Chapter Text
As soon as Clark saw Bruce and J’onn he flew to them, holding his arms out to receive his Little. However, J’onn didn’t move an inch, securely holding onto Bruce as he slept. He sighed, “Not until we talk, then? Fine. Let’s go to the kitchens and grab some food.” Superman turned to lead the way, noting how J’onn followed behind.
Once they were settled at the table, food in front of them, Clark once again spoke up. “Well?” He asked quietly. It took a moment for J’onn to respond.
“I sensed hesitation earlier,” J’onn started. “After Bruce had returned with you.”
“Hesitation?” Clark asked.
“The hesitation was an extension of his fear. Whatever happened between you two before he pulled you into the boom tube must have scared him.”
“Batman doesn’t get scared, though…” Clark tried to cover.
“We both know that’s not true. And besides, at the time he was clearly drifting. It might have not scare Big Bruce but Little Bruce was probably terrified. What happened?” J’onn was determined to know. As easily as he could set up a link into Bruce’s mind with his telepathy, it was much harder for him to dig around in Bruce’s memories. The man had a very sturdy telepathic block. He must have had some training, J’onn was sure.
“I told him to leave,” Clark sighed. “Bruce, being Bruce refused. He grabbed me and I shoved him away. He flew into the wall and the next moment he was pulling me into the boom tube.” he admitted. “Now that I think of it, he hit his shoulder pretty hard and probably hasn’t even gotten it looked at yet,”
“Let’s get to the med bay and get a look at his shoulder then,” J’onn said calmly as he stood up. “You’re normally one to have your temper under control,” he continued, “You basically tossed your Little into a wall because he was scared to lose you,” J’onn pointed out.
Clark’s heart damn near ripped in half at that. J’onn was right. He should’ve seen the signs. Looking back, he knew Bruce had been drifting for days. He’d been oblivious to the normally obvious signs and ended up tossing his drifting Little into a wall out of anger.
Clark was just about ready to cry as J’onn laid Bruce onto a gurney to begin running tests. Clark scanned over Bruce with his x-ray vision and sighed in relief when he found nothing broken. “Nothing’s broken,” Clark stated.
“That’s good. We just need to make sure he doesn’t have a concussion, and to check his shoulder for any type of injury,” he replied, typing away at the machines as they scanned over Bruce’s head and shoulder.
In the end, J’onn was able to confirm that no injuries were acquired and that Bruce was perfectly fine. “What now?” Clark asked as they both watched over Bruce, snoring slightly.
“Start slowly,” J’onn told him. “Even now I can sense his lingering fear and nervousness.”
Clark simply nodded as they both waited for Bruce to wake. “You should probably get some rest,” J’onn told him. “I can wake you when Bruce is awake,”
“Alright,” Clark replied, yawning not two seconds after his reply.
~~~
Bruce woke over two hours later and was even deeper into headspace than normal. Just sitting up was a challenge as he threw his weight around to figure it out. Eventually, he did and came face-to-face with J’onn who smiled calmly at him.
Bruce was too far into headspace to even realize that someone new knew his identity, reaching his arms up for the comfort of being held. J’onn lifted him easily enough and Bruce sighed as he leaned into the warm embrace.
J’onn was a little stiff but other than that brought great comfort to the anxiety-ridden Little. “How about we find your Daddy?” J’onn asked quietly, not wanting to make the little uneasy. He heard Bruce whine a bit but no other protest.
As he started walking toward Clark’s private room Bruce’s grip got even tighter. He could feel the waves of anxiety just rolling off of the poor kid. His whining intensified as J’onn pushed on until it stopped as J’onn stood right outside of Clark’s door.
“It’s alright, little one,” J’onn assured him as the door whooshed open, giving Bruce a comforting and gentle pat on the back. He walked into the room and gently woke Superman as Bruce hid his face in his shoulder.
“Superman, wake up,” J’onn said. Clark rolled over and opened his eyes with a yawn before slowly getting out of bed. He was in a normal set of pajamas- Bruce’s favorite ones to snuggle into.
“Slowly,” J’onn said as he saw Superman reach for the Little. “He’s very anxious,” he told him.
“He’s shaking…” Clark said sadly, “ I’ve never seen him shake like this before…”
“He’ll be okay,” J’onn assured. “He just needs some reassurance,” J’onn gave him a little jumble, hoping that bobbing the boy would get him to leave his hiding spot. He got a whine and small glare from the one blue eye that popped out of his shoulder.
“Let’s say hello,” J’onn told Bruce calmly as he adjusted the boy so that his face was out in the open. Teary eyes looked at both Clark and J’onn. It only took a minute for him to burst into tears. “How should we calm him?” J’onn asked, slightly panicked by the show of emotion. He was still used to such a stoic Batman.
“Well, obviously I’m not helping,” Clark said sadly, “I’ve never seen him cry like this before, though. I have no clue how to stop it,”
Without a lead, J’onn stood for a minute and thought as Bruce squirmed and cried. Bruce was a very rare Little- completely unique. What would he have done to calm his own distressed children?
J’onn started to sing. Nothing that Bruce would be able to understand but he hoped the melody would be calming nonetheless. It took a mere two seconds for Bruce to stop crying, staring at J’onn, completely mesmerized. J’onn continued until Bruce was completely content.
Clark sat back and watched as J’onn sang to his Little. While he was sad at the circumstances, he was pleased to see Bruce content with someone else knowing his identity and Classification as well as a new side of J’onn.
“He seems content now,” J’onn announced as he turned back to Clark, more than ready to try handing Bruce off again.
“Alright,” Clark sighed. Clark reached his arms out to take his Little, noticing how for a brief second Bruce pushed closer against J’onn. Then he looked up with teary, inquisitive eyes before reaching out to Clark, hands open as he sniffled.
As soon as Bruce was close enough, he latched onto Clark. He was holding on so tight that Clark didn’t want to risk hurting him by trying to move him. J’onn let out a little bit of a chuckle, “I’ll leave you to it,”
~~~
“Bruce! Hey you know you’re not supposed to-” Clark said loudly though no anger resided in his voice. His sentence got cut short as he was hit in the face with a couch pillow as Bruce very unsteadily ran around the private floor of the Watchtower.
Bruce was still a little skittish but otherwise was fine. It was true what J’onn said, he’d just needed some reassurance over the past couple of days. He’d slowly opened up out of his shell and was deeper into Headspace that Clark had seen in a while.
Clark paused in thought. It was obvious that J’onn had known Bruce’s Classification early on. Nobody in the league really mentioned their classifications. Maybe it was time to have that discussion. It should’ve happened long ago if he was honest. They’d been a team for over a year now. It was long overdue…
Well, it could wait a few more days until Bruce was Big again and able to talk through the idea with him.