A/N: Warning! This story will be talking about rape. Nothing explicit will be written, I will be focusing on the aftermath and the effects it has on the characters.
I've actually seen this idea floating around the internet, but surprisingly not many people have actually covered it. At least, not that from what I could tell. So I just wrote my own story for it, because if what you want to read doesn't exist, write it yourself. That's what I'm always thinking...I don't actually do it all that often, but I think it.
Something was wrong with Don.
Hank didn't exactly know for sure what was going on, but he knew it had to be something. Don had been acting really weird for almost a month now, and it pissed Hank off that he didn't know why. What was really annoying was that it was just subtle enough of a change that nobody else seemed to notice, but Hank was Don's older brother for crying out loud! If there was any change with Don, Hank liked to think that he would at least notice something, and he had.
It didn't matter that nobody else seemed to think there was something wrong with him. Hank knew there was, and sooner or later he was going to find just what it was, and until he did, he was keeping a close eye on his brother.
The big problem with that plan was that Hank was not very skilled in the art of subtlety, and he barely understood what the word 'discreet' meant. Don caught on quite quickly on what Hank was doing. Don was trying to hide what was bothering him from everybody, including his brother. So when he realized that Hank wasn't buying the act that everybody else believed, he did the only thing he could think of to keep his brother off his case.
Don began avoiding him.
Obviously subtlety wasn't a trait that the anyone in the Hall's family had. Fortunately, though it didn't seem like it, Hank had patience...kinda. He didn't have patience for a lot of things, but when it was something really important, like the well-being of his younger brother, Hank could have as much patience as it took.
That didn't necessarily mean that he wanted to wait forever, but he was just as stubborn as Don was, if not more so. Until he found out what was going on with his younger brother, Hank wasn't going to stop trying to figure it out, because Hank Hall wasn't a quitter...even if he had made no progress in nearly a month.
As hard as Don tried to avoid him though, Hank seemed to have luck on his side, or, at the very least, he had The Justice League on his side. The two of them were Hawk and Dove, the embodiments of chaos and order. Whenever the League needed one of them, they used both of them. Whether it was for a mission or just training, Hank and Don were stuck together. And though Don was a decent actor, the rest of the League would know that there was something going on with him if he just started ignoring Hank while they were working together.
So, to Hank's amusement, whenever they had League business, which was a couple of times every week, Don would exhaust himself trying to act like his normal self to everybody else, while at the same time revealing nothing to Hank. Don was trying so stinking hard to keep whatever was bothering him to himself, and Hank was so tired of it that he actually took sick pleasure in Don's struggle to maintain his image. Serves him right, keeping everything to himself.
Still, Don was a frustratingly sneaky bastard. Even when the League was making them work together he still found a way to avoid interacting with Hank. Don didn't participate in their sibling bickering while they were on missions, and he sparred with somebody else during training. Fortunately Hank had figured out a way to get past that last part.
Hank was always one of the first people to arrive at training, because he was always happy to find a reason to fight. He would quickly find an opponent and would usually have started before Don even bothered to arrive. Don always waited until the last second to even show up at training. If it wasn't mandatory he probably wouldn't even bother to go at all.
This time, Hank used that to his advantage. He arrived early, as usual, but didn't find a sparring partner right away like he normally did. He stood around waiting impatiently as he watched everybody else partner up. Hank grew agitated as he saw everybody else duking it out while he stood to the side waiting for his dumb brother. Despite his frustration Hank couldn't help but smirk victoriously when Don finally came in and saw that Hank was the only available sparring partner. His expression made the entire wait worth it to Hank.
"Really, Hank?" Don asked exasperatedly as he approached his older brother. "Don't you think this kind of thing is beneath you?"
"Not even a little." Hank said smugly. Withing giving his brother a warning Hank threw a punch towards Don, who, even though he was caught off guard, was easily able to dodge the hit. Hank, who had been watching his brother's fighting style, or dodging style, for years now, had expected this, so when he first started the punch he made sure to not put too much weight behind it. Without all of that extra force to throw off his balance when he only ended up hitting air, Hank was quickly able to recover from the failed attack.
Hank faced his brother again, who was looking annoyed, and just tired of everything. "Do you really want to do things like this?" Don asked.
"Like you left me any choice." Hank growled. "You've been ignoring me for weeks now." Hank threw another punch, which Don dodged with a simple sidestep. Don looked at him with wide, hurt eyes that were full of vulnerability. The look in his eyes made Hank hesitate in his attack, which was a shame because he could tell that Don had let his guard down.
"I have not." Don said defensively, and he actually sounded offended. If Hank hadn't actually experience the cold shoulder that Don had been giving him, he would believe his words. But he had, so he didn't.
"Stop lying." Hank overcame his hesitation and lunged forward, tackling Don and sending them both to the ground. Don struggled fiercely to get out of his grip, but Hank was older, bigger and stronger than Don was and was easily able to overpower him.
"Get off." Don grunted as he tried in vain to wriggle out from under his brother.
"No." Hank growled. "Not until you tell me what's going on." It was a petty and childish solution, but Hank seriously had no idea what else to do.
"Hank, I'm serious." Don tried to kick and push at Hank to force him off. It wasn't effective, but it was pretty annoying. Hank adjusted his position so he was straddling his brother. He grabbed Don's wrists and forced them to the ground, effectively pinning him.
"And you think I'm not?" Hank all but shouted. He knew that most everybody else had stopped what they were doing and were watching the two of them, but right then Hank didn't care. He was sick and tired of Don's strange behavior and evasiveness, and it was really starting to piss him off. Forget about patience and giving Don his space until he was ready to talk, Hank wanted answers now.
"Tell me what's going on." Hank yelled harshly.
"Hank, please-" Don's voice was quiet, barely more than a whisper. Hank could feel Don's hands shaking in his own and he seemed to be having trouble breathing for some reason. Hank noticed these things, and if he was in a calmer state of mind he would be concerned. Right now though, he was too far gone to even care.
"Shut up!" Hank tightened his grip on Don's wrists. "Just shut up and listen to me for once! Stop treating me like I'm an idiot. I know that something's wrong with you, and you will tell me what it is!"
"Hank-" Somebody's voice said warningly, but he wasn't about to listen to them.
"Stay out of this!" Hank snapped without taking his attention away from his brother. Don had his eyes shut tightly for some reason, and he was shaking now more than ever. "And you, you may think that you're perfect and always right, but you're not. If you were you wouldn't be in this mess. For once in your life just make things easier for yourself and try things another way. Try things my way!"
"Stop it!" Don screamed. Hank was temporarily thrown off by the raw emotion in his voice. If he hadn't thought that something was wrong before, he absolutely would think so now. In his distraction Hank let his grip on Don loosen ever so slightly, and in that brief moment he felt a sudden strong force pulling him away from his brother. One second he was pinning Don against the floor and the next he was the one being pinned against the wall by an absolutely furious Supergirl.
"Stay away from him." Supergirl hissed. Hank opened his mouth to tell her to get her damn hands off of him but stopped when out of the corner of his eye he saw Don scurry to his feet and rush out of there as fast as he could. As suddenly as Supergirl had forced Hank against the wall she let him go and went flying after Don.
Hank glared at the spot where Supergirl had been and rubbed at his shoulder which was hurting like Hell. It felt like she hadn't been holding back very much when she had slammed him against the wall, which meant that he must have pissed her off a lot.
But what the hell had he done?
No, forget about what he had done to Supergirl, what had he done to Don? The two of them used to roughhouse with each other all the time, and even though Don never really liked it, he had never reacted like this before. Hank actually couldn't remember a time when he had seen Don looked so freaked out, and it kinda scared him.
...Dammit, now he was feeling guilty about this whole thing. Once again he had gone just a step too far with Don and just screwed everything up. And now he had to apologize for overstepping his boundaries because he knew that if he didn't then he would be stuck with the feeling that he had done something wrong. Don would forgive him, whether he apologized or not, he always did. But Hank knew he would still feel bad about it until he apologized, no matter how insincere the apology was.
How come even when Don was the one that was in the wrong and being an idiot, Hank was still the one who felt like the bad guy?
Hank cursed angrily and punched the wall before running out of the room to try to find Don. He ignored the weird looks that the rest of the people in the gym were giving him. Hank was just glad that only a small percentage of heroes were ever at training at one time. There were only about a dozen people who saw this. Unfortunately, they were all the younger, loud mouthed heroes who had a tendency to get bored and gossip about anything vaguely interesting that happened.
Hank could worry about that later. Right now though he had Don to think about...and Supergirl, because he absolutely hated being on that girl's bad side.
Hank ran down the hallways of The Watchtower, not even bothering to watch where he was going. He didn't care at all that he was literally pushing past people. The Watchtower was a stinking large place, and if he took his time to be courteous then he could be searching for Don all day.
Even with his enhanced speed it took a long time for Hank to search the large area of The Watchtower. It probably wouldn't take all that long except Hank wasn't thinking clearly and kept on getting lost. After running into the same hallway for the fifth time and being no closer to finding Don Hank stopped where he was because he was getting nowhere with this.
Hank closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm down. Hank couldn't believe he was actually doing this, but Don always said that it was a good way to clear ones mind, and that was what Hank needed right now. Running around aimlessly was obviously not working. He had to think about what he was doing. He had to come up with a plan, or else he wasn't going to find Don anytime soon.
Now that he could think clearly Hank soon remembered one thing about Don. Even though Hank could think of many instances when Don had decided to run away from his problems or fights, like he had today. It seemed cowardly to Hank, but the thing was Don never ran very far, just far enough for him to have space to think.
Another thing to consider was that Don had been pretty freaked out when he had ran off. With that in mind Hank figured that Don had either run off as far as he could, or had just gone to the closest solitary place he could get to and was hiding there. Since Hank knew he would have a hard time finding Don if he had gone for distance, Hank decided to just assume that the second option was true. That Don had tried to hide rather than run. It wasn't a for sure thing that that was what Don had done, but if he had then at least Hank had an idea of where to find him.
There was a storage area right near where the training rooms of The Watchtower were. Not many people went down there, especially when there weren't any big deal training exercises going on, which there weren't today. It was nearby, it was solitary, and it was an absolutely perfect place for Don to go.
Hank didn't bother thinking about it anymore. He had a plan, and he was going to go for it. Hank began running again. He went back to where he had started and went past there. Hank was in the storage area, dashing from room to room, trying to find his younger brother. It didn't seem like he was going to find anything when he suddenly heard something. Hank immediately froze where he was and just listened. He couldn't make out what was being said, but he definitely heard voices.
Hank inched forward a bit till he was closer to the door that the voices were behind. What he wanted to do was hear without being seen or noticed. Hank could hear two people in there, male and female. The boy's voice was mumbled and quiet, and Hank could barely hear it. The girl on the other hand, Hank knew exactly who that was. He could recognize Supergirl's voice anywhere.
It only took Hank a moment to realize that the boy that Supergirl was talking to must be his brother. Hank wanted to hear more and know what they were talking about, so he crept closer until he was just close enough to actually make out their words.
"-Can't do this anymore." Don's voice was quiet and shaky. He sounded in even worse shape than he had been in before.
"It's okay, Don." Supergirl's voice was oddly soothing.
"Nothing about this is okay." Don let out a dry, empty laugh. "It's always on my mind. I can't even sleep without reliving the whole thing in my dreams. And now I can't...I can't even...Hank-"
"Your brother is such an idiot." Supergirl said darkly. "I swear, when I get my hands on him-"
"What happened today wasn't his fault." Don said quickly. "Hank couldn't have known what would happen."
There was silence for a moment before Supergirl said in a quieter voice. "...you still haven't told him?"
"How can I?" Don asked quietly. Hank felt a sudden chill at those words. He assumed they were talking about what had been bothering Don this past month, which meant that Supergirl knew what had happened. Hank would feel furious about that, if he wasn't so upset over hearing that Don was keeping something from him specifically, not just everybody.
"Look, Don, I may not like your brother, but you can't hide something like this from him." Supergirl said. "Whether you like it or not, you need your brothers support. You don't have to handle this on your own." Even though Hank completely agreed with her, he couldn't help but worry about just how bad the situation was for Supergirl of all people to be advising Don to go to him.
"I don't need him." Ouch. Hank knew that Don was just talking about this one situation and not in general, but still, his words stung. "And I'm handling this fine on my own."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, Don, but whatever it is you've been doing, it's not handling it." Supergirl said. "You're just pretending it never happened."
"I don't know what else to do." Don said devastatingly. "I'm trying, I am, but I just can't seem to get over it."
"I would be surprised if you did." Supergirl's tone was gentle and reassuring again, though also somewhat condescendingly, almost as if she was speaking to a small child. "This isn't like being bullied, or having a bad day, or failing a mission. You were raped, Don. I don't think that's something that you can just get over."
Wait...What?!
Hank felt his blood run cold. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. He didn't want to believe it. But a twisted feeling in his gut told him that it was the truth. Hank felt absolutely sick to his stomach with worry. At the same though there was an uncontrollable rage building up inside of him. And, like usual, his rage won over.
Not concerned anymore about being caught Hank threw the door open harshly. Supergirl and Don both looked shocked to see him, though Don seemed to be more horrified than surprised.
"Hank, what are you doing here?" Don tried to keep his voice straight, which just infuriated Hank even more. Once again Don was trying to pretend that everything was fine when that couldn't be further from the truth.
"Is it true?" Hank asked. His tone was cold, hard and quiet. Completely different from the burning shouting tone that he usually used when he was feeling pissed off. "Is what she said true?"
Don stared at him with wide eyes before averting his gaze. "Yes." He said quietly.
"Just when were you planning on telling me?" Hank seethed.
"Hank-" Don began, but Hank wasn't going to listen to him. He didn't want to hear any excuses.
"Who was it?" Hank growled. "When did this happen?"
Don took in a shuddering breath and looked at the ground. "Do you remember that mission that we went on with Wonder Woman?
"The one in Kaznia and their civil war?" Sure Hank remembered that mission. It had been a freaking weird one. "Didn't Princess say there was a god there or something?"
"A-ares." Don paled. "H-he's the Greek god of war."
"Yeah, him." Hank nodded, because that sounded about right, but froze when he took in how pale Don looked. "Wait, it was him?"
Don shuddered and brought his hands to his head. Don was shaking and breathing too deeply, too quickly. "I couldn't...I couldn't stop him. I just...He-" Don broke off with a gasping sob.
Hank scowled and clenched his fists so tightly that he was sure his fingernails were breaking through his skin, and he really couldn't care less. He was going to kill the bastard that had done this to Don. God or not, Hank was going to make him pay. Nobody hurt and broke his little brother like this.
Nobody.
Fortunately, while Hank may not know where to find the damn god, he knew somebody who probably would. Hank turned around and was about to storm out of there, because he was a man on a mission now, when a shaking hand grabbed his arm. The grip was weak, but Hank still found himself freezing.
"Hank, what are you doing?" Hank shut his eyes and clenched his teeth. He couldn't stand how fragile Don sounded. He just couldn't handle this right now.
"I've got a Princess to find." Hank easily pulled out of his brother's grip. He ignored Don's pleas for him to stop and calm down, he just ran. Once again Hank was running through The Watchtower to find one person, except this time that person wasn't his brother, and this time he knew exactly where to look.
Hank ran to the cafeteria. There were a number of heroes already there since it was nearing lunch time, but he only had eyes for one of them. Wonder Woman. She was practically a walking Greek myth. If she didn't know where to find Ares, nobody would.
"Hey, Princess, we need to talk." Hank practically growled as he approached her. Many heroes flinched at Hank's harsh tone and looked away, many of them had been victim to his anger, and it was not an experience they wanted to repeat. Wonder Woman, however, wasn't the least bit intimidated. She just seemed annoyed that her meal was being interrupted.
"What do you need this time, Hawk?" Wonder Woman did not sound in the mood for this, and her tone of indifference just seemed to fan the flames of Hank's anger.
"I need to know where I can find Ares." Hank spat out the name. Wonder Woman raised her eyebrow in surprise.
"What do you want with Ares?" Wonder Woman asked.
"I want to kill him." Hank said without the slightest hesitation, because there really was no question about it. The bastard was going to die.
"Hank!"
"Don?" Hank turned around to find his brother staring at him desperately. He had not been expecting this. Hank had thought that Don would stay in the storage rooms for a bit, not that he would follow him.
"Hank, don't do this." Don approached him. "It isn't right."
"What happened to you isn't right." Hank snapped. "That guy needs to get what he has coming to him for what he did to you."
"What happened?" Wonder Woman's eyes were jumping between the two of them. "What did Ares do?" Neither of them paid any attention to her.
"Hank, vengeance and violence aren't the answers." Don's voice was still unsteady, but he spoke firmly, which just pissed Hank off even more.
"They are the only answers!" Hank shouted. "Especially with something like this."
"Hank, stop!" Don raised his voice slightly and he also seemed to be getting pretty angry, though Hank didn't understand why that anger was directed at him. "We can't fix this with violence and chaos, because it is exactly what Ares wants!"
"I knew you would react this way. That's why-" Don sighed and continued with a lower voice. "That's why I didn't tell you what happened." Hank was startled to see tears gathering in his brother's eyes.
"Don-" Hank began to reach a hand out, but stopped himself. He didn't know what he was doing. And he didn't understand what was going on. Hank knew that Don wasn't into violence, but why wouldn't he want Ares to be punished for what he had done? Didn't Don want justice? And if Hank couldn't give Don the justice he deserved, then what good was he for his brother right now?
"Don," A calm but firm voice broke in. Hank and Don both turned to look at J'onn J'onzz, the Martian. "I believe it would be wise for you to give a full report of that mission to the founders now." Don wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and nodded. After sending one last look in Hank's direction he slowly began making his way to the main meeting room that the founders frequently used. Wonder Woman looked at J'onn strangely before following after him. Hank was about to follow as well, but he was stopped in his tracks by the Martian.
"I must speak with you, Hank." J'onn said in that tone that always sounded extremely monotone, and yet compassionate at the same time. It was really weird. "Shall we go somewhere more private?"
Hank huffed but followed the Martian, because he really didn't have any other choice. Everybody knew that when J'onn J'onzz wanted to have a 'talk' with you, there was no avoiding it. Hank's fate was sealed.
Well, if he was going to be stuck talking with this guy, Hank figured he might as well try and get some answers. Hank knew how J'onn knew about what happened to Don, the guy was a mind-reader, he knew everything about everybody. What Hank wanted to know though was why J'onn had kept it a secret this whole time.
"What happened to your brother was not my secret to tell." J'onn said suddenly. "I encouraged him to talk about it, but I couldn't force him to do something he didn't feel comfortable with."
Hank glared at him. "Did you just read my mind?" Hank seriously hated working with people with psychic abilities. He could never tell what they were doing.
"I didn't have to." J'onn said matter-of-factly, which caused Hank to scowl. He hated it when he got upset, because apparently people could read his expressions like an open book.
"Hank, I am not saying that I agree with Don's methods of coping, but you must understand where he was coming from." J'onn said as they walked. "Ares is a god of war-"
"Yeah, I know that much, thanks." Hank said bitterly.
"-And he feeds off of chaos and violence. It makes him more powerful." J'onn continued as if Hank hadn't said anything. "There is a reason why he hurt your brother. Ares hoped that by harming an agent of order in this way he would cause the balance between chaos and order to tip in his favor."
"And it almost worked." Hank seriously hated Ares. He couldn't believe that the jackass had hurt his brother and then counted on the fact that Hank would react in the way that he had wanted to. It made Hank sick that he had almost played right into Ares' hand, and made him feel even more sick that he still desperately wanted to do it.
"What am I supposed to do for Don if I can't get justice for him?" Hank wondered aloud.
"What you were seeking was not justice," J'onn said firmly. "It was vengeance, which is not what your brother needs right now."
"Well then, what does he need?" Hank asked, because he really didn't know. Hank only really knew how to react with violence. Looking for revenge was how he handled things. In this particular instance though, he couldn't do that because violence would just bring more violence, and while Hank was usually just fine with that he wasn't this time. Hank didn't want to do anything that would ultimately make Ares stronger.
"He needs to know that you are there for him." J'onn said, which was similar to the advice that Supergirl had given to Don earlier. "You and your brother will both be given two weeks of mandatory leave. I suggest you use that time wisely."
"Wait, why am I being forced on leave?" Hank asked angrily.
"Your brother needs you more than The League does right now." J'onn said simply, and Hank didn't argue anymore because he actually agreed with that.
"Yeah, alright." Hank agreed reluctantly. "I'll keep an eye on him."
"I know you will." J'onn gave Hank a small smile. "I must go join the others now."
"Try not to let them interrogate Don too much." Hank asked. "He's been through enough without being forced to relive the whole thing over again." A cruel voice in Hank's head reminded him that Don was already reliving the whole thing every night in his nightmares, and sometimes during the day too. Hank shuddered when he remembered that he had been the one to trigger Don's memories today.
Oh, God, he was going to be sick.
Hank needed to do something to get his mind off of this before he completely lost it. He still had a lot of angry energy that he had to get rid of somehow, so Hank made his way to the gym. If he couldn't kill Ares, then maybe if he was lucky enough he could find somebody else to punch the living daylights out of.
Don was absolutely exhausted. He would say that today had been a horrible nightmare, except he knew what it felt like to be in a living nightmare, and this wasn't it. This had just been a bad day. A really bad and emotionally exhausting day.
Who would have thought that talking could be so draining?
When Don had woken up that morning he had not expected to finally be telling the founders about...about what had happened. Don would have been fine keeping it to himself, but, like always, Hank had ruined everything.
No, that wasn't fair to say. Hank didn't always ruin everything, he didn't even necessarily ruin this. Don just wasn't happy that Hank had found out about it. Don had wanted to keep it a secret from Hank even more than he wanted to keep it from the founders or anybody else. Hank was reckless and brash, and also extremely protective. Whenever Don used to come home from school with a black eye (it happened once or twice a month) Hank would somehow find whoever had done it and would threaten/beat them up.
Hank already thought that Don was weak, and after today that opinion of him had probably just intensified.
Hank also had an inability to keep secrets. Whenever he got really angry he would speak whatever came to his mind without even thinking about it a little. If Hank knew what had happened to Don, he would eventually let it slip to somebody else. Sooner or later the founders would hear about it, and Don would probably be in huge trouble for not reporting it sooner. That was why he had decided to tell them today, because if they were going to hear it from anybody he would rather it be from him. Even if he really didn't want to talk about it.
Telling the founders about what Ares had done had been just as bad as Don had thought it would be. He had looked at the floor during the majority of it because he couldn't stand to see the expressions on their faces. Wonder Woman had been furious and disgusted, at Ares, not at him. Both Green Lantern and Superman looked at him with pity. They just felt sorry for him, and probably saw him as pathetic, just like Hank did.
Don had been surprised by Batman's and Flash's reactions though. They had both looked extremely saddened after hearing what had happened, and slightly disappointed that he hadn't told them sooner, but Don hadn't seen pity in their eyes. Those two had been understanding and sympathetic. It had certainly been a nice change, if a slightly unexpected one.
It had been those two who had suggested (or, in Batman's case, commanded) that he take a break from the League for a few weeks. Don had been more than happy to accept the break. Normally being Dove was Don's life. He loved helping people, and lived for being an Agent of Order. Ever since what happened in Kaznia though Don had been completely unfocused. He had made several sloppy mistakes, and that wasn't allowed. Even though Don didn't normally like taking breaks from League work, he thought that this was probably necessary. It might even be good for him.
Another thing that might be good for him would be an actual full nights sleep. Sadly, Don knew that that just wasn't going to happen. He hadn't gotten a full night's rest in a month, and it had been a few weeks since he had slept for more than an hour at a time. Don was feeling exhausted all the time because of it, but he still couldn't sleep, and even if he could, he didn't really want to.
Every time Don closed his eyes it was like he was reliving that night all over again. It was absolute torture, and Don hated it. That was why he avoided sleeping when he could, because in his opinion any level of exhaustion was better than dealing with nightmares.
Although, with the incident on the forefront on his mind Don's imagination was doing a pretty good job of recreating the worst of the nightmares, even while he was awake. Don hated when this happened. It made him want to curl up in a ball and pretend like the world didn't even exist. Don knew from experience that it would be better for him to stop these thoughts before they got any worse. The only way he knew how to do that was to force himself to think about something else.
Fortunately, Don knew exactly how to do that.
Even though nobody technically lived at The Watchtower there wasn't a single hero there who hadn't spent the night, or the week, there. The Watchtower had multiple bedrooms, and a number of other rooms where people could go to watch movies, hang out, and just relax. Don's destination was one of the bedrooms, even though he had no intention of sleeping.
The bedrooms were all fairly basic, but still felt homey and comfortable. Each one was designed differently to accommodate different interests and desires. Don only ever used one of them though, the one that was more like a sitting room which just so happened to have a bed in it.
The room had comfortable chairs and a number of books from multiple genres, which was exactly what Don needed right now. He had always been able to get sucked into a book very easily, which had been helpful this past month with getting his mind off of other things.
Don went into the small but cosy reading room and was relieved to see that there wasn't already somebody there. It wasn't common for another person to be in this particular room at the exact same time as Don, but it did happen sometimes. Don was just glad that it hadn't happened today, because he really wasn't in the mood for being around people.
Don curled up on the closest chair and made himself comfortable. He grabbed the first book he set eyes on, not even caring what it was, and began reading. Almost immediately Don found himself being dragged into his story and he could feel his worries slipping away.
This was why Don loved reading.
He always lost track of time when he got really into a book. It was hard to focus on your own world when you're being drawn into someone else's. Don hadn't become completely oblivious to reality though. When the door began to quietly creak open, Don noticed it. He turned towards the door and blinked when he saw his brother.
"Hey, Donnie." Hank entered the room and closed the door slowly behind him. "I thought I would find you in here."
"Hey, Hank." Don said quietly. He put his book down and looked at his brother. He really hadn't expected to see Hank in here, but especially not like this. Hank was in his civilian clothes, which was strange. Whenever they were on The Watchtower he only ever wore his Hawk clothes. It was weird, but strangely comforting to see him in his civilian clothes. It told Don that the Hank in front of him wasn't Hawk right now, he was just Hank Hall.
And right now what Don needed was his brother, not the Agent of Chaos.
Hank stood awkwardly by the door. He was obviously hesitant, which was incredibly out of character for him. The two of them just stared at each other for a moment. Hank looked extremely uncomfortable, as he always did in silence. Don on the other hand took advantage of the silence and actually looked at his brother. The first thing he noticed was Hank's hands, or more specifically, his knuckles.
"Have you been fighting again?" Don couldn't keep the disappointment out of his voice.
"What?" Hank looked down at his bloody knuckles. "Oh, no, it was just a punching bag. Nobody got hurt."
"Except for you." Don sighed and stood up. He gestured for his brother to sit on the chair. While Hank came over Don looked around for something to use to bandage up his brother's hands. He was suddenly reminded of when they were kids. Hank always used to get in fights at school, and it was always Don who fixed him up afterword.
"Why were you going for a punching bag?" Don asked. "It's not normally your thing." Hank usually prefered the challenge of duking it out with somebody else.
"I just needed to hit something." Hank said without shame. "I didn't want something that would fight back." Don chuckled slightly.
"Look, Don, I-" Hank sighed in frustration. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do. We both know that my natural instinct won't work with this."
"It's okay." Don said quietly. "My way doesn't really work either." Chaos would only bring about more chaos. Order would normally be the answer, except a desire for order was what had caused Don to try to pretend like it had never happened in the first place.
"Don, nothing about this is okay." Hank muttered, which was exactly what Don had been telling himself every day.
"I don't know what to do." Don all but whimpered, because he really didn't know. He felt so lost, and incredibly damaged. "I-I can't do this."
"Donnie, you can do it." Hank said firmly. "Just stop trying to do it on your own."
"That's what Kara keeps saying." Don said weakly
"Well, for once she's right." Hank said, which got Don to give a small smile. Hank considered that a victory. It almost made it feel like old times, when things weren't so damn complicated. Another detail about this whole thing that felt strangely familiar was that Don looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. Hank had actually expected this, because Don always had a hard time sleeping whenever he was stressed. It was normal behavior for him, but Hank knew he had to put a stop to it before things got out of hand.
"Have you slept at all this month?" Hank asked, even though the answer was obvious.
"Not really." Don frowned. "I can't sleep."
"Nightmares, huh?" Hank asked. He put his hands up when an embarrassed blush came to Don's face. "Hey, I ain't judgin'." And that was the truth. "But you seriously need some sleep."
A panicked expression came over Don's face. "I can't."
"Don, if you don't want this thing to control your life, then you have to stop letting it control your life." Hank said. "If you want we can do what we used to do whenever you had a nightmare as a kid."
Don blinked. "Are you saying we should sleep together."
"Yes...wait, no!" That just sounded so wrong on so many levels. "You know what, forget it, I'll just-" Hank got up to leave, but Don grabbed his arm.
"Don't go." Don said quietly. "I'm sorry. That came out wrong."
"You're such a dork." Hank sighed and moved toward the bed, dragging Don along behind him. "I'm not going anywhere, Donnie. Not unless you want me to." Don shook his head and tightened his grip on his brother's arm.
"Alright I'll stay, but only on one condition." Hank gently pushed Don onto the bed. "You need to actually sleep tonight, okay?"
"...Fine." Don agreed reluctantly. He curled up on the side of the bed right near the wall. Once Hank was content that his brother wasn't going to go anywhere he climbed into the bed too. With the both of them lying on a bed meant for just one, it was a little cramped, and for a second Don was worried that this wouldn't work out. All month he had been shying away from any and all physical contact. Lying so close to his brother Don actually felt more safe and secure than he had felt all month.
It was a nice feeling.
Hank wrapped a protective arm around Don and held him close. "Just sleep, Donnie." Hank muttered. "I'll keep an eye on you."
"You always do." Don mumbled with a small smile. He was still afraid of going to sleep and having another nightmare, but he really was exhausted. And somehow the knowledge that Hank was going to be right there when he woke up made Don feel like while things may not be okay right now, they would be eventually.
And right now, the hope that things will get better was enough for Don.