Chapter Text
The League went back to the Watchtower, on the way explaining their whole adventure to Batman. They spent an hour and a half on the Watchtower enjoying each other’s company before everyone started to part ways.
Shayera and Diana left the Watchtower, J’onn flew up to the monitors, seemingly back to monitor duty that Batman had taken over, John and Wally had gone to the cafeteria which left Bruce brooding with Clark.
They went up to the private floor- Clark practically dragging Bruce along. He whined, obviously not thinking that Clark was going to be dragging him there so soon. “Now, now, Bruce. It’s been over two weeks since you’ve had Little time.” Clark reminded him. Bruce just pouted, knowing Clark was right and already feeling himself slip.
Clark smiled as he got Bruce into his Little clothes and got them something to eat. He had been worried throughout the whole mission, wondering if things were going to be the same as they were before. There was always the chance that when messing with time it could distort the present and change the future.
Thankfully, that hadn’t happened this time. They had fixed the past without distorting the present, Bruce was back to normal and Clark was able to relax with his Little. Bruce dropped easier than he ever had before and seemingly without complaint.
It wasn’t until later on that he noticed something up with Bruce. He had put the boy down on the playmat for some playtime but soon the boy started having a fit. When Clark walked over to see what had the Little freaking out, Bruce instantly demanded to be picked up. There were tears streaming down his cheeks.
This had Clark on alert. Bruce hardly ever cried, especially because of his emotions. He only really cried when he was unwell. Seeing Bruce cry, especially the way he seemed to be emotionally out of control had Clark stunned.
He lifted Bruce off the play mat, careful not to hurt him as he squirmed and writhed in his frustration. Clark held tight so he didn’t drop the boy and waited for him to settle down. Eventually, Bruce went limp against him, his sobbing increased as he laid against Clark’s chest. “What’s wrong, baby?” Clark asked.
Bruce whined in response, still crying too hard to really talk but Clark noticed as Bruce’s fingers grasped his shirt tightly, wrinkling the finely pressed cloth.
“Hey, can you tell me what has you so sad?” Clark asked as he rubbed the Little’s back. Bruce sniffled sadly, head resting against Clark’s shoulder. His nose and eyes slowly pressed into Clark’s neck, grip on his shirt as tight as it was before.
Bruce was asleep in minutes and Clark sat on the couch with the Little, completely baffled.
~~~
Wally was happy to get some food with John after the mission. He had been a mess when he thought John was gone. It didn’t take long for his Little side to come up and break down.
John handled his emotions easily, trying to calm him down before anything else. When that didn’t seem to work and his cries picked up more, John let out a sigh and lifted Wally and walked out of the cafe with the sobbing boy.
John did everything he could but nothing worked in calming the Little. Nothing worked and trying to pry Wally away for any reason just ended up with his cries picking up even more as he gripped John even tighter.
It took almost two hours for Wally to cry himself out. The boy was half asleep against John’s shoulder, paci in his mouth as he dozed. When John checked, Wally’s forehead was warmer than usual. Maybe a bath would help get his temperature back down so he could get the Little to sleep. He filled the tub and got Wally ready, making sure the water was warm enough before putting him into the tub.
Wally instantly started to shiver but soon stopped as he adjusted to the lower temperature. After a while, Wally even started to play with some bath toys as John worked to get him clean. He splashed and giggled and once John had finished getting him clean, he just sat back to watch the boy play for a bit.
He whined when it came time to get out of the tub but didn’t really fight it in favor of clinging to John as soon as the man lifted him from the tub. “I’ve got to dry you off still buddy!” John laughed as Wally giggled. “You still need clothes,” John laughed again, tickling Wally’s sides to get him to let go.
Wally squealed and tried to protect his sides, letting go of John. John exclaimed in victory and set to drying his silly little boy off. Once he got Wally in warm clothes he moved to bring the boy out to J’onn. Wally really enjoyed playing with J’onn, and John knew with how much energy the boy had, playing would J’onn would help tire him out.
J’onn, of course, was happy to help John out and play with Wally, leaving his monitors in favor of a few games with the little boy. With Wally suitably distracted, John turned to leave, intending on checking the monitors on the upper floor.
As soon as he was out of Wally’s sight he heard a panicked cry. He glanced over the side of the monitor station, looking down to where J’onn and Wally had been playing.
J’onn was holding onto a very upset Little as he squirmed and wailed in his panic. Confused, John flew back down to where Wally and J’onn were.
As soon as he had gotten into Wally’s vision, blurry with tears, the boy reached shaking hands out to him. John instantly took the Little, cooing to calm him. What was going on with Wally?
~~~
Bruce woke up on the playmat almost two hours later. Clark saw as his face crumpled, clearly ready to cry again and moved to his side. Bruce demanded to be lifted from the playmat almost as soon as he laid eyes on Clark.
He was baffled as he lifted the boy up. Bruce clung to his shirt with the same ferocity as before as Clark walked them into the kitchen. Lunch was ready and he knew Bruce would be hungry.
Getting Bruce into his high chair was hard, he’d had to pry the kid’s fingers from his shirt. Bruce wailed even as Clark settled down in front of him with a couple of bowls of macaroni and cheese.
It was one of Bruce’s favorites when he was in Littlespace, he normally wouldn’t stomach something so generic unless it was Alfred cooking.
But when Bruce’s stomach rumbled loudly, the boy had quieted down as the smell of food hit his nose. He quickly opened his mouth when Clark offered him a spoonful of macaroni, humming with content as he chewed.
Bruce ate his whole portion and then some before he signaled to Clark that he was done. Clark wiped his face and hands down before lifting him and bringing him back into the living area.
He settled Bruce down with toys and cartoons and went to take care of the dishes and get more to eat. After all, he was still hungry as Bruce had eaten most of the macaroni.
He wasn’t complaining, everyone knows Bruce should be eating more than he normally does. A couple of sandwiches later and he was settled on the couch behind Bruce as the Little played and watched the cartoons that Clark had put on.
After a bit, Bruce managed to get to his feet and waddled over to where Clark was sitting on the couch. When Bruce reached for him, Clark lifted him and placed the boy in his lap. Bruce was acting weird, he didn’t normally want so much attention and coddling, but Clark was still more than happy to give it to him.
Though he still needed to know- if Bruce would tell him, why he was acting the way he was. Could this have changed because they were messing with time? Had his Little actually been affected? “Bruce?” Clark started, getting the Little to look at him. “Are you okay?” Clark asked seriously.
Bruce’s eyes instantly went to his lap where he was fiddling with his hands, his breathing already shaky. Clark was patient, waiting for Bruce to be ready to talk on his own but pulled him close and into a tight, reassuring hug. “It’s okay,” Clark assured, “You can tell me if you’re not alright, you know that?”
Bruce looked at him with teary eyes, looking as if he was mulling something over in his head. “W-was s-scared, D-daddy,” Bruce finally stuttered out quietly. Clark squeezed him just a bit tighter at that omission. Bruce never got scared, not really, so if he was admitting to getting scared, it was a big thing.
As far as Clark knew, Bruce was only truly scared of bats. The Little got startled by certain things but never really scared. “What were you scared of, baby?” Clark asked lightly. He didn’t bring forth any attention to Bruce calling him Daddy, even if it was the first time he had in all the months they had been Caregiver and Little. As happy as it made him, he was more worried about whatever had made Bruce so scared.
“Daddy ‘as d’ere an’ an’ den ‘as gone!” Bruce sobbed. Clark took a minute to sort through that. Bruce was really far into his headspace at the moment, bigger than normal, but still down so it made it hard to understand what he was truly trying to express.
‘Daddy was there and then he was gone’ was what he pieced together as Bruce gripped his shirt tighter as he sobbed. Of course! Bruce had seen the Javelin disappear from space when the timeline had first changed! That must have been terrifying for him, he probably got thrown between his headspaces because of it.
No wonder Little Bruce was scared shitless, that would have rattled anyone! “I know, baby but Daddy is right here. He’s right here and he’s not going anywhere,” Clark assured the boy, hugging him even tighter.
With how clingy Bruce was, he was sure it would last the whole time that Bruce was in headspace- it seemed that he needed some comfort. Clark got up, Bruce on his hip and went to get a few things from the nursery.
He grabbed bruce’s blanket, his stuffed kitty, and his favorite paci. He walked back into the living area and switched the TV to a list of Little Bruce’s favorite Disney and Pixar movies and settled back on the couch. He wrapped the blanket around Bruce’s shoulders as the baby snuggled closer. He offered Bruce his kitty and then held the paci up to his mouth. “How about we just relax and cuddle for a while? Watch your favorite movies.” Clark asked softly, feeling Bruce nod into his shoulder.
The top of Bruce’s head was resting against his chin and neck as he watched cartoons. Clark would make Bruce some hot chocolate later as a nice treat but for now, the boy looked content enough to just sit and relax and watch Mulan.
He smiled a little- he was a Daddy, now. That word made him happier than he ever thought possible, and he knew it was only because Bruce had been the one to say it.
~~~
Wally was sleeping fitfully against his shoulder as J’onn and he had a conversation. “I just have no clue what has Wally so upset,”
“From what I heard from Hawkgirl, Wally was very angry with her for leaving you after your ring powered down. He went searching for you frantically. She said he was acting more rash and angry than she’d ever seen.” J’onn told him.
John stayed silent. Wally was his best friend and knew the feeling was mutual, it wasn’t strange that Wally had been so concerned but had his Little side affected him while he was in the field?
“Anytime I was around Flash after your disappearance I could feel his struggle and worry. At the time he was having a hard time keeping in his Big headspace. He wasn’t thinking of you as just a friend and a teammate. He was worried about his Caregiver too.”
That made sense but John just didn’t understand. Wally was never outwardly angry, at least not from what he had seen. It didn’t add up. Wally would never take his frustration and anger out on someone else.
J’onn, the mind reader, of course, had an answer for that too. “Wally has always been reliant on his emotions. He never acted on his anger and sadness or frustration, and he never really experienced those in headspace before. Little Wally experiencing those for the first time… it makes sense that he would lash out. I just think this Little boy needs some relaxing time with you to assure him that you’re really here. He thought you were dead for almost two days, that had to take a toll.”
“Right,” John agreed. That made a lot of sense now that he was able to think it through all the way. He’d need to watch out and make sure to teach his little boy how to handle his emotions and not lash out at people. Hopefully, Wally would learn that pretty quickly, John didn’t want to have tantrums on his hands nor did he want to be dishing out time outs.
“Hmmm,” John hummed in thought. “We need to get a living space on this station for any Littles and Caregivers. It’d be much easier for all of our Caregivers and any Littles that come onto the tower to relax if we had one. It’d also help with team bonding,” John said slowly.
“I agree, perhaps talking with Batman would be wise,” J’onn said slowly. “Making time for ‘team bonding’ would improve our effectiveness in the field.” With that sentence finished, J’onn gave Lantern a friendly wave before flying back up to the monitors and resuming his duty.
John headed for his and Wally’s private rooms. If he was going to have a Little stuck to his side, for the time being, he was going to make sure he was in his comfiest clothes. Wally’s room had everything else they could possibly need, even a TV to help occupy the Little. This was going to be a hard few days but John was excited to be able to spend it with his little boy.