Chapter Text
Clark stood in the airport terminal trying not to look too much like a tourist. He kept his hand on his luggage and the other fiddled with his phone. Bruce was stuck in traffic but said that he and Alfred would be there soon to pick him up.
He’d never been in a city like this before. It was so loud and it smelled so pungent and so many things were moving. Even the air tasted weird and was thick and sticky on his skin. He’d only been here a few moments and he was already starting to feel overstimulated, and nauseous. His head was starting to throb.
“Be careful while you’re over there,” He kept hearing Ma warning. He got to travel by himself since they couldn’t afford to leave the farm abandoned for an extended amount of time. It would be his first time away from home without his parents. Ma had hugged him tight at the airport and told him to watch out for himself. But he could read between the lines. She was telling him to keep his powers in check.
The city was loud and it was hard for him to concentrate on reeling everything back. All the sounds assaulting his ears were starting to sound like a gargled roar. He almost missed when his phone was ringing. He picked it up but was having trouble hearing Bruce.
“We’re almost there,” Bruce told him. “We just got out of the jam. We’ll be there in another ten minutes or so.”
“Alright,” Clark said. He needed to conversation to be short so he could try to pull himself together. “I’ll see you when you get here.”
“What are you wearing?” Bruce asked.
“Blue coat, yellow hat, red scarf. You can’t miss me I’m the only six foot kid here.” Clark joked, trying to sound light hearted. It wasn’t Bruce’s fault that his powers were working overtime. He wanted to enjoy his time here.
Bruce laughed before saying his goodbye and hanging up. Clark found a place to sit. Knowing Gotham’s reputation he put one bag under his feet and the other on his lap. This way people would be deterred from taking anything. He sighed and closed his eyes. If he could find something to concentrate on everything else would fall into place. He only needed a moment.
“Hey sleepy head,” Clark jolted feeling someone poking his shoulder. He turned around to see Bruce, and smiled. “You shouldn’t sleep here,” Bruce said. “Did we take that long?”
“No, it was just a long flight,” Clark stood up and grabbed his bags. “It’s good to see you.”
Bruce of course was in a sleek stylish designer coat, and matching scarf. It contrasted Clark’s poufy coat and thick bright colored scarf.
“You grew,” Clark pointed out.
“You too,” Bruce looked up at him. “A lot more than me.”
Clark shrugged. He’d gone through another growth spurt over the fall. For a while none of his clothes fit him right. It was a little embarrassing but at least the kids at school weren’t bold enough to say anything to his face anymore. They talked behind his back instead.
“Come on. Alfred is waiting outside.” Bruce helped him with his bags. Clark stuck close. The crowd vibrated around them, pushing and pulsating, trying to push them apart. He held onto Bruce’s coat sleeve so they wouldn’t get separated.
Bruce looked back at him and offered his hand instead. Clark’s heart skipped a beat. He didn’t have to worry about bumping into someone he knew, and being ridiculed by the town. The crowd was so massive that no one noticed them. He couldn’t help the dopy smile that took over his face as he extended his mitten clad hand and held onto Bruce’s.
Being able to focus on the way their hands fit together let him shut out the rest of the world.
~.~.~.~.~
Clark gawked the moment they got to the mansion. It was huge! He knew that Bruce was rich but he wasn’t expecting the Tudor style mansion.
“This is where you live?” Clark gasped. “My place must have looked like a dump to you.”
“I like your house,” Bruce said. Clark looked at him with an eyebrow raised. He didn’t believe him.
“Yeah but,” Clark looked around, his hands running over the furniture as he inspected the place. “This is so much nicer.”
Bruce’s dog, Ace, came into the room to greet his owner and to meet the new guest. Clark was surprised to see how much Ace had grown since the last picture he’d seen of him.
“Come on,” Bruce started for the rounding stair case. “My room is upstairs.”
Clark followed along. Ace wasn’t too far behind them. Even Bruce’s room was fancy. The bed frame was hand carved, his book cases (yes book cases not shelves) had carved details like it was from some fancy library. There were rows of books, comic books, DVDs, and video games. Bruce had every system known to man.
“You can put your boots and coat in the closet,” Bruce informed him.
Clark nodded and started to shed his many layers. He didn’t need them but he had to keep up appearances. He shouldn’t have been surprised by Bruce’s walk in closet, but he’d never seen one before. He gawked as he walked in deeper. He always heard that people lived like this, but seeing it was something else.
“Wow,” he went to gasp but his breath came out cold and he had to shut his mouth. All Bruce heard was something that sounded like, “Wah.”
Bruce snickered. He wondered if this was what he looked like when he went to Kansas and Clark showed him the sky for the first time. It was cute to watch. He passed Clark a hanger and started to put his own clothes away
Clark set about removing his coat and scarf. He put his gloves and hat in his pockets. He toed off his boots and long socks. He set the boot under where he hung his coat. It left him in a pair of jeans and a red Smallvile hoodie.
“Alfred is making dinner,” Bruce said once things were put away. Clark paused to look out the window. The sun was already starting to set over Gotham. He went to where he left his bag against the wall. He took off his hoodie, folded it, and stuffed it back inside his bag.
Bruce found himself staring. All those feelings from looking at that photo from long ago was surfacing when he saw a peek of skin. No more than that. Clark’s shirt had gotten caught on his hoodie as he pulled it over his head. But they were boyfriends right? There was no shame in looking, but he still found himself looking away.
“Do you want to play a game while we wait?” Bruce asked.
Clark shrugged, looked away while biting his lip before saying, “I’m not too good a video games.” He had a bad habit of crushing controllers.
“I’ll go easy on you.” Bruce was going through his collection before he pulled out Mario Cart.
“Alright,” Clark conceded.
Bruce sat down on his King size bed, and pat the spot next to him motioning for Clark to sit down. Clark did and took the controller that was offered to him as Bruce queued up the game. It was fun at first. Clark was quick to learn the controls and the game was pretty simple in the beginning.
But as time went on the sound effects and the graphics mixed with what he was picking up from the town. It was becoming too much. Then, all at once there was a flash of light on the screen, a loud noise from the game, a car crashed somewhere in town, and someone screamed. His vision jerked through the wall and he could see the swirling mass of people in the city, and taste the blood and smog and gunpowder. He wanted to throw up and purge all this new sensation.
Instead, he lost control for a second. His heat vision would have burnt the carpet if it wasn’t for his glasses. He left a small crack in the controller he was holding when he clenched too hard. He dropped it and put his hands over his eyes as he groaned.
“You okay?” Bruce didn’t bother to pause the game as he turned his attnetion to Clark.
“I’m fine,” Clark growled out. “It’s just a headache.”
“Do you want me to get you something for it. Alfred probably has some…”
“No. It will go away in a little bit.” Clark said. He knew medicine wouldn’t do him any good.
“Maybe you should lay down,” Bruce suggested gently.
“In a bit,” Clark took a deep breath. This wasn’t like when he was at home and he could allow himself time to recalibrate. He only had a limited amount of time here and if he let himself go too far he would glow and float, and Bruce would see. He couldn’t risk that.
He took a deep breath and tried to pull it together enough to move. Somehow Bruce managed to get him to lay down on the bed.
“Is it a headache or a migraine?” Bruce asked.
Clark could barely hear him over everything else. He kept his hands over his eyes and curled in on himself. He made a small noise to let Bruce know he was okay, but it made the other teen more concerned.
Bruce wasn’t sure what to do. Clark was laying there in agony, unresponsive. He went quiet after a while and Bruce wasn’t sure if he was breathing. He put his hand to Clark’s neck to feel for a pulse and found that Clark was running a fever. A high fever.
Not sure how to proceed he went to get Alfred.
It was the last thing that Clark wanted. He had to turn everything inwards because even the sky was noisy here. He took a deep breath and try to find his zen.
Calm down, he told himself. He could hear Alfred and Bruce talking over him. Another hand was on him checking his temperature.
“What’s wrong Clark?” Alfred asked.
“He said it was a headache, but I think its a migraine,” Bruce answered for him when he didn’t respond right away.
“I’ll bring him some medication and water with dinner,” Alfred said.
“Is he going to be okay?” Bruce asked.
“I think he’s just feeling a little sick. He has a touch of a fever, but nothing too worrisome. If he’s still not feeling well in the morning or starts to get worse I’ll call a doctor.”
Bruce frowned and sat down on the bed next to Clark. All he could do is sit and wait. Clark didn’t sit up to eat but he did get cooler to the touch when his fever broke. He still didn’t move too much, but he made the occasional noise.
Bruce laid down next to him. Clark wasn’t sleeping peacefully. His face was scrunched up so he was still suffering through all this, but he seemed to be starting to relax a little. His hands finally moved away from his face and were closer to his chest. Bruce decided to turn off the lights to see if that helped him. He watched him for another few hours hoping to see a change. After a while, his eyes got heavy, and he started to fall asleep.
He draped a blanket over the both of them, scooted a little closer. He smoothed back Clarks bangs as he checked his temperature again. He placed a hand on one of Clark’s.
“Feel better in the morning,” Bruce yawned.
TBC...