? Hal was about as bad at keeping a girlfriend as Bruce was so he knew he couldn’t just base his judgment on his latest conquest, a speleologist. They would break up before the end of the month, Bruce estimated.

Bruce had only found out years later.

As the seasons and the years went by, he gradually found out about more of his teammate’s dæmons.

Victor had a sparrow now equipped with mechanical wings named Seraphina.

Mera had a crowned seahorse, Basil, that she kept in her water-filled glass purse when she was among humans.

Oliver’s dæmon was a canary, Isadora, nicknamed Isa, as Bruce learnt at one of the Queens’ receptions he had been invited to.
Thankfully for Bruce, no one knew what Bruce Wayne’s dæmon looked like. There was quite a lot of speculation about it.

The most popular hypothesis was that his dæmon was a honey bee, like his mother’s. It was just enough poetic and tragic for people to believe it. Your dæmon’s final form depended on your soulmate, it was quite rare that people from the same family found themselves with dæmons of the same species.

The lack of intrusive questions from Hal when they had started seeing each other had been appreciated all the more. Bruce had the delicacy to return the favor and not ask about Skye - after all they were not in a serious relationship, it was mainly stress relief, and honestly calling it a relationship was stretching it.

Bruce had only found out about Skye’s nature because of the circumstances they had found themselves in, a few months after he had started sleeping with Hal.

They had been getting ready for a League meeting in the Cave together when Hal had suddenly collapsed, howling.

Bruce, who had been about to put his gauntlets on, caught him before he could hit the floor.

"Hal, what's wrong ?" he asked, making him sit on the nearest chair.

Hal grabbed him by his elbows, wincing in pain.

"Skye," he had croaked. "Find her," he managed to say right before everything went black.

Bruce was still crouching in front of him when Hal reopened his eyes, which made him think he hadn’t remained unconscious for long.

"How are you feeling ?" the detective asked him, scrutinizing every movement the Lantern made.

"Like I had passed out and woken up in a strange man's underground base,” Hal groaned, sitting up.

Bruce had apparently seen fit to lay him on the cold hard floor but he helped him up and made him sit in his chair again.

"Not too bad, then,” Bruce said with a brief smile, despite his tenseness. “Do you remember what happened ?"

Hal touched his left arm. He could still feel some soreness.

"Must have been Skye. Something has happened to her, she was in pain. I think she's fine now but - have you found her ?" he asked, gripping Bruce’s arm.

"That's why I’ve woken you up. I didn’t know where to start looking.”

Well, it wasn’t exactly right. He had searched Hal’s pockets to make sure he hadn’t an insect box or something similar in there.

“We'll find her, Hal. But first I need to know what we're looking for. From which species is your dæmon ?"

Hal was about to answer him but frowned suddenly. Bruce put a comforting hand on his arm. Hal closed his own hand above it instinctively.

Not knowing where Skye was exactly was driving him mad. He tried to focus on her, on her feelings.

"Wait. She's close by and someone's with her. Touching her, I think but she doesn't mind them and it’s not… I don’t feel it like… A child, maybe ? She doesn’t trust adults and it would feel a lot more intimate."

As Hal finished talking, Bruce’s youngest walked in. To Bruce's credit, he didn't take his hand back from Hal when the boy went closer. He was holding a dark package in his hands and Hal’s heart beated faster at the sight of it.

"Father, Pennyworth said the bat Alfie bit was going to be okay,” the boy said.

Damian’s ever-growing menagerie was going to be an issue someday but it wasn’t the right time to talk about it. The kids always had awful timing.

"Damian, we can talk about your new pet later. Hal Jordan and I-” he started saying but Hal stopped him.

"Skye," Hal said, leaning forward and holding out his arms with a relieved sigh.

The bat in Damian's hands flapped her wings but didn't fly to Hal as she desperately wished to. One of her wings was bandaged and Hal could feel her pain himself when she moved.

He delicately freed his arm from Bruce's grip and walked to Damian to take the little bat from him.

"Thank you for taking care of her, kiddo," Hal said, ruffling the boy's hair.

It left Damian speechless and would have made Bruce’s smile if he wasn’t processing more important things at the moment.

"It's okay, Skye. I'm here now," Hal murmured, holding his dæmon against his face.

The chiropter pressed her snout against Hal's neck as she was wont to do since their birth.

"That's a bat," Bruce eventually remarked, transfixed.

Hal’s dæmon was a little brown bat, like the ones you could find in the Cave. Of course.

"Yes. This one's mine, you don't have the monopole. Skye, Bruce,” Hal said, a bit distracted by the bat biting his fingers gently.

"Your dæmon's a bat,” Bruce hissed, throwing him a furious glare.

Hal had never, ever mentioned it. Bruce had spent too many years considering the possibility of Hal being his soulmate to finally dismiss it.

"Your brain usually works faster,” Hal commented.

"Damian, out," Bruce commanded, sternly enough that the curious kid didn't even try to protest.

No doubt the boy was wondering what the Green Lantern was doing without his uniform in the Cave and had been keeping a low profile to glean more information, hoping the two adults would just forget about him.

"We've been working together for more than ten years ! Don't tell me you just forgot to mention your dæmon was a bat,” he yelled once Damian was out of the Cave.

He didn’t tell Hal that the fact they had been sleeping together was making it worse, Hal probably could deduce it by himself.

He knew he was being hypocritical, considering Lucie’s own nature, but he was really mad at Hal for not telling him.

“It’s not like I knew anything about your own dæmon. Who’s Alfie, by the way ?" Hal asked, stroking Skye’s abused wing.

"Damian's cat. Don't change subjects,” Bruce seethed.

"What do you want me to say ? Yes, I know she’s a bat, it’s a bit hard to miss and -”

Hal was shocked into silence before he could get any further in his dubious explanation. Skye had actually found the strength to saunter from his hands to Bruce's arm and was now biting Bruce's fingers of her own volition.

Bruce had frozen too.

"Skye, sweetie ? What are you doing ?" Hal said in a strained voice.

Hal had taken an hesitant step towards Bruce. Maybe she was disoriented. Surely she didn't mean to touch Bruce ? She had never touched any adult willingly before.

"He has warm hands," the bat said, turning toward Hal.

"I know," Hal groaned. “Now, if you don’t mind,” he said, picking her up, his hands brushing against Bruce’s as he did. “I’d like to have you back. Sorry, Bruce, she must have felt confused.”

“She wasn’t,” Skye complained grumpily.

Hal loved Skye with all his heart but sometimes she was too stubborn for their own good.

“You’ve just suffered from an injury, you’re not in your right state of mind,” Hal countered, hoping to placate her.

It was a vain wish. Arguing was Skye’s love language.

“Are you serious ?” she asked, flapping her good wing against his arm.

“Skye, please,” Hal said, rubbing his eyes. “We have a reunion.”

“You have a reunion. I’m just supposed to lurk in the shadows like your dirty little secret,” she said bitterly.

This was new. She had never complained before and Hal didn’t think she minded. He had thought she actually enjoyed lurking in the shadows.

“Nobody has a reunion. I’ve canceled it,” Bruce said firmly, preventing them from arguing further about it.

Hal had looked quite gutted by Skye’s last attack.

“Why would you do that ?” Hal asked, confused.

“You had just collapsed. Someone had to look after you and we had to find Skye,” Bruce reminded him.

Besides, if he had maintained the meeting, they would already be thirty minutes late.

“Um. I think Skye and I should go home,” Hal said, not looking at Bruce.

Skye had hopped away from him and she seemed to be sulking. Hal looked hurt by her behavior but didn’t say anything to her directly.
Bruce put a comforting hand over his shoulder. Hal didn’t bat it away and he took it as a win.

“You’re welcome to stay,” he said quietly.

“I don’t know if I should,” Hal said, eventually meeting his eyes before throwing a side glance at his dæmon.

“Stay. We don’t have to argue, we can talk about all this when you’re back, but you’re leaving for Oa tomorrow and will be gone for weeks so I’d really like it if you stayed,” Bruce said.

Hal looked at him suspiciously, as if he didn’t believe him capable of such maturity. Bruce was under the impression that he should feel more vexed. He may have been, if Hal hadn’t ended up accepting.

He woke up to Hal playing with his hair. No, Hal was getting dressed. A bat was playing with his hair. Skye. Well, tugging at it was more accurate and it was much more painful than pleasurable.

"Hal. Can you please do something about your dæmon ?" he groaned.

It was way too early to wake up. Hal looked at him in surprise. He must have been quite lost in his thoughts if he hadn’t noticed that Bruce was stirring and waking up.

"Skye," Hal admonished, his hands on his hips. "I told you to let him sleep."

So, there was still some tension between him and his dæmon. Bruce felt a bit saddened at the thought.

"Sorry," Hal added for Bruce's benefit, kissing him briefly as an apology.

"You're leaving ?" Bruce asked, rubbing his eyes and holding Hal back by his wrist.

The answer was quite obvious but it was still early and Bruce hadn’t absorbed any caffeine yet.

"Yes,” Hal said.

"Be careful,” Bruce said, caressing the Lantern’s cheek with the palm of his hand.

"I always am,” Hal said, turning his face slightly to be able to kiss Bruce’s palm.

Contrary to what many people thought, Hal actually really enjoyed being alive and didn't take many risks that could jeopardize it if it wasn't utterly necessary. Thankfully for him, Bruce knew that. He just needed reassurance from time to time.

“When you’re done with your mission, come back to the Manor if you want,” he told Hal.

They had things to discuss. Hal hesitated but nodded and kissed Bruce one last time before leaving the room. His bat dæmon lingered for a bit, possibly to show Hal she was still angry at him. Bruce took this opportunity to address her.

"I trust you to keep an eye on him, Skye,” he told the dæmon.

She looked at him for a second, surprised that he would talk to a dæmon who wasn’t his own. Bruce didn’t think she would answer back.

“How do you think he’s managed to make it so far ?” she asked eventually before turning around and flying out of the room to find Hal. Her wing was almost fully healed. Dæmons healed quickly when their humans weren’t injured themselves.

As days passed and Hal’s return became more imminent, Bruce became more and more nervous.

The morning of Hal’s return, he had snapped at Tim, making Brunhild growl. Tim had pressed his hand into the black Labrador’s fur to prevent her from biting Bruce and Lucie had played mediators when Bruce had apologized to his son later.

Tim had shrugged, radiating uncomfort. Bruce didn’t apologize enough for his kids to know how to react when he did.

Bruce had just been careful to stay away from the kids for the rest of the day but since they had been careful to avoid him too, it hadn’t been too difficult.

Lucie was only slightly calmer than him because she was dying to finally meet Hal and Skye. Bruce had thought about it at length -his dæmon nagging at him the whole time.

In the end, he had accepted for her to be out and about as she usually was at the Manor, hoping it would help him to make peace with Hal.

Bruce had almost forgotten that Lucie was nestled against his left helix as some sophisticated ear accessory when Alfred had announced Hal and Skye, not hidden in the shadows or her human’s clothes for once. The esteemed butler had given the bat a single long look but hadn’t batted an eyelash.

Hal had looked a bit embarrassed, clearly not sure if he shouldn’t have just presented himself at the Cave, but Bruce had said the Manor and he had been waiting for him in his study, so…

Alfred had left, closing the door behind him silently and Bruce had felt free to greet Hal with a kiss. The kids knew better than interrupting what they were supposed to think of as a business meeting and probably knew was anything but without good reason.

Bruce was half expecting to be rejected because of their last argument but Hal had deepened the kiss with enough self-confidence to keep Bruce’s worries about the current state of their relationship at bay.

Hal had winced when Bruce had let his hand trail down his back and Bruce had lifted his jacket and shirt to reveal purple-ish skin. He relaxed a bit in the absence of a more serious looking injury. The bruises didn’t look good but they weren’t life-threatening.

He resisted the urge all humans seemed to have to press the colored area and turned towards Hal.

“Rough mission ?” he had asked.

Hal had hummed.

“I had worse.”

“There’s arnica gel in about every room, here,” Bruce said, looking through the second drawer of his desk. He rummaged through the medical kit in it but Hal grabbed his wrist.

“It’s fine,” he said. “There’s no need-”

Hal had abruptly stopped speaking, looking at Bruce with his mouth gaping slightly, petrified.

Bruce blinked at him and was about to wave his hand in front of Hal’s eyes when he realized his companion wasn’t looking at the center of his face. He was looking at his right ear. Lucie. Bruce felt a bit bad for having forgotten about her.

He had wanted to present her formally but Hal had been so distracting that he had forgotten about it.

“Hal ?” he said gently, squeezing his arm.

Hal blinked, threw a look at Bruce’s hand and shook his head before looking back at him. His eyes drifted to the right side of Bruce’s face.

“Is that… is that Lucie ?” he asked, in a whisper.

Bruce could have made a snarky answer -he didn’t make a habit of letting bugs rest on his face, after all- but he grabbed the insect attached to the top of his ear gently instead and showed her to Hal, his hand forming a cup.

“Yes, it’s her,” he said.

“Sorry,” Hal mumbled, slowly overcoming the shock, and Skye, who had been drawing circles above them, came to sit on his shoulder, showing he was more troubled than he let on.

He wasn’t expecting Bruce to let him see Lucie, then. Or maybe he hadn’t expected her form.

“Do you want to touch her ?” Bruce asked.

Maybe it was a bit much to ask after the two had just met, but he wanted Hal to touch his dæmon. After all, he had touched Skye. Well, Skye had decided she wanted to touch him but Bruce hadn’t complained.

He wasn’t certain Hal would want to touch Lucie, but Lucie was the being he knew best in this world and he had the feeling that she wanted Hal to do it.

Hal was looking at him in a curious way, a bit like his face couldn’t settle on a peculiar emotion. Bruce wasn’t sure it was a good thing. He hoped his eagerness hadn’t troubled his lover. But there was no way to take his words back gracefully, was there ?

“Of course if you don’t-” he started saying nonetheless, because he’d rather feel embarrassed than having Hal feeling coerced into accepting something he didn’t want to do.

“I want to,” Hal cut him off.

Something akin to determination -and was it a hint of fear ? that was new- was shining in his soft brown eyes.

He wrapped his left hand around Bruce’s cupped ones and stroked the lightning bug lightly with his right forefinger, with reverence.

Bruce’s breath shortened and Hal froze slightly at the contact. Lucie wasn’t moving at all and Bruce was quite certain that Skye, still on her human’s shoulder, was tearing his shirt -and maybe the skin underneath- to shreds.

Hal had stroked Lucie’s brown back one more time. Before they knew it, Bruce had pinned him against the nearest wall, Hal laughing quietly at his utter lack of control.

Bruce was quite curious about Barry’s dæmon, going as far as wondering if the man was fully human and really had one. Barry, quite like Bruce and Hal, didn’t let the others see his dæmon even in more relaxed settings.

Well, after he and Hal had both found out about each other's dæmon, Bruce had started to wonder if there was really a point to keep them hidden from their friends but it wasn’t a subject he had brought up yet so he kept Lucie for himself -and his family, and Hal- but he should have a talk with Hal about it.

He remembered Hal’s bat’s bittersweet comment about being kept hidden against her will and he didn’t doubt Hal remembered it too.

He was quite surprised to find out about Frankie the way he did.

Barry usually let his dæmon sleep through League’s meetings in her box unbeknownst to all, but he and Bruce had had monitor duty right after and he had felt Frankie was getting a bit cranky. Barry had thought it better to get her out of her box despite Bruce’s presence.

At first, Bruce had been too focused on his coffee and lingering thoughts about the meeting and Hal’s hands on him this morning -the latter he was trying to get out of his mind at the moment- to notice.

However, Bruce had ended up catching sight of Barry playing with his scarab dæmon as he was working on a report -the night had been quiet so far, and despite Bruce’s protests, most of the JL consider it fair game to do most of it during peaceful monitor duty shifts.

“Nice color,” Bruce had said pointedly.

Barry looked at him in surprise. He had been trying to find out what the sentence he had written sounded wrong and figured out he’d better change it completely and had almost forgotten he had let Frankie out of her box.

“Um. Oh, you mean Frankie. She’s a glorious beetle, they’re green like that,” Barry said, moving his desk chair closer to Bruce’s to show her off a bit.

His dæmon murmured something to him and he laughed.

“Of course, Bruce, you’re in front of the most beautiful specimen. The others aren’t half pretty,” he said tenderly. “Bugs are severely underestimated dæmons.”

Bruce considered making a mild comment and going back to his work, leaving Barry to his own, before deciding against it. Trust was something you earned, and Barry had earned his years ago.

“You’re preaching to the converted,” Bruce said, taking Lucie’s box from his utility belt.

The lightning bug buzzed happily when she was released from it. She went to rest on Bruce’s right ear and complained to him about the cowl. He put it down and Lucie took her usual seat.

“I’m not the only one who has a thing for uniforms, I see,” Barry said in a light tone.

Bruce hummed but didn’t say anything. If Barry felt confident about having a Lantern for soulmate, Bruce wasn’t quite certain yet about what he should do with this knowledge himself.

“Does she know ?” he asked.

If he hadn’t known about Barry’s dæmon, Bruce had known about Jessica’s, and as far as he could tell, Barry had never been interested in Hal in a romantic or sexual way, even if he wouldn’t affirm the reverse was true.

“That peregrine falcons are, by far, the fastest animals in the world except for the beautiful scarab here, of course ? Probably. That my dæmon is a vibrant green ? Not yet,” Barry said, looking at Frankie. “Does Hal know about your dæmon ?”

Bruce hesitated. Telling Barry that Hal knew was betraying a certain degree of intimacy between them but outright lying to his friend made him uncomfortable, considering how much Barry had shared with him.

“Tell him,” Lucie huffed in his ear.

She had always been his better half.

“He does. However, just because Lucie is a lightning bug, it doesn’t mean that Hal and I are soulmates,” Bruce pointed out.

It would be quite disappointing to say the least but it still was a possibility. His concern wasn’t about them being soulmates, anyway. It was about their ability to make it work. He had thought he could, before, it wasn’t like he had never made that mistake.

He had thought Selina and him were going somewhere, at some point, and he still wasn’t certain what he had done to pull them apart.

“Your dæmon settled as an animal that flies and occasionally goes a vibrant green. You’ve met a lot of lamp makers overly fond of green light lately ? Except if you’re into another Lantern -please don’t tell me it’s Jess, I could deal with you being Gardner’s soulmate if I had to, but not Jess’ -, I think it’s safe to assume Hal’s your soulmate,” Barry observed.

It wasn’t necessarily. Lucie’s bioluminescence could have a metaphorical value. As corny as it sounded, maybe it just meant his soulmate was a light in the darkness for him or something. Who knew. Bruce nodded for Barry’s peace of mind.

“I don’t think it’s Jess,” he said reassuringly, even if he didn’t think Barry had seriously considered it. “You keep Frankie in that fake cigarette pack. What do you do when someone asks you for a cigarette ?”

“Why, I gave them one, of course,” Barry said with a bright smile. “I carry another pack, a real one, with me,” he explained.

“Smart,” Bruce approved, and to his relief, their conversation shifted to a work-related subject as Barry asked something about his report.

They didn’t swear to secrecy. They trusted each other with their lives regularly, they knew the other wouldn’t tell what they learned that night to the rest of their team.

Weeks passed before it occurred to Bruce that Hal had never seen Lucie at night.

They were at the Manor and Bruce had suggested a stroll through the garden after dinner as the sun set. Hal had happily accepted. Dining with the kids had been a bit unsettling for him. Hal had been here more than usual in the last weeks -if not months- and they could not have not noticed. Bruce had let them draw their own conclusions but he doubted they were very far away from the truth.

He and Hal had stepped outside and he had turned around to close the French doors behind them, presenting his right side to Hal and heard him take a sharp intake of breath. He turned to him quickly, concerned, but before he could ask Hal if he was alright, Hal spoke up.

"Lucie glows in the dark,” he said faintly.

It was mid-way between a question and an affirmation but it was difficult to miss the dæmon’s glow when you faced her.

Bruce raised an eyebrow and touched her instinctively. She was buzzing lightly, seemingly curious about Hal’s reaction. He was too.

"Well, yes, she's a lightning bug,” he said slowly, as if Hal was particularly dumb.

He didn’t remember Hal hitting his head but concussions happened quite a lot when you were in the vigilante business.

“You didn't know ?" he added, surprised, when he noticed that Hal had that “what are you even talking about” look again.

Bruce hadn’t considered it at all. Hal had seen Lucie, shouldn’t he know what she was ?

"No, I didn't. It was daylight and I’m not very knowledgeable about bugs,” Hal said, throwing him a dirty glare.

Bruce had not considered that how lightning bugs looked wasn’t common knowledge. His kids had never seemed surprised by Lucie’s glow but they’d all been a bit intimidated at the start of their acquaintances and would probably not have brought it up if they had been troubled by his dæmon’s form.

“I’m sorry, I thought… I should have made sure you knew,” he said, leading Hal to a nearby bench.

The pilot looked like he needed to sit to process Lucie’s form. Well, it explained why he hadn’t freaked out earlier, he was freaking out now.

"Do you mind ?” Bruce eventually asked.

Lucie was pressed against his face and he could tell that she was anxious about the answer. She wanted Hal to like her.

Hal pondered over his answer for a bit, stroking Skye’s head. The bat had settled on his lap.

"Not really. I mean, Skye's a bat, so I suppose it’s okay if Lucie is a firefly,” he said tentatively.

There was still some uncertainty in his voice.

“Hal, it seems quite a shock for you, but as you said, your dæmon is a bat. You’ve never supposed… ?” Bruce asked, letting his unfinished sentence hang in the air.

“It’s a bit of a long story,” Hal said, moving slightly closer to Bruce.

“I have all night,” Bruce offered, wrapping an arm around Hal’s shoulders.

“Skye settled when I was twelve. You’re not the first person I’ve dated - the first person I’ve been with that could be my soulmate. All of the people I went out with didn’t have ties with bats, but a few did,” Hal started explaining.

It was still early in the evening but the night was quite dark. The moon played hide and seek behind dark clouds and the major source of light came from the house, in their backs.

“In high school, there was Charlie, she had a giant bat tattooed on her back and wanted to learn to become a tattooist herself. I was sixteen, she was eighteen and I thought she was so cool with her piercings and her tiger daemon and also sort of the love of my life. She moved to the other side of the country after graduation and I’ve never seen her again,” Hal said.

He and Bruce had gotten closer and he was leaning a bit against him now. Bruce didn’t say anything but squeezed his shoulder, encouraging him to continue.

“Later, I dated an English lit student. Her thesis was on Dracula, so I thought she could be it but she ended up cheating on me with my ex. A baseball player, I thought the “bat” thing could work, you know ? I was still in my ‘let’s find my soulmate’ phase,” Hal said, shaking his head.

He had been an idiot. Well, he wasn’t the first one to go on a wild goose chase and wouldn’t be the last one.

“I admit, I’ve kind of given up on the soulmate thing and dated nicer, faithful non bat related people after that. It was rather nice but after I got into the Corps, it never lasted long. I wasn’t reliable. I eventually dated a chiropterologist who traveled across the world all year round and didn’t mind my schedule toward the start of the League, though,” Hal said and he squirmed a bit, turning away from Bruce lightly, holding Skye closer to his chest.

“What happened ?” Bruce asked, dreading the answer.

He wanted to reach for Hal but didn’t dare, fearing he might lash out.

“For a while, it was great. We didn’t have much of a relationship, but it seemed to work. It.. she… It turned out she was more interested in Skye than in me, which was fair, I guess, but she… I didn’t want… she touched Skye without my consent,” he said in one breath, grasping blindly for an anchor, finding Bruce’s fingers and squeezing them too strongly.

“I’m sorry,” Bruce said, covering Hal’s hand with his free one.

Hal took a few breaths as Bruce ran his hand through his hair. He held Hal with his other arm, careful not to touch Skye accidentally.

“It’s okay. I grabbed Skye, took my stuff and we left,” Hal said after a few minutes of silence. “I didn’t date until Carol after that, and she and I had good moments until it went bad.”

Somehow, they had ended up laying down on the bench, Hal leaning against Bruce, who had his arms around him. Skye and Lucie were playing together nearby, getting to know each other.

“My point was that I met and even been intimate with quite a few people who could have fitted with my bat dæmon. Oh, I almost forgot Maria, the speleologist I dated a few years ago,” Hal added. “We got along rather well.”

“Right. Why didn’t it work out between you two ?” Bruce asked, a bit tense.

“Because of you,” Hal said, turning slightly to look at him.

Bruce frowned. It happened years before.

“We weren’t together.”

“We weren’t,” Hal confirmed but he didn’t say more, still looking at Bruce expectantly.

The light from the house was just enough for them to guess each other’s features but Bruce could have sworn that Hal was smirking at him. He kissed him.

“Wait, wait. If Lucie’s a firefly -” Hal asked when Bruce sneaked a hand under his shirt.

“Lightning bug,” Bruce corrected him promptly.

Hal would have rolled his eyes at him if Bruce could see him better in the darkness.

“As I’m sure you’ll be surprised to learn, one can have different names,” Hal pointed out. “Anyway, I was asking you if you’ve realized right away it was likely that I was your soulmate.”

Bruce took his time before answering, careful to find the right formulation.

“Sort of. Don’t blame me if I didn’t want to believe it at first.”

“Oh, I won’t. I hated you the first year,” Hal asserted. “And you hated me right back.”

It hadn’t been easy between them back then.

“Only the first ?” Bruce asked, tilting his head.

It had taken them some time to get used to each other.

“Well, the first three ?” Hal said, laughing, and Bruce laughed with him.

They only stopped hiding from the kids and started dating officially -or as officially as letting the kids know was- weeks later.

The night had been an eventful one and Bruce had called most of the kids for back-up. Cass and Duke had been assisting Kate on a case, but the others had been there. After patrol, they had patched themselves up in the Batcave’s medbay.

Alfred had stitched Titus’ benign wound as Bruce held his youngest son in his arms and Titus licked his face in reassurance despite the butler’s cry of “Master Titus !” when he had moved.

The dæmon ignored him to lick Damian’s face until the boy laughed. It was easy to forget how young the boy was with everything he had gone through, the fact that his dæmon had already settled notwithstanding, but he still had that high-pitched laugh kids had.

“Tt - no, Titus. You have to stay still for Pennyworth to do his job,” the young Robin eventually said, ordering the dog to stay put.

The boy having calmed down, Bruce released his grip on him to check on the others.

Tim had bandaged Brunhild’s leg while limping slightly himself.

“Let me check your leg,” Bruce said, but Tim shook his head.

“She was hurt, not I. I will be fine in no time.”

He had felt the pain at first but it would soon disappear. Bruce offered him painkillers but Tim refused despite his insistence and told him to go check on Babs instead.

The young woman and Silas had gone through a window. Bruce had already checked on her and Barbara had assured him that Leslie’s help wouldn’t be warranted, since they had managed to grip the edge of the window and climb back in.

Nonetheless, she had pieces of glass embedded in her arms and face and so did her dæmon. Dick had started working on her, despite her protests, but gave the tweezers to Bruce and grabbed another pair to have a look at Silas.

“Hey buddy, it’s your turn,” Dick said, patting his head after checking there was no glass here.

“He should have come first,” Babs said, glaring at him darkly.

“He wouldn’t have wanted that, would you have, Silas ?” Dick asked the Skywalker hoolock gibbon.

The ape shook his head.

“No. Our Barbara should always come first.”

“See ?” Dick said triumphantly as he started working on Silas’ face. “It’s going to hurt, sorry,” he said, but Babs’ gibbon ran a forgiving hand through his hair.

His own dæmon, Mara, was busy checking on Damian for herself.

He didn’t notice Babs’ shiver, but Bruce, who was cleaning one of her wounds, did and raised an eyebrow at her. She refused to feel embarrassed. He was Dick’s dad, not hers, and they had been together for a bunch of years, now.

Hal, who had been staying with Damian to make sure he and Titus would be okay and had just joined them, smiled. Barbara pretended she didn’t see his hand brush against Bruce as he told him Alfred had put Damian and Titus to bed.

Bruce nodded and focused back on her, but he had already got all the shards out of her skin and she could do the cleaning on her own.

Dick was still helping Silas, kneeling next to him.

“We’re almost done,” he told her. “Sorry, Silas, but this one is going to hurt.”

“My boys,” Barbara sighed, burying her nose in Dick’s hair and her hand in Silas’ thick brown pelage.

She wasn’t looking at them but she was quite certain Hal and Bruce had left to give them some intimacy. Barbara concluded that they probably had Hal to thank for that.

They had, indeed. Bruce had looked around the Cave with Hal at his side. Hal had asked him about Jason, Steph and their respective dæmons. Bruce had grimaced and said they must have wanted to be left alone for the moment.

Hal's hand had brushed against Bruce's as an almost caress. The Dark Knight had taken it in his, for all the present kids to see.

Hal's slow, pluzzed smile convinced him that he had done the right thing.

At the same time.

Steph had known she was injured, but sincerely, thanks to the adrenaline, -and having been much more injured before- it hadn’t felt that bad until she had wanted to put her sweater on.

“Fuck,” she had hissed, and Auberon had whimpered.

So, the blade had penetrated the flesh. She went to the sinks to rinse the blood and assess the injury. It didn’t look so bad.

She tried to smile at her sweet brown wood frog reassuringly but only managed a pained grimace.

“You’re okay ?” someone asked and she turned around swiftly.

It was only Jason. She almost sighed in relief.

“I’m feeling amazing,” Steph lied through her teeth, hiding her arm behind her back, probably putting blood on her tank top and leggings.

“I followed the blood trail,” Jason pointed out, probably just to be contrary.

Stephanie looked down at the floor. There were spots of blood here and there. Crap.

“And why were you looking for me ?” she asked, annoyed.

“I wanted to thank you for Hero,” he said.

"You're welcome," she answered with a tired smile, shrugging.

She liked Jason’s cute little violet sabrewing and twisting the arm of the guy trying to get at her and hearing a loud creak had been extremely satisfying.

She had moved her arm without noticing, lost in thought and winced again.

“You’re being ridiculous. Let me have a look,” Jason exiged.

“Or what ? You tell Bruce and he benches me for the next two months ?”

“Your dæmon’s in pain,” Jason pointed out. “Just show me.”

Steph would do -had done, occasionally- everything for Auberon. She let Jason see her arm.

“You need stitches,” he said, echoing her thoughts.

He found a medical kit, asked her to sit on a bench and looked at her arm.

“Ready to be anesthetized ?”

“Depends. Is it a lethal dose ?”

He grinned at her as he gave her the injection.

“Ahhh, great !” Steph purred when her arm went to sleep. “Wait, how good are you at stitches ?” she added suspiciously.

“Nearly as good as Alfred, you won’t have a scar, Narcissus,”

“Ah, ah. I’d like to see you if I was the one doing your stitches.”

Jason grimaced.

“Your reputation precedes you, I wouldn’t let you anywhere near my arm.”

She swatted him with her working hand. He laughed and asked her to stay still as he stitched her arm.

“Four stitches, not bad,” Jason noted once he had finished. “Is Auberon’s okay ?”

Steph petted her dæmon with her good hand and started a whispered conversation with him. She frowned, raising her voice.

“You could have told me !”

He said something about her supposedly feeling it. The thing was, Steph’s pain tolerance was quite high and she had only felt a bit sore. She felt a bit guilty about it.

“He said there’s an open wound on his left front leg. I have something to clean the wound and a special ointment in my utility belt, can you bring it back ?”

“Please ?” Jason said, raising an eyebrow at her.

Steph glared at him but Jason mollified when Auberon whimpered again and went looking for her stuff.

When Jason was back, they both realized that Steph wouldn’t be able to take care of her dæmon with only her left hand and that her right one was still asleep.

They stared at each other for a few seconds. Jason looked at his dæmon.

“I don’t think Hero can do it,” he said jokingly.

Steph looked at Auberon and back at him.

“Do it, then,” she said, trembling a bit despite the determination in her eyes.

They could wait for her to be able to use her right hand but Auberon was in pain. She didn’t want to wait.

Jason didn’t ask if she was sure. It was usually something you were quite certain of. She held her breath when he crouched in front of her dæmon, who was right next to her on the bench. She scouted over a little to give them more room.

"Hey, gorgeous,” Jason said, smiling at her nervous dæmon.

She didn’t think anyone had ever addressed her dæmon directly before. She wasn’t sure anyone had called it gorgeous ever. Kids in middle school thought he was ugly -Stephanie had punched one and got sent home for three days- and most adults didn’t comment on others’ dæmons’ appearances.

Hopefully Jason didn’t know Auberon well enough to tell he was doing the equivalent of blushing because she did and it was quite embarrassing.

Jason was talking to her dæmon and Steph was getting goosebumps.

"Can you show me your leg ? Good boy," Jason said, stroking his head.

Apparently, Jason talking to Auberon didn't hold a candle to Jason actually touching him. Steph considered burying her burning face in the nearest cushion.

Auberon didn’t look better as Jason examined his leg, cooing at him, before he cleaned it and applied some ointment on it.

Steph was quite certain the “the frog turns into a prince when you kiss it” stories had been made up by frog dæmons Jason Todd had come too close to in order to lure poor humans to kiss them.

“You’ve been great, Aub,” he told Steph’s frog, and it was probably a miracle Auberon didn’t faint on the spot.

Steph could feel he was making an effort not to. Jason didn’t make any remark on her certainly very red face and she was thankful for it.

“Thank you,” she said.

“I pay my debts,” he replied.

He couldn’t have people believe he was a nice guy, now, could he ? Steph rolled her eyes at him. She knew what game he was playing.

Auberon was sitting on her left side. He sat on her right. They stayed silent for a bit.

Stephanie considered going back with the others. Jason, Cass and her, not unlike Bruce, usually appreciated being left alone after taxing patrols and missions, but, blood notwithstanding, they had been having a nice moment.

Stephanie wasn’t sure she wanted it to end. She looked at Jason and then down at their hands, side by side on the bench.

Jason looked at her questioningly but she didn’t say anything and they shared a few minutes of silence.

"Do you want to kiss me ?" she eventually blurted out.

At first, Jason looked at her as if she was out of her mind. Maybe she was. Maybe she was a bit bored, or mad at Bruce. Jason wasn’t going to ask her why she asked that.

"Do you want me to kiss you ?" he asked her, just in case she had noticed he found her pretty.

"Do it," she said, unblinking.

She clearly knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to ask for it. A woman after his own heart.

He could have told her no, but he didn’t want to. He was intrigued, so he grabbed her neck and kissed her.

Less than a minute later, when Babs walked on them, Steph was practically on Jason’s lap and had forgotten about her arm’s numbness.

“Steph, I’ve seen the blood, are you - wow. Okay, I haven’t seen anything. I suppose you’ve already checked if she wasn’t bleeding out, um. See you two later.”

Bruce had found out about the shift in Steph and Jason's relationship two weeks later.

Bruce had given all the kids' the night off for Cass' birthday. He had also promised to come back early and let Kate relay him -against the promise to relay her for Jamie's upcoming birthday.

He had found the kids -and their dæmons watching Dick's Phantom of the Opera DVD.

Cass, sitting on the plushy rug, and Barnabas, in her arms, looked enraptured by Sarah Brightman's performance, their eyes barely moving from the screen when Bruce walked into the room. The Southern tiger cat dæmon's golden eyes lingered on him a fraction of a second longer but quickly returned to the screen.

Duke was sitting cross-legged next to Cass but didn’t pay as much attention to the screen since Guinevere, his energetic guinea pig dæmon, was running around the room, occasionally stopping in front of him so he could pet her.

“Gwin,” the teenager called for her in a hissing tone, but his dæmon was too stubborn to listen and wasn’t in the mood to stay still, enjoying touring the room far too much to stay still.

Duke sighed and gave up for the moment.

Tim was at his right, keeping an eye on the screen and another on the rodent running around.. He had called dibs on the most comfortable armchair and was now hugging his knees to his chest under his favorite blanket.

He wouldn’t admit to it aloud, especially not to Dick, but he agreed with Jason : Boggess was better. Not that it mattered. It was Cass’ birthday so she had been the one who picked what they were going to watch and the others had chosen far worse before.

Brunhild and Titus were at his feet, curled up against each other, whispering. Damian was fast asleep against his dæmon's flank.

Someone had covered him up with a blanket. Bruce felt a surge of affection for the kids and their dæmons at the sight.

Dick and Babs were bickering lightly on the white sofa. Bruce could tell it wasn't serious because Dick's African grey parrot dæmon was biting Silas' ear playfully and Babs' gibbon dæmon didn't stop braiding her hair to reject him, unbothered.

Bruce took a look at the last couple in the room, sharing the dark green sofa. He wasn't expecting to see what he did, almost did a double take.

Jason and Steph were sitting next to each other. Usually, Bruce didn't bat an eyelash at the kids sharing a couch. He had seen many different combinations of kids sharing the space, that was what couches were for.

Auberon was dozing on Stephanie's lap and her head was resting against Jason's shoulder. She looked fast asleep.
It wasn't the first time one of the kids had fallen asleep on another and that alone wouldn't have troubled Bruce much.

No, what caught his attention was Jason's sabrewing, catching a blond strand of hair in her beak and removing it away from Steph's face. It was discreet enough for the others not to notice but Bruce was quite certain of what he had seen.

Jason must have felt his neck tickle under Bruce's stare because he looked around and caught Bruce watching them before he averted his eyes. Jason swore under his breath - he knew it was too late to hide the recent developments in his and Steph's relationship. Him tensing woke Steph up.

Bruce could as well have caught them snogging.

"Um, what ?" she mumbled, still half-asleep, looking up at him.

"Nothing," Jason said too quickly, forcing himself to relax his muscles. "Go back to sleep."

Steph grumbled something about pillows unable to stay still and shut up and fell back asleep as Bruce left the room.

“Leave them alone,” Hal had told him when Bruce had asked what he thought of it, later at night, when Hal had been able to go back to the Manor. “I’m serious. They’re what, nearly twenty ?”

“Steph is. Jason’s turning twenty-two in two weeks,” Bruce said.

Hal refrained from rolling his eyes at him with effort.

“My point was, they’ll manage on their own. Don’t take sides, don’t interfere and they’ll be fine,” he said firmly.

He couldn’t believe he was giving someone else’s parenting advice, especially considering how many kids Bruce had. He had already gone through that, why was he trying to repeat his mistakes ?

“But what if -”

Hal interrupted him before Bruce could rationalize the hell out of the situation and come to poor conclusions.

“Dick and Babs are together. So are you and I. Don’t tell them you disapprove of team members dating, they won’t be impressed. Better : don’t tell them you disapprove. They’re not asking for your opinion, you’ve certainly not asked for theirs when we started seeing each other.”

It was obvious Bruce had wanted to argue more about it, probably to claim that it wasn’t the same thing when it absolutely was, but Hal had stopped him.

“Bruce, just trust them with this already. Please. Try to be happy for them instead of worrying about them for once. Dick and Babs make it work, somehow. Why not them ?”

Skye had pressed her snout against Bruce’s cheek and he had relented a bit.

“You know, I keep wondering why Lucie isn’t a mama bear. It would have made my life a whole more complicated, but it could fit you about just as well as a bat does, honestly.”

Bruce had growled at him.

“See ? You even have the growl to rival it,” Hal had said before kissing him, letting Bruce melt into the kiss.

“How long are you staying ?” Bruce had asked Hal a while later, as they laid in bed.

Hal had run a hand through his companion’s hair.

“I’d love to say something really sappy like ‘forever if you’re the one to ask’ just to see you cringe but the thing is, the Corps called and I’ll have to leave in the morning.”

He felt more than saw Bruce tense in the dark. Lucie buzzed louder and climbed Hal’s fingers.

“How long ?”

Hal got closer. Skye was curled up on Bruce’s chest, already asleep.

“A month, give or take. Considering the situation, probably more,” he told Bruce.

Bruce tensed some more. Well, Hal had no other choice than telling him, it wasn’t like his partner wasn’t going to notice his absence. Little did he know that he wasn’t fully responsible for Bruce’s agitation.

“Can I ask you - There’s something I’d like for you to consider, and you’re probably going to need the time to -” Bruce started saying, his voice oozing nervousness, which was unusual because Bruce tended to hide his vulnerability.

“Bruce, what is this about ?” Hal cut him off, a hand on his arm, because when Bruce’s explanations started that way, it usually led to three hours long League meetings.

Bruce’s nervousness was making both Hal and Lucie uneasy. Skye roused, moved a few inches and fell back asleep against Bruce’s neck. Lucie curled up against her.

Hal let his hand rest on Bruce’s shoulder, right next to them.

“I don’t want you to answer me about it right away, but you should give it some thought while you’re off Earth. Then you’ll be able to tell me what you think when you come back,” Bruce said, his own hand covering Hal’s.

“Okay, what’s going on ? You’re worrying me.”

Couldn’t Bruce get to the point already ? He knew that spending so much time with criminals meant you tended to develop a tendency to make longer than necessary speeches and that Bruce having to play Brucie Wayne’s part every once in a while encouraged it but this was getting really unnerving.

“I was trying not to but I knew you'd probably freak out for a bit,” Bruce admitted, clearly annoyed by the fact.

“What about ?”

Hal was now pressed against Bruce’s side. Their hands were still intertwined over Bruce’s shoulder.

“You’re probably not ready yet but I’d like you to consider marrying me,” Bruce said, looking at him in the near darkness.

The moonlight and Lucie were their only sources of light at the moment.

“Ah. Okay,” Hal said.

He hadn’t expected Bruce to ask him about that at this moment and was taking things in stride.

“You’ll think about it ?” Bruce asked.

It had been a long time he hadn’t heard so much hope in Bruce’s voice. It made him smile in the dark.

“No,” Hal answered categorically.

He had already made his decision and didn’t need a two month stay in space to think about it. Bruce cleared his throat and squeezed his hand.

“Hal, I know -”

He sounded a bit frantic and when Hal realized why, he stopped him.

“No, you don’t. I don’t need to think about it, I’m sure. You want to marry me ? Great, I want to marry you too and two months away from you are not going to change that.”

Bruce stayed silent for a long time, observing Hal, or more accurately, what he could see of him thanks to the moonlight.

Hal let him, until he got tired of it and just went for a kiss, disturbing their dæmons’ sleep.

“So he said yes ?” Lucie asked as she and Skye relocated into the bat’s basket Bruce had got installed there after finding out about Hal’s dæmon’s form.

“Of course,” Skye answered sleepily, inviting the lightning bug to sleep under her wing.

They got married a week after Hal’s return. They told Alfred and the kids about a week after. No one was surprised but they were all almost surprisingly nice about it, even Jason, which made Hal wonder if Alfred hadn’t had a talk with them.

He promised himself to have the same kind of talk with Bruce if Steph and Jason kept seeing each other and officialized their relationship.

No one else knew, but their family did and it was quite nice, even if Skye was still complaining about having to stay in the shadows for League’s meetings.

The League didn’t even know about their couple relationship. Well, it was possibly that they pretended not to know, at this point.

Their friends only found out for certain three months later.

It was a bright summer day and they had been hanging out at the Manor for drinks after a tense but successful mission.

They had been staying on the patio, enjoying the soft warmth of the sun.

It had been a bit strange for Hal to pretend he didn’t live here. He hadn’t outright lied to his friends about it, just let them assume, but it was still strange nonetheless.

Barry had raised an eyebrow when Cass had gone out to exchange some words with Hal before coming back inside.

Bruce’s daughter had quite an introverted reputation so for her to seek a Leaguer out seemed a bit odd. She had smiled at something Hal had said, nodded and came back into the house with a jaunty gait.

“I didn’t know Bruce’s girl knew you,” Barry told his friend when Hal went to stand next to him.

“She’s a good kid,” Hal said.

“You may not have noticed but I think she may have a crush on you.”

“What ? No,” Hal said, laughing frankly.

Wouldn’t that be awkward.

“If you say so,” Barry said, unconvinced.

Hal was too loyal to tell him he suspected Cass was more interested in women and that they had built a great stepfather/stepdaughter relationship these last months but was all too happy when Oliver and Dinah interrupted their conversation.

They had been talking for a little while when Dinah took a step forward toward him. Hal instinctively backed away when she invaded his personal space.

“You've got some bug in your hair. Let me -” Dinah said gently, reaching for his hair again.

Hal had forgotten about the bug's presence but he blocked Dinah’s arm easily -and maybe a bit too strongly, she grimaced- and took two steps back.

“No ! Don’t touch her. It's Lucie,” he had cried out at the same time.

Dinah was massaging her forearm and Ollie was looking at him murderously, Dinah’s golden retriever dæmon rubbing his large head against her legs. Barry just gaped at him.

“Sorry, Di. She, ah, likes playing with my hair. Don't chase her away,” he said in a quieter tone, rubbing his neck.

“Bruce's Lucie ?” Dinah had said quietly, but it was too late for discretion.

Every head was turned toward them. Hal’s throat had become suddenly dry but he started breathing more easily again when he felt Bruce bumping his shoulder with his.

“Sorry, Hal. I didn’t think to tell her to behave since we had guests,” he murmured, looking pointedly at his dæmon.

Lucie buzzed louder and settled on the top of Bruce’s right ear.

“Only a few of you know but my Lucie is a lightning bug,” he said.

“And Skye’s a bat,” Hal said, and the bat who had been rounding the gardens that others had assumed had escaped from the Cave went to sit on his shoulder.

An eerie silence fell upon them. Bruce’s hooked his little finger with Hal’s inconspicuously.

“You’re kidding,” Barry muttered, drinking his glass of wine down in one go.

Bruce grimaced, he must have been thinking about them bonding over bug dæmons and Lantern soulmates a while ago.

“We’ve known about each other’s dæmon for a while,” Bruce admitted, glancing at Skye, still on Hal’s shoulder.

He could feel the familiar light weight of his own dæmon on his ear and hear her light buzz.

“Wait, have you known from the start ?” Barry asked, his arms crossed.

Murmurs raised in the superheroes’ assembly around them. Hal shook his head.

“No. We were careful to keep everyone, including each other, in the dark for years. But someday…” Hal said, before pausing, looking at Bruce.

This was the kind of story that could only be told truthfully with two voices.

“... we started seeing each other,” Bruce completed, looking back at him.

“We didn’t tell each other, back then. Actually, Bruce found out Skye was a bat accidentally, some time later. He told me about Lucie a bit after that,” Hal developed.

Bruce was waiting for him to continue but when he didn’t and that a cold silence started to settle again, he spoke up, only to be interrupted by Hal.

“Wait. Before Bruce finishes this sentence, I want you all to know that we were planning to tell you. We just needed a bit more time. Sorry, you can go on, honey,” Hal said, smiling at him.

It wasn’t one of those bright, earth shattering smiles he was used to. This one was a bit weak. Bruce smiled back nonetheless.

“We got married about three months ago,” he said, when someone cleared their throat, feeling the impatience of their guests.

Apparently, not everyone was fascinated with Hal’s different smiles. A shame, really.
However, the news of their wedding seemed to fascinate a few.

Hal didn’t seem to notice it, but he leaned a bit more into Bruce as murmurs rose.

“And I actually live here. I still crash at my apartment from time to time when I have early flights but my home’s here, basically. I think that’s about it,” Hal said, looking one more time at Bruce for confirmation.

Bruce nodded. They had already shared quite a lot with their friends, who were already trying to digest their whole history. It would be best to keep the rest for them, both for their privacy and for their friends’ sanity.

“That’s about it ? I don’t know if I’m happy for you or if I want to hit you, Hal. I’ve been pestering Oliver about you being lonely and us needing to invite you more often and maybe help you meet a few of our friends for… oh, I don’t know, years ?” Dinah eventually said, sighing, her fists on her hips.

Hal had the good grace to look sheepish. Bruce was secretly glad he hadn’t been the only one to worry about Hal over the years. When they had started sleeping together, Hal was indeed quite lonely when he was Earthside.

Of course, now, things were different. His family was Hal’s family. Lucie had left his ear for Hal’s.

“Ah, thank you, I guess ?” Hal had eventually replied, and Dinah had hugged him and then Bruce.

“You, boys, are idiots,” she had concluded. “Congratulations on your wedding.”

There had been quite a lot of hugs after it. Bruce wasn’t sure he appreciated all the effusions but it was probably better to have their friends happy for them instead of mad at them.

“I’d have thought they’d be madder,” Hal said afterwards, once all their guests had come home and they were both resting on the couch.

“You can take Skye to our meetings officially, now,” Bruce pointed out.

The dæmon flapped her wings happily.

“Lucie too.”

“Lucie doesn’t like meetings as much,” Bruce revealed, amused. “Most of the time, she doesn’t mind sleeping through them.”

Hal pretended to be shocked and they laughed together, Hal wrapping an arm around Bruce’s shoulders familiarly.

“I’ve never thought I could have that after my Dad died, you know ?” he said after a while, Bruce’s head against his shoulder.

“That ?” Bruce asked, straightening up.

Receiving friends could be more tiring than you thought, but Hal seemed to be in a sharing mood and if he was going to talk about his childhood, Bruce wanted to make sure he felt like his husband was listening. It didn’t happen often.

“How do they call it, again ? Conjugal felicity, I think ? Well, that kind of domestic happiness, a family that I’d want to go home to. That,” Hal said, brushing his knuckles against Bruce’s face as a caress.

“Oh, Hal,” Bruce murmured against his ear, but his husband wasn’t done.

Hal let his memories overwhelm him for a bit before taking back the control of his emotions in a blink.

“My parents… They were an interesting couple, really. His dæmon was a cat and hers was a bird. A golden eagle named Prometheus, mind you. It used to make us kids laugh. I never thought I would either get what they had. I looked for my soulmate and I hoped for some connection when I was older but I could never have imagined… What I have with you, it’s…” Hal said, opening his hands. “You know what I mean ?”

“I know,” Bruce confirmed, half-amused and half-serious. “I love you too,” he said, before kissing Hal.

If one of them had kept their eyes open, they would have noticed Skye hopping from Hal’s shoulder and Lucie flying to her. However, none of them was paying much attention to their respective dæmons at the moment.