Chapter Text
Kal couldn’t tell when it happened exactly, but he had gone to sleep with Bruce in their bed, and had woken up in a similar configuration, but a drastically different room. The bed was different, the room as well, and before he could get a grasp on where they were, a knock came at the door. He figured it was Dick or Jason, their new son.
He opened the door to find an unknown girl. She didn’t seem surprised to see him, but she did look his clothes over as though they were peculiar.
“Clark I know you and B are old, but I didn’t think you wore pjs out of the regency era or something.”
He had no idea what she was talking about, but given her own strange attire he supposed they were having a cultural misunderstanding. The fact that she called him by the wrong name and yet maybe knew Bruce was odd.
“I’m sorry but who are you and where am I?”
Her eyes widened in shock before she called out, “Bruce, wake up Clark’s acting amnesiatic and I don’t know why?”
The man jumped awake at her yell, making his way over quickly, though the sight of his attire seemed to worry the girl even further.
“Oh no, why are you wearing weird pajamas too?”
“I’m sorry but who are you?” Bruce asked in a sleep roughed voice.
“I’m Stephanie- Steph your- you know what I’m calling your parents. If both of you are having amnesia it can’t be good.”
“My parents?” Bruce asked, his voice shocked as he hadn’t seen them in over a decade.
Steph didn’t seem to pay him any mind as she raced out to find them. They went to prepare for the day neither wanting to be seen in such disarray by Bruce’s parents. The room that adjoined theirs was strange, containing contraptions that neither had seen though after so trial and error their functions became apparent. Once they had finished they made their way towards the other room, this one filled with clothes. The clothing was strange, some resembling what the girl had worn with its loose designs and other being made of a variety of materials.
They grabbed pairs of the loose trousers, easily slipping them on, and each grabbed a different soft shirt. They made their way out to the hall, only to find a young man. He looked at them strangely but before he could question them Steph was returning Bruce’s parents. At least Kal assumed they were the man’s parents given their resemblance to the portrait and to Bruce himself.
The group spoke for some time, the young man introducing himself as Jason much to their shock. They ended up going down to breakfast where it seemed a small army of children awaited them. Bruce looked overwhelmed by the sheer amount, but Kal was quick to confirm that they were in fact his and Bruce’s children before beginning to eat.
The rest of the day was spent being followed by one or two of the children, their lack of knowledge slowly diminishing as they had one new invention after another explained. Bruce was enchanted by his parents, spending the day asking them all sorts of questions and in turn learning about the version of himself that lived in this place. Kal was happy to hear that the other version of him was also Kryptonian and that he had just arrived on the planet sooner and therefore been raised by humans.
It was fascinating to hear the tales, and an hour after they had awoken Dick arrived to join them. He and Bruce spent the majority of the day being teased by the children for their lack of technological savvy and ‘silly’ way of speaking. It was nice though, especially getting to see Bruce so happy surrounded by a family. It made him want to work on expanding their own when they returned to their time.
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Bruce knew something wasn’t quite right when he woke up. Part of it was the lack of his children, the large group meaning that he was more often than not awakened by a knock at his door or a knee to the gut as one climbed on him. They could always climb Clark without hurting him but no, they insisted on climbing him. And perhaps he treasured the little bruises as he went about his day, but that wasn’t something he wanted advertised to the little menaces.
So when he awoke to the sun lighting the room through the curtains, on an unfamiliar bed he knew something was wrong. He got up, looked around and wondered if he had sleepwalked into a historical recreation of Wayne Manor. He took a quick look around, peaking through the window, but nothing seemed amiss besides the fact that he was in some strange version of his room. He got ready, found old timey clothes and then stepped outside in search of his family.
Most of the kids' rooms were empty, but when he got to Jason and Dick’s doors he found each boy where they were supposed to be, though significantly younger. He returned to the bedroom to wake Clark and see if he had any ideas. He returned to thankfully find his husband had gotten ready as well, and the two made their way downstairs in search of any other occupants of the house.
They found Alfred working on breakfast as they walked into the kitchen, and the pair were quick to walk over to ask what was going on. The older man explained that the year was 1798. The shock was quick to wear off and by the time he and Clark were able to accept their strange predicament, the boys came downstairs to join them.
After Dick and Jason found out about the change the boys were eager to know about the future, something both he and Clark discouraged and worked hard to conceal. It helped that they couldn’t be certain what events would actually happen or not. A part of Bruce was tempted to try to help, but knowing how complex world events could be he figured it would be best he not accidentally create a dystopian world by accident.
They used the day as a sort of vacation, Bruce only dealing with business matters and Clark spending the day able to save anyone as long as he did so outside Gotham. They joined the boys, after their school lessons for the day had concluded, for a light dinner. They played board games by candle light for an hour after sunset then they made their way to bed.
Bruce wondered if they would return to their time and how they would go about fixing things when, just as they reach the first steps of the main staircase the world goes blurry for a moment before sharpening once more. He turns to Clark and finds him dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, but clearly just as unsure what had happened.
Before Bruce can ask, Clark was scooping him up and flying them to the family room. There, lit by fluorescent lightbulbs, was their big beautiful family. The kids were ruthlessly destroying one another at various games, some board some cards, Bruce even thought they’d managed to combine the two for an even more disastrous game.
The pair walked inside, happy to finally be home.