Hal ignored the knocking on his door.
He didn't want visitors.
He didn't want to talk.
He didn't want to justify his stupid emotions.
He didn't want to face the reality that he was somehow grieving the loss of a relationship he never even had with a man he had never even met.
Hal just wanted to lay here and wallow.
When he finally stopped lying to Batman, Hal had thought he would be fine. He hadn't even made up some pointless break up story to round things out. He had just stopped talking about it and let the whole thing fade away like mist in the wind. For three weeks he had been fine. He'd held it together.
Then this morning the Lantern had woken up and just…couldn't.
Couldn't move. Couldn't eat. Couldn't face the world.
He had ignored the League meeting he was meant to be at. Ignored his communicator for the first three rings, then finally conceded on the fourth and answered just long enough to confirm he was alive and not feeling well before hanging up.
Now he was ignoring the pounding at his door.
"Hal, please open up."
Batman. Why Batman? Hal groaned, rolling out of bed at last and plodding his way across his apartment, probably looking even worse than he felt. At least it wasn't Superman with his over peppiness, Hal could not face that right now.
"What?" He demanded, swinging the door open with a glare. Better get this over with.
The vigilante stood there awkwardly staring at him before letting out a deep sigh. "Hal…I need to tell you something."
Hal just continued to stare, too tired to even ask what.
'Tell' may not have been the correct word. Batman apparently decided 'show' would be better.
So, Hal stood and watched as Batman removed his cowl.
For a while it was like time was frozen, and if any telepaths happened to be in the vicinity and decided to take a peek at Hal Jordan's thoughts, they would have probably heard a sound akin to the dial-up tone followed by a far too calm voice mussing 'Hu…would ya look at that'.
Hal slammed the door shut and plodded back to bed.
The knocking started up again.
Hal ignored it.
…..
Batman was Bruce Wayne.
Hal was an idiot.
His first instinct was to be angry. God how he wanted to be angry. He wanted to scream and shout and put all the blame on Batman. On Bruce.
He wanted to hate him.
But he couldn't.
No matter how much he tried he couldn't muster the energy for that kind of rage.
Hal was the one who lied. The one who had spent months concocting that stupid fantasy relationship. The one who had made a complete fool out of himself.
He wanted to feel angry but he couldn't. He didn't have enough emotion left for that.
All he felt was a deep burning humiliation.
….
"Hal?"
The lantern blinked up at Batman, who was now standing in the door of his bedroom.
"How did you get in here?"
"I can pick locks."
Hal let out a deep sigh and turned over to face the wall instead.
"Of course, you can."
The silence stretched on long enough that Hal was beginning to suspect Batman had done that disappearing thing he does but couldn't bring himself to turn back over and check.
A light tap from something being set on his bedside table killed those hopes and Batman spoke up, sounding closer.
"So…" Batman mused "We've been dating for a while now…" His smile was audible.
He was laughing! He was here in Hal bedroom which he had broken into, when all Hal wanted was to be left alone, and he was fucking laughing.
Oh, now Hal was angry!
Why had he taken the mask off? Why had he told him? Why couldn't he have just ignored it? Why couldn't he just pretend it hadn't happened and let Hal keep whatever fragment of dignity he still retained. The bastard had come here to gloat!
"Fuck you!" Hal screamed, jumping to his feet and coming face to face with a bare face Bruce Wayne; his absent mask now resting next to Hal's bedside lamp.
Seeing that handsome face up close after months of staring at photos would have had Hal weak at the knees in any other scenario but now it barely phased him. He needed to say his piece before the righteous fury fizzled back into shame.
"How could you fucking do that to me?" He screeched "You just let me carry on and never said anything! For months! You let me make a fool out of myself! I'll bet you had a real laugh, didn't you? Stupid fucking Hal and his stupid bullshit stories and delusional crush. I'll bet that was hilarious to you wasn't it?"
Batman just stood there, letting him shout. A stark juxtaposition of the man Hal had lied about and the one he had lied to.
"Well?" Hal demanded, nearly shaking "Was it funny to you?"
"It was a little funny." Batman / Bruce admitted.
There it was. Confirmation.
The wind abruptly left Hals sails and he slumped down.
The shame was back, and all he could do was nod numbly. Yeah, it must have been so damn funny from Bruce's perspective. Hal Jordan. What a fucking joke. "Yeah, funny." He mumbled.
"Let me take you on a date."
Hal stared at the other man; certain he must have misheard. "What?"
"That's why I'm here." Bruce pleaded looking guilty. "Why I revealed my face. I'm sorry I tried to be funny a moment ago. It was badly timed. I like you Hal. I really like you." He wasn't laughing this time. "This whole thing. It was funny, at first. Then as things went on…the things you said…I liked it. I want it. You're sweet, and romantic and creative and brash and I think we could have something good together if we wanted. Let me take you on a date. A real one."
Hal stood there in his ragged pyjama bottoms and yesterday's t-shirt, his hair matted, eyes red and hands shaking. It was surreal, looking at the stupidly handsome man in front of him. A man he had been fantasising about for so long he worried if perhaps even this was just a daydream. A desperate fantasy cooked up in his brain to comfort him as the humiliation of reality drove him insane.
"Put your mask back on." He pleaded.
"Why?"
"Because I'm going to punch you in your pretty face, and I'll feel less guilty about it if I can't see it."
Bruce chuckled, stepping closer and easily catching the half-hearted punch Hal swung at him. "You think I'm pretty?"
"I think you're an asshole." Fight or snark. It had always worked before.
Bruce had both of his hands pinned now, crowding close to him and trapping them between their bodies. Hal wasn't sure he minded.
"A gorgeous asshole. According to you."
"Such a jerk."
"I want to kiss you. Can I?"
"Fuck you."
"Maybe later. Kiss first." Bruce smiled sweetly, waiting patiently for permission.
Hal still wasn't convinced this wasn't a fever dream, but if it was then screw it, he was going to make the most of it. "Sure. But only so I don't have to look at your smug smile anymore."
It turned out feeling that smug smile pressed against his own lips wasn't much better but Hal couldn't bring himself to care, leaning into the other man's arms and waddling awkwardly until they both fell together onto his bed. When did he last wash his sheets? Not recently enough. Damn it.
"I was impressed how much you knew about me." Bruce admitted between kisses not seeming to care about the linens.
"I was very thorough in my research." Hal admitted, a little less embarrassed now that his interest was apparently returned. Still a solid eight on the embarrassment scale though. God, he had been stupid.
"You made one key mistake though."
"What mistake?"
Bruce pulled back a bit, smiling down at him.
"I would never have been able to keep you a secret for that long. I would have been showing you off every chance I got. Let the whole world get jealous of the gorgeous, lovely, kind, funny, intelligent, exciting man I had found." Every adjective was punctuated with a soft kiss.
Hal flushed with pleasure, feeling somewhat overwhelmed at the flattery. He had to take a deep breath to stop his voice cracking. Definitely a fever dream. He'd wake up tomorrow drowning in sweat, alone and half mad. Only more reason to enjoy the now.
"Is that so?"
"I meant what I said before." Bruce told him "I'd like to take you on a date."
"Picnic in the conservatory?"
"Yes. And movies at home, and touring in Sicily, and all the rest. But I was thinking we could go out, out too. If you wanted. Somewhere public. So, it doesn't feel like we're hiding away. Dinner maybe?"
"That sounds nice."
"I hope so."
"What else?"
"Have you ever seen the muppets live?"
"Marry me."
When Bruce laughed Hal felt it with his whole body. The sound rumbling through him where they were pressed together. He could definitely get used to that.
A sudden thought occurred to him. "Wait...Oliver knows who you are doesn't he?"
"He does."
"I'm gonna kill him."
That laugh again. So nice.
He was still killing Oliver though. Later. When he was done kissing Bruce.
Next week maybe.
