Archive of Our Own

He watched as a swarm of parademons attacked the civilians and took a lot of them towards the many bright openings in the dark sky. He fought and tried to save as many as he could.

But Batman was not trained for this. He fought against criminals—thieves, murderers, sociopaths. He never fought against an army of aliens. He did not even believe they were real until Superman came out of hiding to save the Earth from Zod. He did not even think Superman was saving them back then, but hey, at least he could admit his mistake when he made one.

The rest of the Justice League focused on Darkseid and were trying their best to take down the ruthless ruler of Apokolips. Batman, knowing he could help more in saving the civilians, kept his focus on the parademons after devising a plan of attack. The plan worked seamlessly until it did not. Superman got sucker punched.

The big blue idiot, as Bruce called the guy in his head, thought he could take Darkseid on his own. The Kryptonian could not be more wrong as Bruce watched him plummeted down. Before Superman reached the sea though, two parademons got ahold of him and flew him towards the largest portal.

Bruce could not let them take Clark from him—them. Not after Clark just came back from the dead. Not when Bruce fought against the whole league—against Diana in order to resurrect Clark. No one could take Clark from Bruce without a fight.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Arthur Curry, the Aquaman, asked in incredulity as he watched Batman take a random coat left by someone that was probably taken by a parademon.

Batman removed his cowl and replaced it with a beanie. “We won't win without our big gun.” Finally looking like a civilian, he started climbing on some large, fallen debris. “Keep Darkseid busy till I get back.”

Without waiting for Arthur's reply, he raised his arms and immediately got taken by a parademon. His eyes wandered and observed as he was brought to what looked like a large, high-tech facility that was obviously not located on Earth anymore.

Before the parademon could do anything, Batman was already maneuvering his way around it and was able to take it down without any noise. He removed the coat and beanie and wore his cowl once again as he navigated his way around the facility.

It was clear that Apokoliptian technology was far too advanced compared to Earth's and Bruce could only wonder what some of the objects he saw could do. Turning his focus back on the mission, he took down any parademon on his way and found a laboratory. When he took a peek, he saw Superman's wrists bound by some otherwordly metal that hung from a huge arc, silver and green liquid tainting his whole form.

Swearing under his breath, Batman stealthily made his way inside. He heard someone speaking to Superman, foolishly explaining their plans. Taking out a batarang, he aimed it at the machine that the alien seemed to be using.

The explosion got the attention of DeSaad. The alien was gray in color and long-legged with a black armor covering his whole form except the face. The vicious alien noticed Batman and the Dark Knight saw the surprised expression of the alien turned into a wicked one.

“Ah, Batman!” DeSaad greeted. “Though I did not expect a visitor, I learned that it is a human tradition to welcome guests.”

“What did you do to Superman?” Batman asked as they circled around each other. “Release him now.”

“Since you asked nicely.” The Apokoliptian pressed something behind the arc and it suddenly released Superman, the Kryptonian falling on the floor with a loud thud.

Batman noticed Superman was shaking. “Superman?”

Bruce knew he was fucked when Superman raised his head and he saw a sickly mixture of red, green and silver marred the usually impossibly blue eyes that the Kryptonian possessed. Before he could even blink, Superman was on him.

“God damn it.” Batman grunted as he dodged an attack that could have killed him and Superman hit a wall instead, destroying the laboratory in the process. Bruce was able to evade the falling debris. However, a particularly large metal hit DeSaad who was obviously trying to escape. The loud screech of the alien got Superman's attention and in an instant, Superman punched a hole in the alien's skull and crushed it in his hands.

Well, shit.

Without waiting for Superman to make another move, Bruce took out some smoke grenades and threw it towards the Kryptonian's direction. He knew there was no hiding from someone that had x-ray vision, but he had to come up with a plan first that did not include Kryptonite. He hated using it and he knew a brain-washed Superman would become angrier at the sight of it. He also did not want to harm Clark more than he had to.

Bruce believed that Superman would be able to control himself. The Kryptonian always tried his best to save people all the time and he even brought cats down from trees. Deep in his core, Clark Kent was a good man.

“Superman, snap out of it!” Batman growled and dodged some more, but then Superman got a hold of him and slammed him on a wall, trapping him with a hand around his neck that knocked the air out of him.

“You... are stronger than this,” Bruce choked, slowly losing air. “We need you, Kal. The world... needs Clark... Kent.”

Superman abruptly stopped, his knuckles a few inches away from Batman's face. Bruce felt the hold on him loosened, and then Clark was stumbling away from him, a pained expression on his face.

“Kal?” Bruce wheezed, but continued to walk towards the Kryptonian. However, Superman held a hand up.

“Don't,” Superman warned and then gasped as he tried to fight off the Kryptonite-laced Apokoliptian goo that whammed him. He fell on his knees, hands on his face as pain shocked his whole body.

“Kal,” Bruce said in a careful tone, slowly kneeling down.

Clark groaned. “It hurts.”

Bruce looked around and saw there was a puddle of liquid Kryptonite on the floor. He quickly took Clark's arms and pulled him up. He did not know what to do other than move away from the laboratory, his arms wrapped around Clark in support.

Bruce felt Clark leaned on him and held onto him tightly, staggering and still in pain. When he thought that they were safely away from the green liquid and any evil alien, he led Clark inside a small, empty room and they kneeled on the floor once again. He tried to pull away, but the younger man held onto him even tighter, his suit probably had some dents in the shape of Clark's fingers. He froze when Clark whimpered and nuzzled his face against his neck.

“Superman,” Bruce croaked. “Kal, are you alright?”

“Hurts,” Clark said weakly, not even lifting his face up. “Still hurts.”

Bruce gritted his teeth. “We need to bring you back to Earth. Whatever they did–”

“M'okay. Just wanna rest,” Clark mumbled. “M'so tired.”

Bruce tried to even his breathing as Clark spoke, feeling a pair of lips move against his covered neck. God.

“Kal, we're in enemy's territory. You can get some rest after we get back to Earth, alright?”

Slowly, Clark lifted his face. Bruce noticed how sickly pale Clark's skin was and wiped some of the alien liquid on his face before he could even realize what he was doing.

“I–” Bruce cleared this throat and retracted his hand.

Clark frowned then the painful expression was back on his face. “I– I killed DeSaad.”

“It wasn't you, Kal,” Bruce grunted.

Clark shook his head. “I could have killed you, B.” He tried to move away, but Bruce held his arm then his eyes landed on Bruce's neck, definitely using his x-ray vision. “I– Rao! B, your neck–”

“I had worse–”

“Not the point!”

“Look, Kal.” Bruce sighed. “I know you don't want to hurt me. Even with our past, you're the nicest man I've ever known and I don't even need to ask the others if they think the same way because I already know they do.”

Clark was silent and Bruce let him be. For a few minutes, they just stared at each other. Bruce did not even notice when one of them or maybe it was the both of them, he was not sure, started to lean towards the other. It was only when he watched Clark licked his lips that he snapped out of it.

“B...” Clark trailed off as Bruce backed off, but then he shook his head. “Thanks, Batman.”

Bruce felt flustered at the small, weak smile that Clark flashed him. Shaking his head, he pulled them up again. “Come on.”

Clark took a deep breath and shook away his exhaustion. With a grin, he looked at Bruce. “Let's kick some ass?”

Bruce smirked. “Let's.”

With that, they used one of the boom tubes and witnessed the team finally taking Darkseid down. The only thing left was to bring him back to Apokolips, but it seemed like Victor was having a hard time connecting with the boom tube.

“You're coming with me, Kryptonian,” Darkseid barked as he got a hold of Superman, but the Man of Steel had his nickname for a reason.

Kind of wanting to get back at Darkseid, Clark sucker punched the evil lord and took the bomb that was in Batman's hands. He attached it on Darkseid's body and Batman activated it, timing it along with the Flash's lightning strike. The explosion loosened the hold of Darkseid at the edge of the portal. With one last kick from Wonder Woman, Darkseid fell. The parademons went berserk at the fall of their ruler and followed him back to Apokolips.

“Close them!” Batman ordered and Cyborg immediately complied, finally closing all the portals all over the world.

“What about the human victims?” Aquaman asked.

“I can see them,” Victor said, the remaining boom tube remote in his arsenal. “Let me get this baby to boom for me one last time.”

With the humans back on Earth and Darkseid back to Apokolips, Bruce could slowly feel the exhaustion overtaking. As the creature of the night, he managed to go back into the shadows undetected. He would rather wait for the other inside the Flying Fox.

The night turned out way too different than what Bruce had expected. He did not even have enough arsenal in his belt. He had to make sure that he would be more prepared if something were to happen again. But before that, he had to go home first. Post-battle reports were usually done a day after the battle so he had time to recuperate.

“Penny One, we're on our way back,” Bruce said in his comm, entering the Flying Fox.

“You better be, Father!” A young voice flooded his ear.

Then a different voice, a deeper but livelier one, was heard. “How could you not tell us about the attack? We could have helped, B.”

Bruce sighed. He was already by the center room of the huge aircraft when he saw a figure flying and slowly landed a few meters away from him. “You're both on patrol tonight. Nightwing, make sure Robin is back before curfew and check in with Red Hood along the way. Red Robin said he'll be in San Francisco tonight.”

“I do not have a curfew!” Robin protested.

“Yeah, yeah.” Nightwing agreed. “Get some rest, B. I'll take care of baby bats here.”

“I am not a baby, you–” Bruce turned off his comm and walked towards the figure.

Clark fidgeted on his spot, a faint blush on his cheeks. “Uh... Hey. Your sons?”

Bruce hummed as he took his mask off. “Do you need anything?”

“I– well, I just want to thank you,” Clark stuttered. “You saved my life and definitely a lot more.”

“You already did,” Bruce said.

“What?” Clark looked confused as he tilted his head.

Bruce found it adorable, but of course, he would not admit it out loud. For god's sake, he's Batman. Batman never used the word adorable.

“Thank me.” Bruce cleared his throat and clarified.

Clark blinked. “Oh.” Then he turned a shade darker. “Well, I guess it's also because I want to see you again.”

Bruce felt his heart skipped a beat and he realized Clark heard it when the man stared at his chest. He scowled. “Stop listening to my heartbeat, Kansas. Get some rest.”

“Who would have thought the big, scary Batman is nice?” Clark teased.

“I'm not nice,” Bruce muttered, glaring at the Kryptonian.

Clark's twinkling eyes seemed to soften as he looked at Bruce and it made Bruce nervous for some reasons. He was not used at being stared at like that. It felt wrong. He felt undeserving of it.

“Yeah,” Clark said after a long silence. “You're probably not. You just pushed the idea of resurrecting me and then saved my life, helped mom and looked out for Lois while I was gone, created the league, took care of Barry and Victor, supported Arthur, and helped looking for antiques for Diana.” He nodded as if in thought then smiled at Bruce. “Yeah. Definitely not nice.”

Bruce sighed. He would never win against Clark, would he? The man always knew what to say or what to do and Bruce was only a man. He had limits. He had weaknesses and he knew Clark was included on the list. Probably at the top too.

Bruce did not know when it happened, but one day, he just found out that Clark made a space for himself in his heart and stayed there comfortably.

Exhausted and not willing to dwell on his feelings, Bruce asked, “What do you want, Clark?”

“I just– there was–” Clark suddenly stammered, sounding distraught. “You know what, never mind. Have a good night, B.”

Clark was about to turn around and leave the room when Bruce held his wrist, stopping him.

“Talk to me.” Bruce's voice was hoarse as he spoke. His eyebrows were furrowed. “Do you need anything? Are you okay?”

Taking a step forward, Clark only left a few inches of space between them. They were so close, Bruce could easily notice the shyness and blush on Clark's face.

“No. I'm fine. I just– I thought...” Clark trailed off, nerves getting the best of him.

“You thought?” Bruce asked, urging Clark to speak up.

Clark's face turned beet red. “Can we just forget this?”

“No.” Bruce tightened his hold on Clark's wrist, but then backtracked when he realized how commanding his tone was. “But if you're not ready to tell me–”

“I just thought you were going to kiss me earlier!” Clark all but squeaked.

Bruce's sharp intake of breath was harsh against the silence that followed. His eyes were trained on Clark, not wavering as thoughts came crashing through his mind, a hundred rushing in per minute.

“Look, can we just forget this con–”

“Did you want me to?” Bruce asked, voice too low to be heard by any normal human, but Clark was not human anyway.

Clark's mouth opened, but then he closed it, repeatedly swallowing. “I don't know. I've never really thought about it again after we, you know...”

Bruce was done running away. He was exhausted. He pulled Clark in, the Kryptonian gasping as he almost fell forward if it were not for the arm that Bruce snaked around his waist to balance them both. Bruce forced Clark to look at him in the eyes and made him watch as he slowly lowered his eyes to gaze at his lips, murmuring, “Have you thought about it now?”

Bruce unconsciously put a hand on Clark's nape and thumbed the column of his neck, feeling the apple bobbing as Clark swallowed.

“Because I've thought about it, Clark. I never stopped thinking about you. How beautiful you look, blushing and lips swollen after I kiss you. How sweet the sounds you make as I ravage your mouth–”

“Bruce!” Clark started to protest, but it came out more of an eager whine.

Bruce thumbed Clark's lips. His eyes darkened when Clark followed it with his tongue. It was hot and wet. It was dirty. Bruce wanted to take all of Clark. He wanted to claim him as his.

Bruce felt the slight graze of teeth as he slowly pushed his thumb in. He could not stop watching as it disappeared in Clark's mouth, the younger man swirling his tongue around it before sucking.

“Clark.”

Bruce's nostrils flared. Clark's mouth was warm and inviting. His tongue was so soft and wet. Bruce could feel his control wavering.

“Enough.”

A shiver ran down on Bruce's spine as Clark let out a soft moan and released his thumb with a wet sound.

Leaning closer, Clark's lips were ghosting over Bruce's as he spoke. “Bruce, please.”

“I already let you go once. If we start something, I won't be able to stop, Clark. Ever.”

Bruce had never been the type of person who knew how to forget things even long after they were gone. Even when he let Clark go a long time ago, it was the Kryptonian who drove him to do his best while he was training.

The thought of giving his heart to Clark again was scary, but Bruce was best at facing his fears anyway.

Clark's lips trembled over Bruce's, but they still have yet to kiss. “Then don't stop. Don't ever stop, B. I'm all yours to take.”

Clark was driving Bruce crazy. How could the epitome of perfection want him? Even after everything he had done, Clark went back and was still choosing him. What was he supposed to do with that fact?

Bruce was too deep within his mind when Clark made the decision for him. It felt like a bullet was shot straight into Bruce's heart when their lips collided.

The kiss felt familiar. It was like coming home after being away for a long time. Bruce could feel Clark's warmth enveloping him. They fit each other perfectly. It felt so good. It felt so right.

The night ended with a bang, Bruce realized. His heart was pounding against his chest as Clark kissed him, just as desperate and fervent as he was.