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"Hal, is something wrong with your wrist?"
Barry's innocent question was met with a surprisingly panicked reaction. Hal, who had been holding his wrist, let go as if he'd been burned, and quickly hid the whole arm behind his body.
"No, of course not. What would give you that idea?"
Before Barry could answer, Hal flew off down the corridor. Barry glanced at J'ohn, who was sitting at the computer monitor. "That was weird, right?"
J'ohn shrugged, and appeared unconcerned. "Hal has always been unconventional. He has just returned from an extended mission in space. I am sure he just needs some time to readjust to the pace of daily life here."
As ever J'ohn's words seemed sensible enough. But Barry still wasn't sure. Hal had been acting furtively ever since his return, and Barry couldn't figure out why. He couldn't even pin Hal down.
The six months that Hal had been gone had felt so much longer. Barry hadn't realized how much Hal's presence filled his life until Hal was gone. Slowly, over the last two years, Hal had become a bigger and bigger part of Barry's life -- to the point that when he was gone, Barry didn't know how to fill his time.
So, he'd been excited to have Hal back, but Hal had returned two weeks ago and Barry still felt as lonely as ever.
"Here."
Barry looked up to see J'ohn holding out a large stack of files. "Please read these and see if there's any information that hasn't been transferred over to the computer system yet."
Taking the files, Barry saw that they were dry reports on different extraterrestrial cultures around the galaxy. Normally Barry would be only too happy to read these reports. He loved learning new things.
But his heart really wasn't in it today. Nonetheless he had nothing else to do and he knew he'd just fret over Hal's unusual behavior if he didn't have anything else to keep himself busy.
So, he nodded and decided to take his time with J'ohn's project.
********
For half a day, Barry managed to keep himself busy with odd projects here and there. He ran to Central City and back a dozen times to grab items to make their headquarters more homey, and then to put them back again when he thought better of the idea.
Try as he might, he just couldn't focus. His mind gnawed on everything Hal had done since he'd returned home, and the more he thought about it, the more it became clear that something must have happened to him on his mission.
Hal was much quieter than normal. He had politely refused all attempts by Barry to hang out when they weren't on rotation together. In fact, they hadn't even had rotation together in the last two weeks, and Barry thought that had to be by design. Black Canary and Green Arrow were working a case in Russia. There was only J'ohn, Arthur, Hal, and Barry, and Arthur's time was often limited.
And yet Barry had been paired with J'ohn every rotation since Hal had been back.
Was Hal avoiding him? Barry had to admit the idea hurt more than he thought it should. Over the last six months, he'd come to realize that Hal meant a great deal to him. He didn't want to lose Hal's friendship, and he couldn't for the life of him determine what he could've done to push Hal away.
Which led to the conclusion that it must've been something else. Barry was aware of the absence of Hal in his life because he'd been so anxious to have him back, but perhaps he was blowing it out of proportion. Perhaps J'ohn was right, and Hal just needed some time to readjust.
The idea rang hollow to Barry though. This was not the first long-term Guardians mission Hal had been on since Barry had known him. As far as Barry could tell, all Hal needed to center himself was to be in a plane again. Hal had said that flying without his ring made him feel alive and free.
He'd had ample time to fly since coming home, but he was still too quiet. No, something had happened on his mission, and Barry felt it was his job as Hal's friend to find out what. Hal could talk rings around anyone, especially if the topic was himself. But Barry knew that getting Hal to open up about something of substance was a different animal.
Clearly Hal had been through something. He wasn't ever going to volunteer the information on his own, but he needed to if he was ever going to come to terms with it.
Barry thought it was his office as Hal's friend to push him to do just that.
********
Practically vibrating with nervous energy, it took Barry a whole minute to locate Hal in the locker room at his workplace. It was late and the place was quiet. Barry realized Hal was getting ready for a night fly -- something Barry knew he did to help him unwind from the day.
The door to the locker room was open, and Hal was fully dressed in t-shirt and jeans, so Barry didn't feel weird about barging in.
It only took a fraction of a second for Barry to take everything in. Hal was sitting on a bench, his flight suit and helmet beside him but untouched. He was hunched over, elbows resting on his knees. In his right hand, he held the wrist of his left arm and appeared to be occupied with looking at it.
As he was so engrossed with it, Barry naturally looked too to see what the issue was. Still standing in the moment of his arrival -- still accelerated from his search for Hal -- Barry had ample time to see the tiny green print on Hal's wrist before Hal even knew he was there.
Barry couldn't be more shocked to see his own name written in vibrant green on Hal's wrist.
"Why is my name on your wrist?" Perhaps Barry should've given a moment's thought -- or any thought really -- to the situation before blurting out his question.
Hal leapt to his feet in surprise, immediately hiding his wrist as he'd done earlier. "Barry, what are you--"
Before he could finish his question, Barry's mind was already racing to the answer. Oddly enough, it was J'ohn's project from this afternoon that came back to him, and he felt his heart sink. "Am I your enemy? Do you . . . do you not trust me?"
"What are you talking about?" Hal asked, sounding genuinely confused.
"I just read it in J'ohn's file about the Efrnie'ieds. When someone does wrong to an Efrnie'ied -- something that fosters great distrust, anger, hurt, or fear -- the name of that person appears on their body so that everyone else will know and the person in the wrong will be ostracized. I know you've used your ring to connect with alien creatures before, and sometimes you have taken on small traits of theirs. Is that was this is? Are you--"
"No!" Hal's denial was satisfyingly firm. But he also tried to reach out to Barry. When he did so, he did it with his left hand, and then seemed to remember the writing on it. He quickly let it drop and now stood awkwardly as if he didn't know what to do with himself.
"It's not like that. I didn't go see the Efrnie'ieds. I don't distrust you or hate you or fear you or anything. You're my . . . friend."
The way he hesitated before the last word did not comfort Barry. "Then where were you? Why have you been so distant lately? What happened in space?"
"I . . ."
Becoming annoyed, Barry stepped right into Hal's space and demanded, "Where were you?"
"I was on Delonth. The Guardians -- there was a dispute among the Novedions, and they wanted me to settle it. It was purely political. N-nothing to do with you." Hal offered a nervous smile to Barry.
Barry was still unsatisfied. "Then why have you been acting so weird? Why is my name on your wrist?"
Hal stepped back from Barry and ran his fingers through his hair. He kept shooting Barry nervous looks but wouldn't meet his eyes fully.
Barry crossed his arms and waited.
"The dispute was between three factions of the Novedions: those that worship the Four Moons, those that follow the Sun, and those that hear the Crystal," Hal finally said. "It was really a very petty argument. A young Novedii from the Four Moons had found an ancient artifact of power. It proved too powerful for him, and he ended up causing a lot of destruction before the artifact was brought under control. The artifact was a Sun-gem, from the ancient Sun Novedion. The gems were from a brutal time in Novedion history. They were outlawed long ago and supposed to be destroyed."
As he explained what was going on, Hal kept his focus somewhere over Barry's right shoulder. The lack of eye contact kept Barry on edge. So far this all sounded like a normal enough mission, so Barry wasn't sure why Hal appeared so on edge.
Hal continued, "The Crystal Novedion were the ones most affected by the artifact. There largest city was almost levelled and several Crystal Novedion died. They demanded justice and compensation for their losses. The Four Moons Novedion pointed to the Sun Novedion. They said the Four Moons Novedii who found the artifact was just an innocent fool who had meddled with something he couldn't possibly understand. The Sun-gems weren't well known anymore, so how could he know what he had? It ended up killing him. The Four Moons Novedion pointed the finger at the Sun Novedion for not destroying the artifact like they should. And the Sun Novedion said they had no knowledge of the artifact. They noted that it had been found in Four Moons territory and they could not be held liable for a weapon that was so old there was no reliable account to trace its history. The arguments began to escalate, and it looked like there might be war."
"So, the Guardians sent you to defuse the situation," Barry said.
Hal nodded. "It was complicated but not the trickiest thing ever. The Novedions had put their bloody past behind them centuries ago. They valued peace now, and no one really wanted war. They really did figure things out on their own. I was just there to keep things peaceful and keep them at the bargaining table and give them someone else to yell at or blame when things were going badly. All in all, it wasn't the hardest diplomatic mission the Guardians have sent me on."
Barry frowned. "Then what does that have to do with my name on your wrist?"
Once again Hal ran his fingers through his hair in a nervous gesture. "Well, you see . . . part of the peace process was that . . . They have kings and queens on Delonth. So, you know, princes and princesses too. One of the things that was settled on was that the princess of the Four Moons Novedion was to marry the prince of the Sun Novedion. It was kind of a big deal, and well . . . Look, it wasn't my fault!"
"What wasn't your fault? What did you do?" Barry asked suspiciously.
Hal chewed on his lip, and he looked exceedingly guilty. "I didn't even realize she had a thing for me, honest. I was focused on the negotiations and anxious to get home. But, well, she was always around. She seemed really young and nervous about the upcoming wedding, and I could understand that. She didn't seem to have anyone else to talk to and she seemed lonely, and I felt bad for her. So, I would say hi now and again -- see how she was doing. And, well, she got the wrong idea."
"You made the princess fall in love with you?" Barry rolled his eyes. This was so typical of Hal.
"I didn't make her do anything. I didn't want her to fall in love with me," Hal protested.
Barry shook his head. "You didn't do anything? Really? Come on, Hal."
"Honest. I was a perfect gentleman. Totally by-the-book. You would've been proud. I know I . . . I mean I can see why you'd think I . . . why you'd assume it was my fault. But, I'm not lying. I proved that to the Novedions. I really had no desire to hook up with anyone this time. Not when . . ."
Hal glanced at his left wrist, but quickly looked away from it. Barry got the feeling that Hal had just revealed more than he'd intended to, though Barry had no idea what that was.
"Not when what?" he asked.
Still looking conflicted, Hal said, "It doesn't matter. None of this matters. It's nothing, Barry. I promise."
"No, that's not good enough," Barry said. "You have my name on your wrist. What does that have to do with the Novedion princess? What happened on Delonth? Why won't you tell me?"
Hal said nothing. Before his eyes, Barry could see Hal closing himself off. He'd seen it before, and Barry knew that if that happened, he would never get his answers.
Not knowing what else to do, Barry fell back on what always worked: research. In the span of a second, he raced back to JLA headquarters, located the file on Novedions, read it, and returned to the locker room.
In the span of a second, his whole world turned upside down.
Because buried in the middle of the report was this paragraph:
Novedions become sexually active around the age of 25 Delonth years. They practice a mix of short-term and lifelong pair-bonding, similar to many Earth cultures. Novedions believe in the concept of "soulmates" where two or more Novedions share a bond of souls. Two types of soulmates are acknowledged among the Novedions: platonic and romantic. Studies have found that about 3.8% of pair-bonds deemed to be "soulmates" are platonic in nature. The majority are romantic. However, soulbonds only make up 19.6% of all lifelong pair-bonding relationships. There appears to be no stigma for those who do not have a soulmate, but Novedions do appear to show favoritism towards those with soulmates.
Unique among the Novedions is the practice of "revealing". Soulmates and soulbonding permeates the culture of the Novedions and holds great importance. As such, their scientists and religious leaders devised the Soul-gem. With it, the Novedions can "reveal" the bond of soulmates. The "Proof" of the bond appears in the form of the name of the Novedii on his or her soulmate's wrist. Silver denotes a soulmate union that is platonic in nature. Green denotes one that is romantic.
It is unknown how the Soul-gem works but evidence suggests its effect is not limited to the Novedion species alone. It has been used on other sentient species. Only anecdotal evidence is available about the reliability of the Soul-gem's conclusions but there have so far been no contradictory statements affirming that the Soul-gem has revealed soulmates in error. Until such statements surface, it must be concluded that the Soul-gem appears to be legitimate and effective in its purpose.
Barry's eyes searched out Hal's wrist to confirm what he now knew. "We're soulmates?" he blurted out.
Surprised, Hal said, "How did you--"
"I read it in J'ohn's report," Barry said.
For a moment, Hal looked utterly shocked. "There's a report?" His shock melted away to irritation. "That would've been really useful to know," he said angrily.
"Hal . . ." Barry was still reeling from what he'd just learned. His heart was beating faster, and he was trying his best not to get ahead of himself. There might be a logical explanation. Barry didn't want to make a fool of himself.
But the idea was planted in his brain now. Barry had been willing to admit he valued Hal. Since Hal's absence, he'd accepted that the other man was very important to him. He hadn't quite made the next leap of logic -- hadn't quite managed to face his true feelings -- but this new revelation was putting everything he thought he knew in a new light.
For his part, Hal looked really uncomfortable. He kept his wrist behind his back, as if keeping Barry from seeing it would keep him from knowing about it.
"It's no big deal. Just means we're good friends--"
"The report said green meant the bond was romantic in nature," Barry said sharply. Partly that was because he didn't like to be lied to but he had to admit he didn't want to see Hal backing away from this either.
Barry realized he wanted this to be true.
Hal again looked momentarily shocked and then irritated. "Of course it says that. Is there anything it didn't say?"
"Hal, please be serious." Barry's tone was very quiet, and Hal sighed.
Meekly, he asked, "Can't we just forget about this?"
"No, I can't. Is that what you want? You want to feel something else?" Though he tried, Barry couldn't keep the hurt from his voice.
Hal looked stricken. "Barry, that's not . . . I'm not . . ." The words apparently dried up, and Hal seemed to crumple into himself like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
Sitting down heavily onto the bench, Hal sighed. He looked so miserable, and Barry was at a loss as to what to do or say.
After a long moment, Hal again spoke. He kept his gaze focused on the lockers in front of him, not once looking in Barry's direction, and his voice was a monotone. He sounded broken and defeated.
"The princess declared her love for me. The factions were furious, and everything was in an uproar. The Sun Novedion were ready to pull out of the negotiations completely. They said they no longer felt that I was acting in good faith as an arbitrator. Some even wondered openly if the Guardians hadn't sent me for the express purpose of gaining the affections of a royal princess to give the Green Lanterns a foothold among the Novedions. Delonth is rich in cosmic energy. Many powerful beings have expressed interest in it in the past, so the Novedions are right to be wary. They had thought the Guardians above such petty desires, but now they wondered."
Hal sighed, and looked down at his feet. "I protested that the Guardians wanted no such thing and that I had no desire to marry the princess. I expressed my concerns about her being used as a political pawn and that she might see me as a way out of that. Or the fact that I seemed to be the only one who saw her as a person and actually cared about her feelings. This . . . This didn't go over very well with the Novedions, especially of the Sun delegation.
"But the Crystal Novedions were swayed enough to consider the possibility. They allowed that the princess could have fallen in love or become infatuated with me, and I had no hand in it. They suggested an alternative to the marriage that both the Four Moons and Sun Novedion deemed acceptable. However, it was contingent upon proof of my claim that I had no feelings for the princess and . . ."
"And?" Barry asked quietly when Hal did not say anything more.
Hal's shoulders drooped. "When they first accused me of fooling around with the princess, I said I wouldn't do that because I was in love with someone else. I didn't realize they had a lie-detector geared specifically towards relationships. That would've been great to know beforehand."
There was a bitter edge to Hal's tone now.
"But they did, and if I could prove that I was hopelessly in love with someone else -- to the point of a soulbond -- then they figured I couldn't be swayed to do anything improper. I guess that's kind of a thing with their culture."
He sounded so unhappy, and Barry felt his heart drop. "Did you know whose name would appear?"
"I knew."
"And you wished it was someone else?" That was all Barry could think of to explain Hal's reaction.
But his words seemed to surprise Hal. Finally, he looked up and met Barry's eyes. "No, of course not. Why would you think that?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Barry said angrily. "You've been avoiding me for days. It's like pulling teeth to get the truth out of you, and you sound like being executed would be preferable to having me as a soulmate."
"Well, how would you react to know you've fallen for someone who doesn't return your feelings?" Hal demanded back.
"Who says I don't?"
Hal opened his mouth to retort -- clearly expecting something different from Barry -- but he froze when Barry's words actually penetrated his head. It took him a moment to process what he'd learned.
It took a lifetime for Barry. He hadn't meant to reveal what he had. He'd been caught up in the argument, and hadn't thought. Now, he waited anxiously to see how Hal would respond. As his heart beat faster, time slowed around him. He was accelerating while standing still, but he couldn't help himself.
It was agony to wait.
"Are you . . . Are you saying that you . . . feel the same way too?" Hal finally asked.
Barry felt vulnerable and defensive. "Well, I don't know since you haven't actually told me how you feel. You haven't said anything. How am I supposed to know what's going on in your head?"
Hal reacted by simply staring at Barry, and Barry instantly regretted his words. He could've been heartfelt. He knew Hal had trouble with commitment and opening up. It wouldn't have killed Barry to be the first one to "cave". They'd talked rings around the issue but Barry did have some confirmation of Hal's feelings. And, even if he was wrong, Barry trusted Hal. Hal wouldn't hurt him because of his feelings, and it was always better to have this kind of thing out in the open.
But Barry hadn't chosen that route, and now he found it difficult to take his words back and start over.
Unexpectedly, Hal laughed. He surprised Barry further by reaching out and pulling him into a hug.
"We're a pair, eh?" Hal said.
Barry had no idea what was going on, but after a moment he relaxed into Hal's embrace. It felt nice to be held.
Looking into Barry's eyes, Hal said, "I'm sorry. You're right. I've been acting stupid, and you deserve better. I just . . . I guess I assumed the worst. Everything on Delonth made me face some stuff that I don't think I was ready to face. I was blindsided when the princess said she loved me, and I realized that I should've noticed that she was interested. If it had happened a year ago, you can bet that I probably would have instigated the relationship.
"But all I could think about was how much I missed being here and missed being with you. I blurted out that I was in love with someone else when the Novedions were pushing the issue, and only after I said that did I realize that there might be some truth in it. I was so worried going into the Revealing Chamber that nothing was going to show -- that I'd have to do some fancy song and dance to say I loved someone enough not to transfer my affections to the princess but not enough to be a soulmate -- and then your name appeared, and I wasn't surprised. The fact that I wasn't made me wonder how long that had been rattling around inside me. I didn't know what to think or feel, and seeing you again here . . . I realized how much it would hurt if you didn't feel the same way."
"A 'soulmate' implies reciprocity," Barry reminded quietly.
Hal snorted. "Yeah, as if logic had any bearing these last few days."
Barry smiled, and then buried his nose into Hal's shoulder. "I felt the same way. While you were gone, I realized how much time we'd been spending together. It was lonely without you, and I wished you would return."
The arms around him tightened. Barry looked up and met Hal's eyes, which were warm with affection. Without thinking, Barry caught Hal in a surprise kiss. Hal responded more eagerly than Barry anticipated.
Hal's fingers slipped into Barry's hair, his hand cradling Barry's head as he expertly mapped the inside of Barry's mouth. Barry had never been the recipient of such an aggressive kiss before, and he was more turned on than he was prepared for.
He pulled away to draw in a breath and get some perspective. Hal seemed content to change gears, latching onto a patch of skin under Barry's ear and sucking.
"You know, it's still been lonely," Barry said, trying to sound put out. The hitch in his breath gave him away though.
But it had the desired effect. Hal let go and gave Barry a curious look. "What do you mean?"
"Well, even after you returned, I've barely spent two seconds with you. Now, I can make two seconds stretch for a lot longer than your ordinary guy but that's hardly been satisfying. And you promised we'd see a game when you got back."
Hal gave Barry a speculative look. "I don't think there are any games tonight."
"I'm sure there's a restaurant somewhere in Coast City that's open right now," Barry said firmly. As much as he liked the idea of jumping into bed with Hal, he wanted something more substantial. He wasn't going to rush this. He'd only just figured out what he'd wanted a few minutes ago, and he'd never given any thought to what he wanted from a relationship with Hal.
No, they needed to do some serious talking before anything more happened.
Hal likely thought the same thing because he sighed and nodded. "Yeah, there's a dive a mile from here you'd probably like. They're not going to serve you dressed like that though."
Smiling, Barry sucked his suit back into his ring, revealing his regular suit. Hal gave him a once over, both appreciative and appraising. "I'm not sure that's going to be much better."
"Then you'll just have to pick a different restaurant," Barry said easily.
Hal smirked as he quickly stuffed his flight-suit into a nearby locker, and Barry knew he was just trying to get a rise out of him.
As nonchalantly as he could, Barry said, "So, is that mark on your wrist permanent?"
Hal rolled his eyes as he led Barry out of the building. "Yeah, I think it is. I'm stuck with your name on me forever."
"So, like a tattoo."
Frowning, Hal gave Barry a suspicious look. "Why are you asking? You want one too?"
Barry laughed. He reached over and took Hal's hand in his. "No. I was just thinking that we should go to a tattoo parlor and add 'property of' right above it."
The look Hal gave him was priceless.
End