Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sitting at his large and empty bed, Bruce stared at the small velvet box in his hands. He didn’t know why he had not yet thrown it in the dumpster- after all Clark had moved on already after their break up.

He couldn’t believe it had already been a year since their fight. It was supposed to be a normal day- Some weekly alien invasion and self sacrificing Kryptonian later- they'd fight over how reckless the other party had been after that they’d ignore each other for a while but then kiss and make up in the end like always.

That was how it was supposed to go.

The argument wasn’t supposed to spiral down so quickly.

Clark wasn't supposed to just-

Just- break up with him.

That was not how it was supposed to go.

Bruce had been in such a shock that he couldn’t reply and just gave a grunt in response.

And Clark just had to give him that disappointed look for his reaction- well, lack there of. After which he flew away informing Bruce that he’ll move back to his apartment back in metropolis.

And that he did- by the time Bruce had come back, all the signs of another human being besides Bruce living there were gone- Clark didn’t want to spend a second longer with Bruce, so much so that he had actually used his super speed to pack up.

But Bruce wasn’t mad-

He knew why Clark had left.

He knew that he was high maintenance. That he required attention like a starved puppy and had to be validated again and again. He was cranky and often got into arguments. He could never take care of himself let alone take care of someone else. And once he got attached- he would get clingy- monitor each of the other's movements, not because of trust issues but because of worry.

Bruce was hard to love.

Bruce knew that.

After all- that’s what all his previous lovers had told him before they broke it off.

It was just that-

A part of him (a foolish part of him) hoped that maybe Clark would be different. Just maybe Clark would understand him, and accept his flaws and love them as much as he loved his strengths. He wished that Clark would stay with him and not leave him alone like everyone else in his life had.

He had even hoped to marry him.

And like the sap he was- he had even bought matching diamond rings, hoping to propose to the man on their 10th anniversary just few weeks later. He had already booked the entire hotel he was gonna propose Clark in and had extensively planned their entire honeymoon and even some sappy romantic lines to say to the alien.

The even more more stupider part of him had also started looking at those dumb wedding planning brochures.

But yet again, his lover had left him with only broken and shattered dreams to accompany him.

He had cancelled the reservation and thrown out all the brochures but no matter how much he tried- he couldn’t throw away the rings. No matter how much he tried.

It was stupid, and he knew it.

Clark wasn’t coming back to him.

Clark had already moved on and had gone back to his old apartment in metropolis. He had even started getting back close together with Lois and there were even rumors flowing around that they had started dating again.

Bruce shouldn’t be jealous, after all- Clark was no longer his. Clark had broken up with him. Bruce had no right to be jealous.

And Bruce should have expected it- that Clark was one day going to go back to Lois, how could Bruce ever think he could have won against THE Lois Lane. She was smart, independent, demanded respect from everyone and was a female. Her and Clark even had a child together before they had gotten a divorce and Clark had started dating Bruce.

Bruce should be happy for them- Jon would finally get his parents back together and they’d live in a decent house in Smallville like a proper family. With a mother, a father as and a healthy, lively child.

What did Bruce have? Aside from his money he had nothing.

He was just some guy who dressed up as a furry and beat up criminals in the middle of the night because he could never grow up from that day in the alley. He was mocked by the press for being stupid and dumb- and even though Clark knew that all of it was intentional and just an act to fool the people from figuring out his secret identity, Bruce knew that Clark deserved better than getting tied to a himbo and his many homicidal children that hated to even stay at a 10 meter radius of him.

Bruce was a man, and Clark- being another man- would obviously, no matter what go back to a woman- someone who could settle down with him and someone who he could start a family with. Bruce was none of those things- he was arrogant, couldn’t keep his mouth shut and with his nightly activities, he could never have been able to give Clark the humble peaceful domestic life the man always dreamed of since his childhood.

But even after all that-

Bruce still felt angry.

How could Clark just move on so easily? How could he smile like that so easily? How could he be so happy after leaving Bruce all alone to suffer by himself, trying to piece together his broken.

Bruce knew why he couldn’t throw away the stupid velvet box- because that stupid part of him hoped that one day, one day- he’ll be able to give it to Clark, go down on his kness and propose to the man, tell him that he was his entire universe and he would do anything to bring him happiness- but that day would never come.

Bruce sighed and carefully placed the box in the cabinet drawer. It was time for dinner and he had to eat, even if he didn’t want to- he had skipped his breakfast and lunch because of his lack of appetite, he couldn’t afford to not eat and get weaker just because Alfred was not there.

Bruce walked down the empty stairs and into the just as empty kitchen where his food was kept in his fridge ready to be microwaved. The servants Bruce had employed delivered him food 3 times a week, all microwaveable and ready to eat at any time. Then during the weekends they’d come in and clean the dusty manor.

Aside from them, no one had visited the manor for months.

Dick had moved out long ago when he became Nightwing and moved to Bludhaven, he used to visit occasionally before to meet Alfred. But after Alfred’s death he had only visited once, which was for the funeral and even his routine check-in calls had stopped. Bruce knew that Dick only loved Alfred and didn't care about him, but he could at least try to be a little less obvious about his apparent dislike of Bruce.

Jason was obviously never home. He had never even visited the manor- let alone slept there since his revival. He just breaks into the cave a few times a year to get some info about some people he had been following and go away, ignoring Bruce and his pleas to stay the night or just sit down and have a family dinner together like the old days. Bruce didn’t even know where Jason was these days, after all he had been trained by The Batman himself, if he didn’t want to be found- he wouldn’t be found. All he knew was that he was hanging out somewhere in some place in the universe with Kori and Roy.

And Tim, nowadays he just sees Tim during the occasionally Wayne enterprises meetings as the boy had moved out when Bruce had been supposedly dead. Though he didn’t have any particular conflict with the boy, he didn’t have something good and healthy going on with him either- he couldn’t remember the last time they had talked about something which wasn’t about their nightly activities or dumb CEO stuff. Every time Bruce tried to invite the boy to a dinner or a movie night- Tim would be with the Titans having fun with his family there and never be able to attend. After a while, Bruce finally got the message and didn’t try to invite the boy to anymore meetings he didn’t want to attend. Although he was happy that Tim was now finally getting some unconditional love from his peers and friends at the Titans who would pay attention to him and help him grow up in a healthy environment- the evil part in him hated the Tim that abandon him to just hang out with his friends whom he lives with rather than see his own dad’s face outside of work.

Damian was a difficult one. When he had come, Bruce didn’t know what to do and how to deal with his emotions, he just did what he usually did- nothing. But before he could get his head out of his ass, he had gotten lost in the time stream and by the time he had been able to come back, Damian had already claimed Dick as his father-figure than Bruce, aka the real father himself. Some failed attempts at parenting later, and even more arguments with Dick telling him how to and how not to handle Damian- it had been decided that Damian would be living with Dick in Bludhaven. Indefinitely. Until Damian wanted to go back to Bruce, which basically meant never- as the kid would always choose Dick over Bruce no matter the circumstances.

He hadn't even realized his loneliness until his birthday had arrived and he only had gotten 2 simple, one-line messages greeting him a happy birthday- one from Tim and the other one from Damian and Dick combined and complete radio silence from Jason and Clark. Bruce had spent the day lazing around the house and treating himself to a store bought cupcake and later spent the entire day in the cave solving cold cases until he passed out from exhaustion and woke up cold in the ground in the empty cave- even the bats had been seemingly mocking him by remaining utterly silent.

The same happened as Christmas and and New Year came and went away. The manor was completely empty, no one had even visited him to say hello- and he had sent his gifts to Damian, Dick and Tim through mail but because he didn’t know where Jason was- tracked him down with the help of Oracle to some place in Central city. And since he hadn’t been able to see his son’s face in many years without his mask and his vigilante outfit, he had gone there himself to give Jason his present himself and then he instantly got rejected at the door when his own son slammed the door on his face on Christmas Day. Apparently he had come in and ruined the small party Jason, Kori and Roy had been enjoying.

The carefully wrapped book Bruce wanted to gift Jason was still lying there in some corner of his study.

Bruce hadn't realized when he had finished his meal- he was already walking towards his workbench in the Batcave by the time he had been snapped out of his thoughts. If Alfred had been there he would have definitely not approved of Bruce walking into the cave without his suit- but Alfred was not there. He had not been here for years now.

Bruce sat down on his chair and continued inspecting the artifact the evil wizard he had been using in their fight. Constantine and Zatanna had been brought as back up but then Bruce had managed to sneak away the artifact under their noses without them knowing. He didn’t know what had come over him and why he had hid the obviously dangerous artifact with him.

He would say that it was because it had intrigued him and that he wanted to study it. But deep inside he knew why had kept the artifact to himself- it was about what the wizard had been talking about.

He was babbling something about some legendary artifact made out of the purest Magics that could aid one to reach limitless powers and even travel between realities. And how there were so many universes he could conquer with the divine object's power.

Obviously Bruce didn’t get it because he wanted to conquer all of humanity and its multiple universes. That was Batman Who Laughs’s thing and look at how that ended up. Bruce still had nightmares from when he and the other heroes of the universe had to fight against his evil parallel self.

Haha- no.

He would die than fight him again, or become someone even remotely similar to something like him- thank you very much.

It was something more, something small nagging him continuously in his mind, about the other hims (which were not evil) and their lives.

How would their lives be different from him?

Was there a world where he was a vampire? A world where he was a wizard perhaps, though if that version was anything remotely similar to Constantine, he didn’t want to know anymore. Maybe a world where he was a girl? Or a world where he was a mermaid- to be honest he was really interested in that one.

And would in those worlds would he still have Clark as his lover? Would he still have his kids? Would he still have his parents? A world where Alfred was still there breathing with him and accompanying him with his dry British sarcasm? A world where he wasn’t hated by his loved ones? A world where Clark loved him for who he was- accepted him for who he was, where his kids would visit him occasionally and check in to see if he was doing alright, where he wouldn’t have to spend his Christmas’s alone bundled up in a blanket in the living room? They'd have weekly movie nights and even camping trips and amusement park trips like a normal domestic family.

Would there be a world where that Bruce would truly be happy?

And before he knew it, Bruce had started planning.

Chapter Text

Before Bruce could start planning anything, he needed to know how to get the magical artifact to work. Thankfully, villains were stupid and explain their entire plan and the mechanical function of their weapons in their villain monologue.

Bruce took out his cowl from the drawer he had kept it in the night before and connected it to the batcomputer. He chose the video and audio recording from the day he had fought the mage- the villain had been talking non-stop about his plan and his new toy for almost an hour by the time Constantine and Zatanna had been able to come in and provide backup. This also meant that Constantine and Zatanna didn't know the specifics about the artifact and its power and probably the reason why they didn't try to retrieve it or try to find it. Which worked wonders for Bruce.

During the first time- he had ignored the narcissistic jabber of the ugly wizard as he tried to buy time to call for backup and try to break free of his magical bonds- he needed to review the footage from the cowl to learn more about the artifact.

A part of him thanked villains for having the same intelligence as a 7-year old playground bully no matter how high IQ they or how many PHD's they tended to have.

By the time Bruce had finished jotting down notes and reviewing the cowl footage or any and all information about the magical object it was already 2 AM.

He had missed patrol-

Fuck-

"Oracle, report." He ordered through his comms.

"What's up, B?" Barbara replied almost instantly through the communicator.

"Did something major happen tonight?" Bruce asked, all Batman now with the heavy growl and grunts and all, "I got a bit side tracked researching some new... device that I forgot to go out to patrol."

"Oh my, THE Batman forgetting something and getting side tracked- did the sun rise from the west today?" Babs laughed.

"Report." Bruce simply repeated.

"Yes yes- there was nothing major tonight, but Penguin and Black Mask had apparently joined forces and were receiving shipment on the harbor but Batwoman got hold of the intel and stopped them and dropped them and their men off to the police. Aside from that- just some muggings and assaults which were also taken over by her. No need to worry B-man, we are here to protect Gotham even if you disappear. Just take some rest tonight okay?" Barbara hummed, "Also- did you see Tim today?"

"No, aside from the WE meetings- we don't really talk much." More like at all but she didn't have to know that.

"Oh...."

"Did something happen?"

"No its just that he came back from a mission from space today so I was wondering if we could hangout a bit and get some bat-burgers together to celebrate."

"You two talk?"

"Hm? Yes, obviously- he's like a little brother to me. We hang out like 3 times a week. Which also means that I have to suffer with him and Damian always fighting over which movie to watch or where to go."

Wait a second-

"Damian?"

Since when did those three started hanging out together?- And if Damian was there that means even-

"Yes, that little rascal shows that he hates us but still bugs Dick to come with him and hang out with us whether at the tower or in Bludhaven or Gotham depending on our schedule."

Bruce was shocked- didn't Damian and Tim have a bad relationship? When did they start to get close- and, Dick and Damian regularly came to visit Gotham? Why had he never heard about this? Why did they never visit him?

"B? You okay there?" Oracle asked concerned.

"Hm."

"You suddenly went silent all of a sudden, I became worried." Oracle said "Did something happen?"

"No- I was just thinking about what you just said."

There was silence on the other side of the comm.

"Wait...." Barbara started, voice becoming quieter. "You didn't know?"

"No."

"Which part?" Barbara asked carefully.

"The part that apparently Damian doesn't want to stake Tim alive on seeing him and even going as far as hanging out with him and the fact that Damian and Dick visit Gotham regularly."

More silence.

"Do they not... visit you?" She asked, voice now almost a whisper.

Ouch- did that not hurt too close to home.

"No, Dick and Damian haven't visited since Alfred's... you know what. And the calls stopped after a few moths or so." Batman replied, almost letting a bit of Bruce leak out. Knowing those facts was one thing- but saying them out loud and hearing it was another thing entirely.

Bruce could hear a sharp intake of breath from the other side and many curses that Alfred definitely would not have approved.

"That- is.... bad."

"Don't worry- they are happy and that makes me a little less worried about them."

"But still-"

"Don't worry Barbara- it's between us. You should go to sleep now- it's getting late."

"Okay.... I'm going to sleep after I finish with this case I'm working on- but we are not over with this conversation okay Bruce? Goodnight."

"Goodnight Barbara."

With that the call ended.

Feeling a bit of drowsiness kick in, Bruce decided to go to bed himself and call it an early night. Though going to bed at 2 AM would technically not be called 'early' to normal people- to him by this time he would have been punching some random goon's face in an alleyway.

He also made many notes and had gotten a lot more information about the artifact and Barbara did say that they could tale care of Gotham for him if he were gone. He knew that was technically a good thing as his birds didn't need anymore training and could take of themselves on the streets without him- but a art of him wondered-

They don't need me anymore.

Gotham didn't need him anymore.

With Oracle taking care of every technical thing in the city and overseeing the criminals- with Kate going out as Batwoman and doing Batman's job just as perfectly- with the Red Hood taking care of the mob and the drugs in the Crime Alley and controlling the criminals and thugs there way better than Batman ever could himself and that if anything went wrong they could call for each other as backup considering they had already made up with each other. And Tim and Steph also usually patrolled the streets many times for more coverage.

Batman wasn't needed anymore.

But wasn't this what he had always wanted?

To create a Gotham that didn't need a Batman to take care of itself.

To see the good his crusade had brought over Gotham.

But something inside his gut still churned in agony.

They don't need me anymore...

What was Bruce Wayne without Batman- no one.

And now that Gotham didn't need a Batman, what was Bruce now? No one.

Well, at least now I got over the worry of what would had happened to Gotham If I were to magically disappear.

The artifact called to him even more now.

Chapter Text

Apparently the artifact was not just a teleporting device- that was just one of the many many things it could do. And Bruce was dedicated to learn even more.

He had seen the mage use it to do many things- it had helped him teleport short distances to dodge attacks, used it to make magical bindings to bind Batman in, had shot lasers through them and had even managed to make small portals with it. That's why Batman had so much trouble handling the mage by himself and had to call in back up- he didn't really fight well against magic and how people used to do things science could not understand or even fathom. And Bruce needed full understanding on the limitations and strengths of whoever or whatever he was fighting against to formulate a strategy and one-up his enemies.

That's why Bruce hated magic.

It was just so- Radom. Sometimes they would use a book to summon fireballs then use the same book to heal- teleport make portals and even undo whatever destruction had happened. That's why even though he hated Constantine and his attitude- whenever he got the chance to fight alongside the man or watch him fight- he'd keep his eyes peeled to get as much information as possible.

"Magic is not something material, Bruce. It's basically bringing out your imagination from your mind to the real world with concentration and willpower." Zatanna explained.

"Like the Green Lantern's ring?"

"Basically yes, though the entire thing is a bit different- it has the same basic principle."

"So saying special words and chants brings about magic?"

"The words and chants in and of itself don't mean anything and have no magical power by themselves- they help the castor visualize the magic they want to create and help them to cast magic without much mistakes. Like how we normal people name things- visualizing a tree in your mind will be way easier with the word 'tree' than thinking about a weird bushy green thing."

"So basically the chants are the names of the different kinds of magic?"

"And through saying them outload it helps us magic users to visualize exactly what we want to conjure and not make a half- this half- that."

"So can anyone use magic through these pointers?"

"No, even though everyone has magic inside of them- to actually use magic you need to have magical circuits to channel magic through your body and release it. Those people are what we call mages and wizards."

"But there must be another way to use magic."

"Yes there is- and those are through catalysts. Normally when magicians use magic- they use their own body and magical circuits as a medium to channel magic and use it but with a catalyst- one can use that as a medium instead and have no need to have magical circuits themselves."

"Like how people use artificial kidneys to filter their blood outside of their body if needed when their own aren't in proper condition?"

"Yup, exactly like that. Also using magic purely through your body can take a toll on your body like how exercising can take a toll on your body and make you tired. So, many mages and wizards normally use catalysts to aid themselves and reduce the toll on their body and exhaust them slower."

"So if a normal person were to take hold of a catalyst, they'd be able to use magic? Would that not be dangerous?"

"Dangerous if they know how to use it- magic is really hard to master, that's why mages and wizards take decades to master their craft and then write down their findings and pass them on to the next generations. Just giving someone a catalyst will not let them properly channel their powers and use them. Like how giving a child an intricate piece of machinery and asking him to assemble it would be impossible. So don't worry so much Batman and go focus on your monitor duty."

"Hn."

Remembering the conversation, Bruce picked up the catalyst carefully and closed his eyes- trying to imagine a flame in his head.

After making the fire in his head as vivid as he could- he tried to conjure it.

Nothing happened.

Gripping the artifact closer, Bruce imagined the same flame he had imagined into his other hand.

Nothing happened.

Feeling defeated, Bruce, in a last ditch effort- tried to push. He imagined pushing the thought into the artifact and then imagines the flame in front of him an-

"Ah-!" Bruce gasped as he felt something prickle on his other hand. Opening his eyes, he glanced at his hand and saw it- even though it was a small point sized blotch, he knew what it was- a burn mark.

Feeling happier than he had felt in ages, Bruce quickly wrote down the results on his notepad.

This was going to be long day-

Chapter Text

It only took Bruce about a week to master basic magic and move on to more complex tricks. Being able to shoot fireballs and water won't do shit for him if he couldn't figure out how to dimension jump with the thing.

Speaking about the artifact- Bruce soon realized that its shape was basically useless and inconvenient since it was a weird dumb looking stone shaped object. After learning more about magic through his previous experiments, he had gotten way better understanding magic and how to use it. He had even been able to read somewhere that artifacts of this power could change shaped depending on the wielder's will. After a few test runs Bruce could will the artifact to turn into a smaller stone.

Not really what he had been going for- he would have much rather have some convenient shape like a ring or a bracelet, but he had to make do. So he placed the much smaller gem-looking artifact into a pendant. It would be much easier to store it now as it would be hidden under layers of the Bat's armor when he was Batman and under his clothes when he was Bruce, unless someone was able to rip off Batman's armor or for some reason rip off Bruce's shirt off- the artifact would be safe with him and will always have a direct contact with his body.

Bruce accidentally missed even more patrols in the following month on the days he got so deep on the research and experimentation. Bruce hadn't felt so passionate since he had been designing his Batman suit and the thousand hidden compartments spread around the suit which could hold anything from handy batarangs to shark repellent.

He still vividly remembered those days- of staying up till late at night designing his suit and adding modifications to the batmobile and the batcomputer after a good night's fight. The league had taught Bruce martial arts and assassination techniques but it never taught him the dirty tricks thugs used on the streets. Every night he would come back beat up from a random low-kick or some sand in his eyes and almost give Alfred a heart attack each time. Falling from buildings fucking hurt so he made the grapple gun, throwing knives and daggers didn't really suit him so he made batarangs ("A dedicated furry indeed." Dick had put it once in his Robin days) and he swore he could hear Alfred trying not to laugh out loud when he had started practicing his gravely voice to intimidate thugs ("I don't understand how squeaking like a teenage girl could intimidate thugs, Master Bruce.") not to mention how many times he had tripped over his own cape-

Yea- we don't talk about that here. Nope.

Especially when he tripped in front of Poison Ivy that one time (Jason still to this day thought that that trip was intentional and an act as after watching that spectacle Ivy was frozen in shock for long enough till Jason managed to tackle her and catch her.)

Barbara and Kate didn't think anything was up, heck- they were happy that Bruce finally got it through his thick headed skull that he was also a human being and needed some days off and were happy for him to take some brakes in between and not running himself to a state of half-death each night. They also seemed to be plannig something behind their backs but no matter how much Bruce questioned them, they just smiled and said that its was a surprise.

"It's a surprise cousin." Kate had said with a smile.

"You just have to be patient." Barbara said with a mischievous wink.

Bruce found it weird but just shrugged it off as girls being weird.

By the time the month ended, Bruce had managed to use his artifact- now the pendent he wore under his clothes, as a storing device. He could store inorganic things like batarangs and his batsuit in there but for some reason he could never store food or water- even after immediately pulling out the food from the pendant it would come out spoilt, the same with the water. Well, at least that solved his problem on how he could bring his bat suit over- he didn't really feel comfortable in jumping into an unknown space with hi full Batman suit on- heaven knows what would happen if he were to teleport in that suit in the middle of a busy road or in someone's bathroom (though the latter would be embarrassing even if he were going as Bruce.)

After he was completely satisfied with the preparation he had been able to do, Bruce finally started tweaking with the teleportation mechanism. He guessed that teleporting with the pendent would be the same as using the Zeta tubes- WRONG! The first time he managed to teleport a meter away from his original spot, he barfed the entire contents on his touch on the ground the very next second. It felt horrible- it was like all of his molecules and organs were rearranging him from the inside every time he teleported. He would rather take on Bane without having any armor than go through that torturous process.

But Batman had already taken on Bane without his armor on many times and had even won a few times- and Batman was nothing if not dedicated.

So figuring out the teleportation took him longer than he had expected, not because it was particularly hard but because he felt like dying each time he teleported. Though it felt better as he got used to it but 'feeling like dying' - 1 still was 'feeling like dying'.

After he had managed his first successful attempt at teleporting without vomiting his insides out- he was done. It was not like he was gonna have any use of that outside of niche instances- Bruce was a fighter and a brawler, he wasn't a mage no matter how many magical tricks he managed to learn. He had already beat the universe's strongest creatures and magicians without any magic and just his suit. He didn't need any magic, it would just hold him back from his fighting style he had mastered on being batman for more than 2 decades. No amount of new magic could take over his tried and tested fighting methods.

Now came the hard part- the actual Universe Jumping itself.

From what teh wizard was spouting and from the last month's magic testing, Bruce was sure how to get it to work. But unlike the other magics- he couldn't practice or test it to test the limits and the toll it would have on his body. He would only get one chance and he had to make it count. Also, even though he knew how to make the stone travel through dimensions, he didn't know which one he would be teleported into. He would just be blindly throwing the dart on an giant map and ending up there. He also didn't know if he would teleport close to his counterpart or end up somewhere else in the universe. Heaven forbid if he managed to teleport deep in the ocean or submerged in lava. It would certainly be way to go.

But it was not like he had anything to lose... right?

After another week of making contingency plans over contingency plans over almost everything that could happen- from teleporting into a villain's lair to ending up in a zombie apocalypse, Bruce was finally ready.

It was only after Tim's reminder that the next day was going to be Bruce's birthday that Bruce realized that so much time had passed. Also Tim had been giving him a weird smile all throughout the WE meeting and even after he had later asked him about his odd behavior Tim just shrugged.

"Don't worry- it's a surprise." He had said with a smile "You have to be patient, B."

Bruce wondered what it was but just as quickly let go of the thought as he was much busier with planning his future trip. Coincidentally, the day he chose to finally travel between the dimensions- happened to be on his birthday.

Bruce woke up at 8 AM (record time for him, as he usually slept through the afternoons) that day and got ready in record time. Throughout his breakfast he kept his mind thinking of the infinite possibilities of Dimension travel so much so that he didn't realize that his phone had been suspiciously quiet the entire day. As it was his personal number, it was usually quiet but for a day like his birthday or some other random occasion he would get at least some messages from Barbara or Dick or someone else. But there was nothing, if he were his normal self he would have wondered if something had happened to his family but for the first time in years he was so distracted that he didn't realize the suspicious matter.

By the time he was fully ready with everything set and prepared it was about 10 AM and he was downstairs in the cave.

Bruce held the pendent tightly in hands as he went over the simple steps again and again in his mind to ensure that he did not make a single mistake and end up with half his body here and half his body there.

When he finally thought that he was ready- he took a deep breath and with determined eyes and then released the magic.

Instantly he felt the world around him warp.

And he briefly wondered whether or not he had just imagined the 'Bruce~!' coming from upstairs which sounded suspiciously like Dick's voice.

Huh...

Remind him later to write on his notes that during the warp one can hallucinate voices.

He also briefly wondered what the 'surprise' had been.

Chapter Text

As soon as the world around Bruce stopped warping, Bruce fell onto his knees from the sheer discomfort he felt from the warping. His insides churned and if not for his Batman training he was sure he would have just toppled over and vomited right then and there on that magnificent royal carpet-

Wait-

Royal carpet?

Bruce raised his gaze to find that he was somewhere in a long grand hallway that would put even the magnificent Wayne Manor to shame.

"Where the hell?" Bruce murmured as he groggily stood up and tried to take in as much of his surroundings as possible. The place felt less like a manor and more like a castle and there were royal insignia's plastered and hung on the walls which looked awfully just like-

"HALT!" A voice erupted from somewhere behind Bruce- Bruce turned to see a man dressed a soldier or more possibly a knight pointing at him with a weapon.

Fuck-

Completely forgetting his apparent dizziness, Bruce dashed to the other side of the hallway.

Bruce dared to look behind and saw more men chasing after him armed to the T with swords and lances and axes.

"Capture the intruder dead or alive!" The apparent leader of the group ordered.

Suddenly more men erupted from the other end of the hallway and since royal architecture was stupid- Bruce had nowhere else to run.

"Men, Capture him!" The leader shouted.

Bruce was trapped and he couldn't teleport because he was already half-dead right now and he knew if he attempted to teleport he would pass out and he would definitely NOT prefer to pass out somewhere random in an hostile environment when people with weapons where after his head.

Bruce's eyes quickly darted to the multiple windows at his right and he darted to one of them. The windows were sealed shut and were too thick to break through normal methods. Feeling the tug of the artifact around his chest Bruce let out a powerful shockwave, shattering the glass to dust in a circular field around him and pushing the advancing knights away. Using the new opening Bruce jumped off through the shattered window.

Bruce closed off his eyes as he prepared for impact of falling from god knows what floor but instead of falling ass-down to hard ground he fell over something soft?

"Ah-!"

Well, someone soft.

Bruce opened his eyes to look at the man under him. A large tall white man with black hair and shining blue eyes who looked awfully like-

"B?!" Clark shouted as soon as he saw Bruce. "What are you-"

But before Clark could finish his question the guards from above exclaimed.

"The intruder has broken into the Crown Prince's garden- Capture him quickly!" One of them shouted "No harm must reach Prince Kal-El!"

"Crap-" Clark cursed and then grabbed Bruce's wrist "Come with me." He whisper-shouted and pulled Bruce to whichever direction he was leading them to- which was apparently somewhere in the castle.

The logical part of Bruce screamed at hi for trusting someone who he knows nothing about and is most probably leading him to some trap to capture him or kill him- but the dumbass side of him, aka the one who hasn't seen Clark in ages, barely manages to hide his growing blush at the feeling of Clark's hands around his.

In the end- the dumbass wins. And Bruce quietly follows this universe's Clark like a moth chasing after a lamp- or well, in this case a bat chasing after a literal sun god.

They ran through another corridor until they stopped before one of the many doors.

"Come in quick." Clark ordered as he opened the door to what seemed like a master bedroom. Probably Clark's room. Bruce quickly went in after Clark who them swiftly shut the door.

After making sure that no one had followed them, Clark locked the room and then walked towards the windows and pulled the curtains. After he had done everything Clark walked to his bed and sat there with an exhausted sigh.

"Now tell me what you were doing there, B." Clark asked, looking at Bruce straight in the eyes. "You do know that the palace is dangerous. What would have happened if that was not me who found you."

"Fell onto you mean." Bruce snarked.

"You know what I mean."

"I would have escaped." Bruce replied, looking away. He peeked at Clark to see him giving Bruce the most 'I'm so fucking done with your bull-shit' look.

Clark sighed again- apparently this one does that a lot.

"So what were you doing anyways?" He asked "If it was some sneaking you needed to do you could have come in the middle of the night and NOT during the day and even then with your skills you would have been able to sneak around perfectly. And to top all that- you jumped off the freaking window from the third floor nonetheless!" He lectured as he ruffled his hair with his hands turning his hair into even more of a mess than before. Bruce suddenly had the sudden urge to snake his fingers through them- they looked so soft.

"I'm not your 'B'." Bruce said with his face ever so impassive.

"You are not what now?"

"I said- I'm not your 'B'."

Clark just blinked at him confused and little bit scared.

"What do you mean that you are not the B I know of?" He asked slowly, hand slowly reaching out for something on the shelf- probably a weapon.

"I am B from a different universe." Bruce explained, he avoided using his real name since it seemed like this Clark apparently didn't know Bruce's real name. Which crated even more questions than answers about this situation and the relation ship between this Clark and the other Bruce.

"I do not understand...." Clark said, confused. Forgetting about reaching for whatever weapon he intended to reach for.

"Do you know of parallel universes and dimensions?" Bruce asked, leaning onto one of the bedposts.

"No, never heard of something like that."

"Then I would probably have to explain it to you." Bruce sighed. "Technically, in short- there are many worlds out there. They are in a different plane of existence different from ours but at the same time similar enough to be called parallels. Those people in the other worlds who are like us are called our counterparts. And I'm the counterpart for your B and in my world I also have a counterpart of you."

"Okay.... how did you come here anyways?" Clark asked.

Looks like he's taking it well.

"Me and some of my friends were fighting an evil mage who had this artifact with him that could help him use the strongest of magic and he proclaimed that it even let him travel between dimensions. So I took the artifact after defeating him and started researching it and what do you know- I'm here now."

"Seriously?" Clark scoffed "Even a 5- year old could have made up a better story than this."

There goes my optimism...

"I'm telling the truth- it's not a made up story." Bruce tried.

"Magic does not exist outside of fairy tales, B." Clark snarked back. "Just reveal that it was all just a prank you made up to mess with me, and then we could finally move on."

Bruce sighed.

Then he focused his mind and willed the artifact against his chest towards the water jug empty glass over the table-top beside Clark's bed.

Bruce glanced at Clark's direction to see as how the other's eyes widened as he saw the jug and the glass float in the air and how the jug tipped in the air and poured some water into the empty glass and then how the glass floated towards Clark's hands and settled there in his grip.

"So..." Bruce started, slightly smug at his dramatics "Do you believe me now?"

Clark looked up at him and gave Bruce the brightest eyes- like that of a child looking at Santa in front of him.

"Oh my god- YES!" He exclaimed, almost dropping the glass from his hands in excitement.

"So now will you please tell me about this world and this world's B?"

"Of course I will- come on, sit down!" Clark squeaked happily and patted at the empty space on the bed beside him.

As Bruce sat down he could hear Clark slightly murmuring "I can't believe this is happening-!" under his breath.

Chapter Text

"Well let me start with my introduction first." Clark started "My name is Kal-El, I'm the crown prince of the Kingdom of Krypton which is the strongest and most powerful kingdom in the lands. My father is the current king of Krypton and my mother is the Queen, I also have a cousin names Kara- she is the Duke's daughter and one of the Generals just under the guidance of my Uncle Zod."

Bruce had a bad feeling about this- if this version of Zod was anywhere near as bad as the Zod of their own world, having that psycho at such a position of power would be disastrous.

"Tell me more about your so-called uncle." Bruce asked, voice flat.

"Oh- I'm happy that you asked!" Clark beamed "Uncle Zod is the strongest! He is said to be the best warrior that this Kingdom had in centuries, he has not come back defeated a single time since he was given the title of Marshal. He has brought our lands prosperity and wealth through his victories in war."

Prosperity? Wealth? Bruce knew more than enough about wars that they only brought sufferings to the land and its people and that it certainly didn't give someone all these good things without any sort of drawback. And all of this coming from someone who is like the Zod of his own world- it seemed way too good to be true.

"Which wars?" Bruce asked.

"Many, for the last few decades Krypton has been waging wars to the neighboring kingdoms to expand it's influence under none other than my Uncle's vision of a united world." Clark excitedly explained, with way too much shine someone was allowed to show when talking about wars- plural.

Bruce suddenly felt bile rush up to his throat and nausea hitting him.

Oh god- if what I'm thinking about is right, Zod is trying to take over the world even here and keeping himself in good graces of everyone else by glorifying war under a false goal.

"Tell me about some of them." Bruce demanded.

"Well... since there are lots of them- I'll just tell you one of our greatest victories in the last decade." Clark started. "It was when Krypton won the war against the Kingdom of Gotham."

Bruce's stomach sank.

"The Kingdom of Gotham...?" Bruce asked in a small voice.

"Yes, they were one of the neighbors of the original Krypton Kingdom ruled by the Wayne family." Clark answered, way too focused on his kingdom's 'glory' to realize that Bruce had turned 2 shades paler during the conversation.

"Tell me more." Bruce ordered.

"About the Waynes? Well, the head of the family was the Kinga- a man named Thomas Wayne. He ruled alongside his wife Martha Wayne who was his wife and the Queen."

Oh god... Bruce did not like any of this at all-

"What happened to them?" Bruce slowly asked.

Clark had the decency to lower his gaze in shame.

"They were beheaded after they lost the war..." He said, merely a mumble.

Bruce sucked in a sharp breath.

"That's one of the things I don't like about war... the deaths- even though everyone tells me that it's all for a good cause and Glory for the nation- I don't think that they deserved that end..." Clark sighed covering his eyes, "I know I shouldn't question all this or I'll be punished."

"Punished?"

"Yes, question the morality of the nation and it's choices is akin to treason and traitor to the Kingdom is publicly hanged in front of the people as an 'example'- I do not like it."

"If voicing these thoughts out loud is considered so taboo- why are you telling me this?" Bruce asked.

"Well... you see me and my B talk about this usually." Clark said, blushing. "He is man of his morals, you know. We usually have long debates and conversations about the ethicality of ruling a Kingdom with force."

Bruce listened attentively.

"He... well, he is very special to me." Clark blurted out- Bruce could see his ears turning a bright shade of red as the man spoke these words. "Before I met him- I couldn't speak my mind to anyone, never trusted them. Even though I am technically the crown prince- in front of the Kingdom's rules I am nothing. Once when I was a child, I saw the execution of the man responsible for one the local Dukedoms for voicing his opinions against the wars. That scene traumatized me for years and once I told one of my trusted childhood friends who was my guard and the one who I grew up with- later that night the knights barged into my room and I was presented against my Uncle- since I was the crown prince and what I had said was not entirely against the Kingdom I was let off with just a little punishment. Since that day I stopped trusting people around me no matter how much they tried to get closer to me- until I met you of course. Well, your 'counterpart' as you say. He was not shy of voicing out his disgust against the ways of the empire in front of me and with a strong steadfast personality like his- I was moved and I started agreeing with some of the controversial topics he talked about, the topics that usually the Kingdom would behead you and your family for even mentioning."

Bruce was astonished by the amount of love flowed and leaked out through the man's words.

"So yeah... since you are like him I guess I got side tracked and didn't realize what I was saying." Clark let out an awkward laugh. "But yeah... I trust B with my life... He is the most importnat person to me in my life."

Bruce expected to feel jealousy after hearing Clark's words or at least some negative emotions but all he could feel in him was warmth- this Clark really loved his Bruce dearly and was willing to sacrifice everything for him and trusted Bruce with his life.

Wasn't his own Clark the same- he spoke the same heartfelt words to him always while he caressed Bruce's head and snuggled closer to him in bed. Saying that if Bruce wanted- he's give him the moon.

And just like Bruce knew that this Clark was not lying about his Bruce- he also knew that whatever Clark used to tell him with those dreamy eyes of his, that was also true.

Where did we go wrong?

"Kal?" Bruce.

"Yes?"

"What happened to the Waynes? Where they all killed?" Bruce, as a matter of fact knew that not all of them were killed- since his counterpart was still alive and was apparently very close with this Clark.

"The Waynes were a small family- they only had one child, a son- his name is Bruce Wayne."

"What happened to him?"

"After the execution of his parents, my Uncle knew that killing him would not be beneficial for us so he gave the prince a small piece of land to rule over so that the people of Gotham who had just been taken over would not get too rowdy. But everyone knows that what uncle had done was basically exile since even though the land he was to be in charge of was large- it was dead. He was given the piece of dead land on the far north in the cold- where one can't even enter during the winters. The population there is poor and the land is brimmed with crime due to poverty."

"Doesn't your uncle fear that Bruce Wayne would rise a rebellion against Krypton for what it and done to his kingdom and his parents?" Bruce asked, he knew this world's Bruce was up to something seeing as though he was here in the capital city meeting up with Clark regularly instead of his cold desolated palace in the north.

Clark shook his head.

"Bruce Wayne is a cripple." He said, and after seeing the confusion on Bruce's face he explained. "It has been said that the cold in the north was too harsh for someone who had grown up in the warmth and humidity of Gotham that aggravated the symptoms of his chronic illness and he is bed ridden for life. He has not been seen in public for almost a decade now."

Bruce was right- this Clark did not know that his 'B' was the one and only Bruce Wayne. He was thankful that he hadn't introduced himself as Bruce Wayne to the prince and just went by 'B'.

But before Bruce could ask any more questions he felt his body being pushed onto the ground and a dagger against his throat.

"Who are you, Imposter?" The familiar dark grumble asked.

Bruce looked up to see that he was right- the one who was pining him down to the ground with a knife at his throat and glaring daggers at him was none other than this world's Bruce Wayne.

Well, fuck.

Chapter Text

"Tell me who are you imposter." B growled, his dagger cutting a small line on Bruce's neck threateningly.

"B! Let him go-" Clark shrieked.

"This is not me Kal- what the hell?! Don't you see two of us over here?" B accused, looking at Clark as if he had grown another head.

"I know that person is not you but he is you!" Clark exclaimed, trying to get in between B and Bruce.

B just looked at Clark in confusion which then turned to fury as he looked back at Bruce.

"What did you poison him with, you bastard!" He growled.

"I can explain." Bruce said with a calm expression. "I'm actually you from another world."

Okay so maybe Bruce shouldn't have started with that to someone who was as paranoid and distrusting as Bruce himself because the next second he saw the dagger being pulled up and slamming itself onto him.

Bruce knew that he didn't kill- but he didn't know if this B also had the same moral compass as him and god forbid he wasn't going not try that right now.

So Bruce, even though he already felt nauseous from all the magic he had used before teleported a few feet away from the couple near one of the walls.

"What the-!" B exclaimed, looking at the empty air in front of him and then turning his head up to his look-a-like standing there a few feet away from where he was supposed to be under his grip.

"I said-" But before Bruce could even start his explanation- he turned his head to what looked like a dustbin (please be a dustbin- he didn't want to vomit all over an ancient vase) and vomited all the food he had eaten from his breakfast a few hours ago.

The couple waited in half confusion and half disgust in B's case and half worry- in Clark's case until Bruce finished emptying out his stomach in the dustbin.

They stood there for a while in silence, no one speaking a world until B finally broke the silence with a-

"What the fuck-" He exhaled, and then turned to Clark. "I want an explanation right now."

"Pity you weren't listening when we were trying to explain it to you." Bruce snarked, he had wanted to act civil and politely to his counterpart but now because of him Bruce had to use more magic than his body was capable of using at a time and had vomited out all the food he had ate before- even the enchiladas, which were his favorite.

B just glared at him.

"No need to fight, please." Clark pleaded. "And B," He turned to B "I'm sure the other B can explain it better than I can since he is the dimension traveler and not me."

B looked at Clark's pleading gaze and sighed, he truly was weak to this man.

"Then explain." He order to Bruce.

"Well, like I said- I'm you from another world." Bruce started, then pointed at B "I can see you reaching out for something in your back pocket." to which Clark accusingly glared at B who then rolled his eyes and then finally put down his hands in front of him where Bruce could see them "Me and some of my... partners found a rare magical artifact from one of the bad guys were fighting which had enough power to let someone travel through dimensions. I was researching the artifact and its powers and that's how I ended up here."

"And expect me to believe that crap." B asked incredulously.

"You did see me teleporting in front of you just a few minutes ago. " Bruce pointed out to which B just glared.

"So? Why are you here then, even if I were to believe your bullshit magical artifact claim- can you tell me what you are doing here in this world?" B asked, suspicion and distrust reeking from his words. No matter which world it was- count Bruce to be the most distrusting bastard of them all.

"Like I said- I ended up here, I can't control which world I'm warped into."

"You know that's not what I asked." B said coldly. "Why were you trying to jump between worlds?"

"That-... That's a bit personal..." Bruce sighed.

"Heh- like hell I'll let you get off like that, for all we know you are trying to take over this world with your weird 'magic' and then warping to the next one to do the same." B said, rolling his eyes.

"Trust me- I knew another one who did just the same and got his ass kicked by me and my companions." Bruce scoffed, hell no he was gonna end up like The Batman Who Laughs- he's rather shoot himself in his dick. "And my PTSD from that encounter is more than enough to stray me away from any kind of plan to conquer the world for at least another five hundred years."

B still didn't trust him and kept glaring at Bruce who glared back with equal frequency and power.

"Come on, if his plan was to take over the world he wouldn't have been chatting with me for the last hour or so." Clark said.

"What he was doing was digging up information about this world and you from your bleeding, way too trustworthy heart." B called out, redirecting his glare towards Clark who at least had enough shame in him to look down in guilt "What if he was actually some evil wizard digging information out of you wearing my face, Kal?"

"I'm sorry..." Clark mumbled out and Bruce fondly remembered the exact same scenario he and his own Clark had gone through way too many times- Bruce reprimanding Clark for being too trusting to potential threats and enemies and Clark shrinking like a kicked puppy. After which Bruce would sigh and then shove his tongue in Clark's mouth- after which they would angrily make out not caring whether or not the traumatized Flash would walk into them again.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door-

Both Bruce perked up at the sound and turned to the door which was- thankfully,- locked.

"Your highness? It's time for lunch." The maid called out.

"Um- Can I have my lunch in my room later today?" Clark asked meekly, and Bruce wondered why Clark was acting so meekly towards a maid when he was a prince himself- but then remembered this was Clark, aka the man who apologized to trees regularly when he hit them. A part of Bruce had always wondered whether Clark had actually grown up in someplace like Canada.

"I'm afraid not sir," The maid calmly replied back, "Your uncle has arrived and he wishes to see his nephew and eat with him with the family."

Fuck- Zod was here.

"Okay! I'll be there in a bit!" Clark replied, looking worriedly at the two B's.

Both the Bruce's, sensing the danger, looked at each other and nodded.

"You go attend your fancy meal with your uncle Kal." B said, after making sure that the maid was gone and couldn't hear him- and then walked towards one of the open windows he had sneaked in through and glanced at Bruce "And I'm gonna take this guy with me. Friend or foe- everything will be much safer for everyone if he were to be under my supervision." after which he jumped off the window to a nearby tree.

"Okay.... but promise me not to kill each other while you're not here..." Clark sighed.

"Can't make any promises Boy Scout." Bruce said as he also proceeded to jump off the window to the nearby tree.

"... What the hell is a 'Boy Scout'...?" Clark asked but Bruce was already long gone to answer him so he just sighed, "Well, let's just hope it isn't something bad..."

After B and Bruce had gone far enough from the palace, Bruce finally spoke up-

"So.... when did you two start fucking?"

B almost fell face-down on the ground.

Chapter Text

"What made you think we are.... interloping in a sexual intercourse?" B stuttered out, face blushing.

"I mean- you two were ogling each other the entire time I was there-"

"EXCUSE ME WE WERE NOT-" B exclaimed.

"AND- since you two are similar to my world then I probably though that you two had something not-so kid friendly going on."

"You and your Clark are a thing too?" B raised his eyebrows to which Bruce winced.

"Yes... something like that..." He looked away. Seeing that the topic was a bit too personal and touchy for Bruce, B just hummed and walked towards the path that led down to the town square.

"Hey, you-" B called out after a while.

"Yes?"

"Do you know my name?" He asked.

"Bruce Wayne- I know because that's my name as well." Bruce replied, to which B just hummed.

"So-" B started, but closed his mouth after a while "You know what... nevermind."

"What is it?"

"Nothing... just a stupid question." B tsk-ed "You don't have to trouble yourself with that.

Bruce just looked at the slight melancholic expression on his counterpart's face and sighed.

"No." He said "They're dead in my world as well." Bruce knew that B wanted to ask about his parent's lives since this Bruce had also apparently lost his parents at a young age. He knew that if he were in the same situation, he would have asked the same question as well.

"Oh..." B murmured then turned his head away to focus on the path they were taking- the dirt path was opening into a larger stone road and in front of them was a small old Victorian town.

They walked in silence for a bit until B once again opened his mouth.

"How?" He asked, barely a whisper.

"They were shot." Bruce replied, voice empty and bland. "We were walking back home- dad thought that taking a shortcut through a suspicious alley-way was a nice plan. A mugger caught us and demanded our money and jewelry- and then shot then both. They died on the spot."

"I'm sorry to hear about this..."

"Don't worry- I know your parents have also perished."

"How?"

"Clark told me."

"Clark?"

"I mean Kal-El."

B's eyes widened.

"Does he-" He breathed, panic rising.

"No, he does not know you are Bruce Wayne." Bruce reassured and B sighed in relief. "Since he was only referring to you as 'B', I knew that something was up and that not telling my full name was probably a good idea."

"It was...." B said, "It's better for everyone if he doesn't know who I am..."

"Why?" Bruce raised his eyebrows.

"What do you mean- 'why?', you know who he is and what that means in our... whatever the fuck our relationship is." B sighed. "His Kingdom murdered my parents."

"His uncle did, not him- he even sounded sorry for their deaths." Bruce supplied but B just shook his head.

"No, you won't get it. I'm an exiled prince- and no matter what our 'peace treaty' says, we are enemies and talking to me will probably get his head chopped off in a guillotine." B kicked a random pebble on the ground in contempt, "As soon as he realizes who I am- he's gonna know what kind of threat I am to his Kingdom and the current aristocracy."

"But you already talk about these 'illegal' topics with Kal already, what makes you think that he's gonna turn on you after that?"

"Talking about those things and how you would reform this kingdom and it's current ways and the world with a commoner is way different that talking about that with an enemy prince who has all the reasons in the book to take revenge on your people and your loved ones and start a rebellion."

"Clark would understand..." Bruce tried to reason.

"No he won't!" B turned to look at him with fury in his eyes, "He does not get anything at all. He sits there in his palace all day and ignores the suffering of his people." B raised his hands and pointed at the town they were in "Look at the poverty the people live in under their dictatorship-" It was true, the entire town was run down and shabby even by Gotham standards. "To this day he believes that people are living in wealth and luxury from the countless wars his uncle has won over the decades. He does not care to go down to the same ground as that of the commoners and see for himself. He still believes that what is being done is for the good of all people, he does not even consider that continues wars over the decades has stolen from people its families and money and livelihood. He lives in a luxurious palace and thinks that the royal family is rich because the people are as well- he does not get the fact that the aristocrats are filing unbelievably high taxes for the people to become rich and live in luxury. He-!" He wanted to say more but stopped himself mid-sentence. "I'm sorry... It's just...-"

"You are stressed, I get it." Bruce nodded, "I should not have said these things without knowing the exact circumstances."

"No- no need to apologize." B sighed, "The more I think about it- the more I realize you are right... and that I should trust him more but- I just can't... I'm not ready to..."

"Then don't" Bruce simply stated. "Tell him when you are ready- just don't brush it off. He will get to know one day no matter what- it's your choice if he gets to know it from your own mouth or from somewhere else."

"You're right..." B ran his hand over his black hair.

"Also-" B started. "Thanks."

"No problem." Bruce smiled.

They walked through the dirty allies for a while until they reached a small inconspicuous looking pub.

"We're here." B announced when the reached the door. And then turned to Bruce, "Cover your face by the way." On seeing Bruce's raised eyebrows he explained, "We are meeting my... subordinates or partners whatever our relationship is- anyways, that's not the point- I don't want them to know your identity, it would only add more to the plate of things to deal with even though we have no time."

"So I have to cover my face so that they don't question why you have someone with you who looks exactly like you? I understand." Bruce nodded and then pulled out his necklace which was attached to the artifact.

"What's that?" B asked, pointing at the pendant.

"The thing that allowed me to come here." Bruce supplied and closed his eyes in concentration to summon a cloak and a domino mask from the inventory from the artifact.

As soon as B saw a large piece of cloth and a mask summon directly into Bruce's hands his eyes widened in awe. "That's the same magic. It's pretty handy." He hummed.

"It is," Bruce agreed, wrapping the cloak around himself and pulling on the hood and then covering his face with the mask. "Though I still haven't mastered it- all it can store right now is some clothes and anything non-biodegradable."

"That's still better than nothing."

"True," Bruce agreed and readied himself to open the pub door wondering who these 'companions' of B's were. "Also," He called out, turning his head to B's face "Show him-" He instructed. "Kal would understand if you show him evidence. He is ignorant- not cruel. Tell him about the plight of his people and he will definitely understand." He gave a small smile, "Trust people for once Bruce- sometimes the risk is worth it, I learned that a while ago as well."

And then he opened the door and his heart almost stopped as he saw who these 'companions' were-

"Father, who is this man?" The familiar voice huffed.

Chapter Text

"Who is this strange man, father?" Damian asked- well, more like 'demanded'.

"An ally." B simply replied nonchalantly, dusting himself off and taking his seat at one of the empty chairs in the pub- ignoring the glare returned by Damian.

"Father, please clearly state who he is." Damian huffed, crossing his arms over his chest in the prideful manner he usually did which Bruce had slowly grown to like over the years of knowing the boy.

"That's all you need to know Damian." B stated firmly, pouring himself a cup of water from one of the pitchers.

"I demand-" Damian wanted to fight but was cut off by one of B's glares, after which he shut up and looked downwards but still firmly holding his glare on his face and if looks could kill- Bruce would have been dead by now.

"B, Damian's right- if he's an ally we must know who this man is." Tim reasoned from his pirch.

"You just can't walk in here like you own the place and bring some random guy in without any warning, old man." The Bartender grumbled, and from his voice Bruce deduced that this man was Jason- and the owner of this pub.

"All right guys, we don't have to fight..." The man who looked and sounded like Dick tried to reason, even in a different world the young man was still the referee in their family arguments. "But seriously B, you can at least explain something about who this guy is and how you met him." He said, turning to B.

"Well, it's obvious that the old man's adoption problem kicked in," Jason scoffed, putting down a glass he had been polishing.

"That man is obviously not a kid, Jay." Tim rolled his eyes.

"Like that's something that can hold our dear ol' B back- I swear if he could adopt each person he wanted to we'd end up being brothers with a starfish at some point." Jason grumbled.

'Tt. Father isn't idotic enough to adopt a starfish and call it his son Todd." Damian scoffed, and then turned his eyes to Bruce once again. "I order you to tell me your name peasant." He ordered.

From the corner of his eyes he could Tim roll his eyes and grumble a small "There he goes again, calling everyone else a peasant..."

B just sighed.

"No Jason, he is not another one of my sons." B said, Bruce could B cringe at those words as he said the words, "He is... how should I put it..." B thought aloud "Someone related to me from somewhere far away- a distant relative if I should put it simply." Eh, close enough.

"So... He's our uncle?" Dick tried.

"Something like that."

"Then why is he wearing that creepy mask and cape like a weirdo?" Jason cocked his eyebrows.

"He has some... personal issues." B replied.

"'Personal issues' my ass...." Tim grumbled to which Bruce threw a 'Language, Tim!' which shut the boy up though he still kept his face distrustful.

After some more bickering B finally stood up and raised in arm to bring attention to himself which worked as all of the brothers shut up and looked at him.

"I'm going to lay some ground ruled here-" B started, "From now to an indefinite amount of time, this man-" He pointed at Bruce, "Will be a trusted ally and welcomed into the ranks as one and treated as such. You can ask him few questions but not on the topic of his origins or his connection to me. And none of you will try to unmask him-" He regarded all the kids in the room "And even if you try to, you will not be able to as he is as as skilled as me in combat." Bruce could see Jason, Tim and Dick's eyes raise slightly at that and a scoff from Damian and a string of words that sounded awfully like 'Like that peasant can take me or father down.'

"Am I understood?" B asked but it was more like a challenge- after seeing that none of the boys raised their voices again, he nodded and sat back down again.

"Um... B?" Dick spoke up and then pointed at Bruce, "Why is your not-son still standing there awkwardly?"

B turned to look at Bruce and saw that Bruce hadn't moved an inch since he stepped into the pub and was standing there stiffly like he didn't belong there- which yes, he didn't, but he was more worried about how his counterpart was so out of it to show his mental state to everyone in the room.

"What happened?" B asked, raising his eyebrows.

Bruce finally broke out of his daze and just gave a small smile- "Nothing to worry about, I was just-" He stopped to find the perfect word, "Overwhelmed..." He finished after a while.

Bruce surveyed the pub. Aside from his 'family', the pub was empty with no other customers in there, which was understandable since it was the middle of the day and places like these were filled with people mostly during the night. Jason was behind the table as a bartender, Damiana and Dick were sitting on one of the tables and Tim was sitting on one of the bar stools 4 seats away from B who was on another bar stool.

"Why?" Tim asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Its..." Bruce calculated the pros and cons to tell everyone the truth here but just limited himself to some half-truths, "It's been a while since I've been in the company of my... family..." He said the words like they just didn't taste right in his mouth. "It's a bit... weird." He confessed with a small, sad smile.

Bruce could B's curious gaze from the corner of his eyes- it was obvious from Bruce's tone and expression that he had not spoken any lies and really didn't want to share anything more about his 'family' situation so no one asked anything more.

"Come sit here." B called out, pointing to the seat beside him. After confirming that Bruce had seated himself beside him he turned his gaze to the rest of the occupants of the bar. "So can we finally start now?" He regarded the room and after seeing no one in opposition to him he nodded and turned to Tim. "Tim, report." He ordered.

"The messenger we sent to the Amazons and the Guardians came back with some good news-" Tim started.

And just like that everyone started methodically sending in the reports as if Bruce wasn't even there. Though Bruce could still see the Damian giving him occasional untrusting glares to his direction from time to time and could feel Jason's eyes burning his back from time to time.

Bruce kept quiet and took in all the information like a wet sponge and connected the dots from whatever he heard.

It seemed that not only the people under the tyranny of the Krypton family were angry but also the people and monarchs from the neighboring countries were also against the current way of things the Kryptonians were doing. Especially in particular the Amazons, who were currently being ruled by Queen Hippolyta and her council of mostly female advisors, and the Guardians who though were not actually a nation- but instead a separate body of individuals aligned to the church and the popes who seeked to bring Justice to the wrongdoers and protected the nations and their relations.

Though it seemed that it didn't matter how many nations were dissatisfied and/or against the Kryptonians. They had tried to fight back but each time no matter how big their armies were and how trained their soldiers were- the Krypton army, under Zod's command, were wiped away each time with a complete one-sided victory from the Krytonians' side. Zod was just that good of a military commander and a tactician. And the royal family was no use as well since they were essentially puppets to Zod who had an entire army of men who were loyal tom him rather than to the throne. It was basically a military dictatorship, and no one could do anything about it.

It also looked like Bruce of this world was especially highly regarded among the ones against Krypton- all the victories that the other countries had won over the years, even though small, were under his commandership. He had his own army of soldiers willing to go against the Kryptonians as the former people of Gotham and from the abandoned lands in the north were he was 'comatosed' at. And not only soldiers but normal people as well who were fed up with the current way of things and those who admitted that the times were better when the Wayne's were in charge.

Though its still didn't help that Zod was apparently a genius tactician and all fires of rebellion had long since been squashed by him with lethal force. And all other other countries were afraid of his strength.

But it seemed like after the fall of another Kingdom under Zod's army, everyone else was pissed and/or scared of Zod and where conspiring one last stand against Zod under B's commandership. But even after all that, the chances were low since Zod had an almost full victory streak.

But to Bruce this all seemed familiar.

"The winter." Bruce spoke after almost 3 hours of silence, bringing all the attention to himself.

"What is it? If you didn't get it through your head before, we are talking about some important issues here." Damian sneered, annoyed at the sudden cut-in from the strange man.

"No Damian, let him speak." B chimed in.

"We can use the winter against Zod." Bruce started, feeling a smirk on his mouth.

After all, this entire situation seemed awfully just like the Napoleonic Wars. From Zod's tactics, to his goals, to the situation of the other countries, heck- even the placement of the neighboring countries and the timeline matched perfectly. It seemed as though Bruce's world and this world was more similar than he had first thought it to be.

Bruce suddenly felt the urge to say the words "I told you this would be useful someday" to Dick who would always grumble how stupid learning history was and how useless it was to the day to day lives. A sadistic part inside him wanted to make more contingency plans and make all of his children mug up the entire world's history in case they fall into a situation like this.

Dick would have totally not liked that one bit.

Chapter Text

"Zod's method of warfare is based on rapid concentration of his forces at a key place to destroy his enemy, he is able to mobilize is troops quickly due to the fact that they don't rely on heavy supply trains instead of living off the land where they marched and his army is split into small corps with their own infantry, cavalry and artillery functioning as small armies themselves so as to not require backup and huge full army attacks all the time." Bruce started, "That's why they are so destructive- you cannot simply cut off their supply trains like normally which makes it harder to weaken him."

"Tt. Yes, we already know that you dolt." Damian snarked, rolling his eyes.

But B shut him off, "Let him continue Damian."

"That's why we draw him right into the heart of Bludhaven." Bruce said with an almost maniacal smile. Through their previous talk he had learned that the place this B was exiled onw as actually the kingdom of Bludhaven.

"What are you suggesting?!" It was Jason now who had cut in.

"Well, we all know that Bludhaven has the harshest winter climate." Bruce started, from the corner of his eyes he could see Tim's eyes slowly widen on the realization.

"And since his mean aren't used to and neither prepared for the harsh climate- they'd not be as effective." Tim murmured.

"But Zod isn't stupid enough to not realize such an obvious trap, he'd know that winter won't be any good for his army." Dick countered.

"That's why we lure him in, Tim- can you hand me over the map please?" Tim quickly gave the map to Bruce who spread it on the table and started again. "Firstly, we have to make him initiate a frontal attack directly at Bludhavem, make him think that we aren;t prepared."

"How do we do that?" Tim asked, eyes still focused on the map.

"Well, I'm sure no matter how free he has left Bruce Wayne and the people of Bludhaven- he is not stupid enough to NOT have a mole within the Dukedom." He looked up at B, "Surely you know the moles he has implanted into your rank right, Bruce?"

"Yes, he has set up many spies acting as the maids and servants in the palace."

"And none of them know of your actual condition?"

"No, only Alfred and my boys know of the falsified illness."

"Hm." Bruce considered, "Making them find out about the fact that the illness was staged from the start would not help as Zod would realize that Bruce Wayne was cunning enough to plan behind is back, which we do not want- the more he underestimates you, the better." He looked at B who just gestured him to go on. "Stage your recovery- send the message that Bruce Wayne has been cured of his illness and is back that will draw enough attention of Zod to you but not enough to find out anything else. Then create a dumb persona and show that you support Zod and The Krypon rule-"

"That will be awfully suspicious considering father's... past with them." Damian grunted.

"And that's what we want," Bruce smirked, "He'll know something is up if Bruce Wayne suddenly starts to lick the empire's feet and urge his moles to dig in deeper. Then proceed to act dumbly and like a coward and slowly build the image of an idiot in front of Zod."

"What will that do?" Jason asked.

"The more he thinks that Bruce Wayne is incapable of handling things- the less he'll think of ulterior motives behind his actions and find about about the plan. And then we'll leak the information that Bruce Wayne is going to start a rebellion."

"That's just handing out all the cards to him!" Dick exclaimed.

"No, that's giving him false cars, because Bruce Wayne hasn't started planning the rebellion- he has already started it and is working towards it, that is his army is already prepared for war which Zod would not know of, he'll still think of Bruce Wayne as a dumb rick kid trying to go against his back like all the other monarchs in the other Dukedoms and was so dumb that he let the news of his backstabbing leak out after which he'll try to attack before he thinks we are prepared- but we'd already be prepared for his attack giving us a high ground."

"We'll have made him underestimate our military prowess but in the end we'd still be able to do nothing against his battle tactics and his army." Tim said.

"No, the point is not to have a larger army than Zod, but to make him think that we don't have an ace up our sleeve." Bruce said, "If things go our way we won't even need a highly trained army."

"What do you mean?" B asked.

"First we'll leak the position of our troops near this border-" Bruce pointed at the place on the map, "And make it seem so it was only a training ground. But Zod will be furious and confident enough to send his army to take over the fortress so as to take us by surprise. Then, acting cowardly and as though they had been taken by surprise the army would then start to retreat back to the capital and then Zod will make chase thinking nothing of it."

"But as we said before, his army is fast- they'll catch up in no time." Tim said.

Bruce continued, "And then during the retreat the army would burn the land of it's resources."

Tim's eyes shined, "And then his men wouldn't have any land to live off to so they'd have to slow down for supply trains." He theorized. "And since he won't be quick- he'd won't be able to outmaneuver us."

"And then throughout the chase his men will suffer from dehydration, hunger and the cold and their strength will weaken considerably by the time they arrive at the capital of Bludhaven- where the fight will finally begin."

"And that's where we defeat his army!" Damian rejoiced.

But Bruce cut-in, "No, we lose."

"What?!" All of the four brother exclaimed, even B seemed confused.

"We give Zod the capital and give him the victory." B stated, a smirk appearing on his face as he looked at the stunned expression of the kids and his counterpart.

"So all of this just to give away Bruce's greatest trump card to just- LOSE?!" Jason exclaimed.

"No, this is where the fun will start."

Tim looked at him in confusion, "Huh?"

"After Zod will realize that he has won when takes over the capital he'll send a letter to Bruce for him to surrender." Bruce said.

"And what will tour reply be?" Dick asked.

"Nothing."

Tim looked at him in confusion, "huh?"

"We'll leave him hanging and not reply to his letter." Bruce explained, "Basically ignore him and his men waiting for the reply in the destroyed capital."

"But that will just strand them in a destroyed city hundred's of miles from the fatherland with no food or water in the middle of the region's harshest winter waiting until they-" Dick's eyes widened in surprise, "Oh my god- you're a fucking genius."

It was B who continued for him, "And by the time they realize this- It'd be too late." He looked up at Bruce and then to the map, "And then they'd start to retreat."

"And then the army we had hidden from him will pursue." Tim continued.

"And by that time, the Amazons would have more than enough time to march onto Zod's army from the opposite side." Bruce smiled.

"And Zod and his army will be too weak to properly fight off against both of us combined and lose." Jason smirked, "It'd be a one-sided massacre."

It was now Damian who continued, "And after hearing of the loss of Zod's army- the other nations which were covering in fear from Krypton would try to snatch at the chance to take revenge on Zod and show Krypton it's proper place." He smirked. "I like it."

"And then with a lost army and all the nations against you- there'd be no hope for Krypton." B stated and then looked at Bruce straight in the eye. "That's the most cunning and well thought of plan I've ever heard of."

"Oh my god, the old man's giving compliments- the world is ending." Jason said, dramatically looking up at the sky.

"But this is a good plan Mr. I'm-a-far-off-cousin-please-don't-ask-my-name." Dick smiled.

"By the way, what is your connection to father?" Damian spoke as he looked at Bruce's masked face. "I've definitely never heard of you from my father and if you're such a good tactician and planner mother would have mentioned you. But none of them seem to have spoken about you as if you have appeared out of nowhere but father seems to trust you a lot. What are you?"

B sighed, "Damian- I told you not to ask him about his origins or his name..."

Tim piped in, "But what should we call him, he should at least have an alias."

"Bat." Bruce said, "You can call me Bat."

Dick looked at him in confusion, "Why Bat?"

Bruce just shrugged- "Nothing, it just holds a... sentimental part in my life. That's it.'

"Sentimental? How?" Jason laughed.

"When I was young I fell into an old well in our manor which was actually an entrance to an old Batcave- since then I have had a phobia of bats." Bruce explained, finally sitting back down to his chair. "So to overcome that fear I call myself the Bat to scare my enemies."

"That's so freaking cheesy, I love it." Dick laughed and then sighed, "God- I'm hungry," And then turned to Jason and screamed, "Hey JAY! Please serve your loyal customers some food."

"You guys don't even pay," Jason rolled his eyes, but still started to pull out snacks and drinks. "'Loyal Customers' my ass."

"Aw- I love you too, Jaybird." Dick winked, much to Damian and Jason's displeasure.

Bruce felt fond at seeing them banter like this- they were exactly like how they were in his own world.

But for some reason he felt something was wrong...

His stomach churned.

But before he could excuse himself Tim sat down beside him.

"It seems like you truly are related to Bruce." He started, "Sorry for doubting you at first. But then I saw the way you held yourself and your plans and your knowledge- the connection between you and B was obvious. Both of you are so brilliant and perfect," and then murmured under his breath, "unlike me..."

"You are also brilliant Tim," Bruce reassured, "I could see your smarts just from seeing you talk with your brothers. It was also you who was the first one to understand my plan."

"But I'm weak," Tim said, and if Bruce didn't know better- he'd say Tim was whining and pouting like a cute kid. "All my brothers and Bruce are good at fighting but I'm super weak, even 13 year old Damian can win against me in hand to hand combat."

"But strength is not all there is Tim." Bruce said, looking directly at Tim. "Just today my plan didn't involve any strength but just plain 'ol tactics and I'm sure when you guys win this war you'll do the best as the Minister."

"Y-you mean it?" Tim timidly asked.

"Yes Tim, you are good as you are." Bruce said with a small smile making Tim look away blushing red in embarrassment. Bruce found it incredibly cute- it was just like how Tim of his universe would react to Bruce's praise whenever he handled his meetings well or worked hard as Red Robin. He wanted to be happy but something in his gut was making him feel sick. He had the sudden urge to puke-

And then Damian was in front of Bruce with his arms crossed over his chest in his signature way he did, Bruce half expected Damian to start throwing curses at him but he said something else. "I guess you aren't as incompetent as I had initially thought stranger." Damian stammered and then looked away to hide his burning face. "you did- you did.. good."

"Thank you Damian." Bruce smiled fondly and did what he usually did with his own Damian- he raised his hands and to pet his hair like he'd done so many times before. Unlike his initial thought of how Damian would react, Damian didn't try to bite off his hands just widened his hands and let out a small 'W-what?' and then let Bruce pet his hair.

Bruce wanted to enjoy this-he was finally able to pet Damian's hair after almost a YEAR and a half but he just felt even more nauseous.

Something was wrong...

Something was wrong-

THIS IS WRONG!

Abruptly, Bruce stood up from his seat and then excused himself to the door and exited the pub taking deep breaths of fresh air, trying to calm down the sick feeling in his stomach and trying to calm himself down.

After a few seconds, he could hear the door open and B standing there beside him looking at Bruce in worry, "What happened? Are you feeling sick?"

Bruce attempted to open his mouth, "I-" But he couldn't. He couldn't. He didn't know what he couldn't, just-

"No more." Bruce gasped out. "I- this is wrong."

Everything felt wrong-

"Explain." B ordered, looking more serious now. "is it any side effects from your magical artifact?"

No, it wasn't the artifact that was making him feel this way- this was something way more complex. So he shook his head in a 'no'.

"It's just- weird... meeting my- sons, here in another universe and treating them like this."

He couldn't stay here anymore.

He didn't know what he was feeling- he just knew he had to go.

"I- goodbye." Bruce blurted out, "I have to go now. Tell the boys that it was happy meeting them but I have to go now." Then he turned to B, "And remind them you love them- Clark and your kids-" Don't end up like me.

And before B could reply- Bruce used the magic stone and willed it to take him away and instantly the world around Bruce started blurring and spiral and before he knew it he was gone.

When Bruce felt the surroundings around him change, he felt light-weight and a pressure on his chest- when he attempted to open his eyes they burned and as soon as he got his brain functioning he realized he was drowning.

He tried to flail around and try to swim to the surface but he had used the complex magic from the necklace 2 times in such a short span and he couldn't even try to save himself from drowning.

And before he knew it-

He passed out

Chapter Text

Bruce could feel himself lying on something soft. He could still feel his lungs burning from almost-drowning and his entire body hurt from his excessive use of magic.

Lesson learned- next time, don't use dimension travelling magic without being in top condition.

After a few tries- he finally got his eyes to open. When he looked around he saw that he was lying in some kind of bed in some kind of room of hut to be more precise. He tried to sit up, but his entire body refused to cooperate- it wasn't as though it hurt- his muscles were just too tired and exhausted, so he gave up and stayed there in silence waiting for the person who saved him to come back.

He didn't have to wait much- "Oh, you're awake." Came a deep voice from the door of the small room. Bruce strained his neck to look at the man who was entering the cottage holding something in hands and he looked exactly like Bruce.

Bruce quickly raised his arms to his face and was relived to fin that he still had his mask on his face. No unnecessarily giving away your identity- even if it were your own counterpart, he didn't know if this one could end being another Batman Who Laughs.

"I don't know what you were thinking when you decided to swim in the ocean in the middle of nowhere with that highly inefficient and inadequate get-up." The other Bruce started, seating himself on the small chair beside the bed depositing whatever he was holding to the bedside table. On looking a bit more- Bruce could see that it was a bowl filled with what it seemed like some kind of porridge.

"You found me in the middle of the ocean?" Bruce looked up, confused. He could get the part that he was in the middle of nowhere- but had this Bruce managed to save him there in time when he was underwater?

Other-Bruce looked away a bit, "Not me, but one of my... acquaintances."

The way he said the word 'acquaintances' so awkwardly, Bruce bet that he was talking abut his kids. No one in this world or any other worlds make Bruce so awkward except for his kids- even with Clark he could keep a level-head.

Other-Bruce sighed again and continued after seeing no reaction from Bruce, "But that's not the point- what the point is is what you were doing there drowning in the middle of nowhere with a death wish."

"It was an accident." Bruce replied, which was- in fact the truth.

Other-Bruce jus gave him 'the look' and shook his head, "I know that the bounty for catching a mer is a lot but you shouldn't risk your life like that over some money." he went on but Bruce froze-

'Mer?' He wondered, 'As in, a mermaid?'

On seeing Bruce's confused expression other-Bruce cocked his eyebrows, "What?"

"What's a mer?" Bruce asked slowly, looking directly at other-Bruce in the eyes who had a look of disbelief in his eyes.

"...Don't tell me the drowning and almost dying messed up with your memory?" Other-Bruce deduced slowly, "This won't be the first time it has happened."

Amnesia- Bruce could work with that if he didn't want to reveal his identity.

"Can you remember your name?" Other-Bruce asked carefully, looking at Bruce's masked face.

Bruce shook his head in a 'No' and looked at Other-Bruce's face getting more complex and unreadable.

"Where you are from?"

Bruce once again shook his head.

"Anything relating to your identity?"

"No," He was lying out from his teeth.

"Anything in general?"

Bruce opened his mouth to reply a brief 'No' but realized that maybe that would be too much so he slowly said, "I remember I was... running away from something..." Which wasn't exactly false per say.

"Running away, huh?" Other-Bruce wondered aloud, "Well, that would explain the weird get up and the mask." he said eyeing him and giving him a look. He then looked to the bowl he brought and picked up, "Well, enough of that- you should eat. You've been out of commission for a while and you look like you're about to fall over and pass out any second." He said, offering the bowl and a spoon to Bruce.

Bruce reluctantly accepted the bowl and took a bite- or a sip, whatever you called eating soup. And it was no doubt-

This was one of Alfred's recipes. Even in another universe he could identify Alfred's cooking anywhere- even if he hadn't eaten his cooking for years now since the man had died. Thinking about Alfred had put a bitter taste in his mouth but he continued to finish his soup as he would rather die than waste any of Alfred's cooking. Using the time he was eating to his advantage and feeling some energy running back to his brain- Bruce started working out his situation and the Other-Bruce.

Bruce's Batman training had taught him a lot of things and even his Brucie Wayne persona had been crafted meticulously, from one spoon fill of the soup Bruce could see that the ingredients used in the soup weren't low-priced. Especially for someone who owned this run down cottage. So, definitely one of the many random cottages the other-Bruce owned. And considering that the cottage was single roomed- and there was no way Other-Bruce could stay here if he himself was lying on the bed, he definitely had some other real home.

Which made sense considering that he himself won't take in a random stranger to his home, especially one he knew nothing about- he'd probably dump him in one of his pent houses or somewhere else. No need to invite a potential enemy to his own home where his children lived (Emphasis on 'lived', since all of them had moved out by now). From this alone he could see that his other self was also well-off considering that even though he seemed to have been wearing a dirty shirt- he could still see that it was one of the expensive branded shirt he liked to wear not to mention that the Other-Bruce was looking through his latest model iPhone while Bruce was eating/drinking his soup. Definitely not what a cottage-owner would own.

After Bruce had finished his soup, Other-Bruce took the empty bowl from him and stood up, "I have something to do now- you should rest. You are looking like death all over." And with that he exited the cottage leaving Bruce alone with his thoughts.

Bruce wanted to get up and explore and find out more about his surroundings but his body didn't let him. He was already pretty tired and now that he had finally eaten something he body was going into sleep-mode. Normally he could stay awake for more than 4 days in a row with enough coffee that would make even Tim cringe but right now probably because of the excess magic he had used, he felt truly tired. So he decided to have a small nap to rid his drowsiness.

It didn't take long until he had completely fallen asleep.

When Bruce opened his eyes again after waking up- he was greeted with blue-green eyes staring right at his face over his head. Bruce held back his instincts to punch the person away and after looking carefully at the strange kid he could see that he was none other than-

An adolescent Jason Todd staring at him and glaring daggers at him from where he was standing on the chair and looking at him.

.

.

.

fuck

Chapter Text

Bruce barely stopped himself from yelping in surprise on seeing the young Jason's right above his own staring (correction- glaring) right at him.

After almost a minute of silence and just plane staring Bruce started, "Um... can I help you...?" He asked.

Little Jason glared harder at him but thankfully got the memo and jumped down from the chair he was standing on, but only after giving off an annoyed huff.

Bruce, who was feeling a lot better after a decent nap, sat up on the bed and looked at Jason who was still glaring at him with all his might.

"What's your name?" Bruce asked after a short while, of course he knew the boy's name was Jason but he had to get the boy to tell him his name himself in case he accidentally blurts it out when there was no way he should have known his name and that was not something he was willing to get himself into.

"What's it to you, old man." Jason scoffed and looked away, crossing his arms over his chest.

Bruce just raised his eyebrows at the rude behavior, but of course- it was Jason, so what was to be expected?

"Dad says I shouldn't talk to strangers." Jason said, looking at Bruce once again. "Especially ones with screws loose enough to want to go deep-diving in the middle of a mer-infested ocean."

"You are the one who approached me first and was creepily staring at me while I was sleeping." Bruce said back.

"I was just checking if you were up to something or not." Jason huffed and rolled his eyes.

"And that includes glaring at me while I'm asleep?" Bruce asked to which Jason blushed and looked away.

Seeing that Jason wasn't gonna reply to his snarky comeback, Bruce asked. "So, did you find something suspicious about me?"

Jason looked away, "No...." He meekly replied.

"Then does that mean I'm innocent now in front of your eyes?"

"No, that just means you haven't tried anything yet." Jason said.

Typical Jason- being suspicious of everything even without Bruce's training. That was one of the reasons why Jason was such a good partner with Bruce, he was quick and questioning and doubtful like batman unlike Dick who had been trustworthy and easy-going or Tim who was more of a detective and a computer geek than a fighter or Damian who had a violent streak to him and pride as well. That's why it was so difficult to compare all of them- they all had been completely different as Robins and handled completely different roles only they could fulfill. It was also one of the major reasons why there were so many fights between them as well- they all were jealous of what the other was better at. Tim with his smarts, Damian with his training and fighting, Dick with his charisma and Jason with his connection to Gotham's underbelly where he grew up in.

"So, any other reason you are here?" Bruce asked.

"Alfie said to give you this you." Jason replied, pointing to the tablets and the glass of water on the bedside table.

"Thank you very much for bringing them to me chum." Bruce said with a small smile, making Jason blush in embarrassment and turning away in an annoyed 'humph-!'

After making sure that Bruce had taken his medication, Jason put away the empty glass and the jug of water and then stared at Bruce once again. Apparently young-Jason loved to stare and glare at people- the older one only did the later part.

"I heard from B that you don't remember anything." He started, this time sitting down on the chair and not standing on top of it like before.

"Not anything just major parts like the reason I was in the middle of the ocean." Bruce easily lied, he had to work more on his story if he wanted to keep his identity a secret.

"What do you remember?" Jason asked, eyeing Bruce.

"I-... my family..." Bruce replied after a pause.

Jason's eyebrows shot up, "You family? Isn't that a good thing- you can remember them and get back to them and even if you don't the fact that you have a family means that they would be looking for you." He said.

Bruce looked away and suddenly found the lines in his hands very interesting, "No... I don't think they will be looking for me..." He murmured out, and it was true- well, as much as he believed it was. He doubted his family will know he was missing until many months later- he had an arrangement with Barbara and Tim, if he didn't come to work at WE then that means that something happened and they would automatically arrange a fake accident and give him leaves and reasons why he disappeared- all of the with no contact and no verifying where he was. It was super useful whenever he got gravely injured and had to rest in the manor and reduced him the task of calling Tim and doing everything by himself- though only after Barbara would verify that Batman had came back to the manor and no one had came in or out during that time- they couldn't leave him THAT unattended.

But considering the fact that Bruce had literally teleported away directly from the Batcave- Barbara would not know of his absence and write it off as an injury procured during a job. Only after a couple of weeks or a few months of radio silence will they start getting suspicious and start their search.

Jason stared at him with an unreadable expression and then lightly asked, "Is that why you ran away...?" He asked in a small voice not looking at Bruce.

"As far as I remember, yes." Bruce replied, he still had to run with the lie of being an amnesiac.

They sat in silence for a bit until Jason spoke up- "Also, I almost forgot, your food." He said pulling out a food container he had kept under the bed, opening it to reveal that it was filled with rich Chicken soup and most probably made by Alfred this time as well.

"Thank you, chum." Bruce thanked as he took the tiffin in his hands.

"...Jason." Jason said in a small voice.

"Hm?"

"It's Jason. My name." Jason said, looking away blushing. "I only gave you my name because hearing 'chum' from your mouth is cringey!" He exclaimed, ears red.

"Alright, Jason." Bruce smiled. "It's nice."

"What is? The food? Of course, Alfred is the one who made it- you should be grateful to have the privilege of eating Alfred's cooking."

"No- not the food, though it is indeed delicious- I mean your name. It's nice and it suits you."

"Stop acting like a creep- old man." Jason rolled his eyes. "And don't wear it out- my name is the best! It must not be used willy-nilly." He huffed in fake-pride, very much like Damian but toning down some homicidal tendencies.

"Whatever you say Chum."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Is Jay fine then?"

"Whatever..."

"Jay then."

Over the next few days Bruce was kept in bedrest, he wanted to get out before but Alfred who had kept checking up on him timely wouldn't allow that- it seemed like this and that Alfred were the same in every way. And during that time Jason was the one who came in regularly to talk to him- sometimes to do some tasks Alfred asked him to do or sometimes just to sit down and grumble about how stupid his B was.

It seemed like Jason didn't have any friends considering the fact that he found the company of a masked middle-aged man enjoyable, to which Jason had grumbled that he did have a friend, his name was Tim- he was the neighbor's kid but he had a sickly constitution so they couldn't play that much, especially when the seasons changed. But aside from him, Jason didn't have anyone else in his age range to talk to considering the fact that him and his Bruce lived in a literal island and there were very few houses nearby and that the place was for the rich and most rich people were old dudes.

This world's Bruce had also came in to visit a few times- the first one to tell him that they would be on the look-out for any missing person announcements to find his family as Bruce 'didn't remember their names or faces', the next few times he had came in to update him on the search, which was no leads obviously since Bruce's family didn't exist in this world but in another one, but whenever B came in to tell him that he would say so with a face full of pity and sorrow. Apparently they had deduced that Bruce's family was not that healthy and the fact that no one was searching for him meant that none of his family sacred to find the missing Bruce.

They had came into a conclusion that Bruce had run away from his family and in order to kill himself- had jumped off a cliff into the ocean where the waves had carried him away and that was how he had ended up in the middle of the ocean with no boat in sight and no gear on him to survive underwater. That was also why Jason and Bruce never pressured him to try to remember anything in case his amnesia was from trying to push in his traumatizing memories and the reason he wore the mask could also be some psychological issues or scarring on his face- and the reason why they never tried to make him remove it. It was not as if knowing how he looked like could help them finding his family, since no one was looking for him. Bruce knew all that was bullshit and fake, but he had to play along

Bruce also learned another horrifying fact from Alfred that Jason's biological dad had apparently committed suicide from jumping off a cliff onto the ocean when Jason had been a child and since Jason believed that Bruce had tried doing the same, he tried to give him his company and to make him feel less lonely.

B had given him a tablet with internet connection on it in case he got bored in the cottage alone when no one was there. Bruce had used that opportunity to find some useful information- apparently there was no Batman or Superman or Wonder Woman in this world- nor did any of the other Justice league exist, all heroes and villains were just normal civilians in this world. When he had searched up Clark Kent, he did find that the man was a reporter even in this world and apparently a few gossip magazines claimed him to be Bruce Wayne's latest fling as well.

Good to know that Clark and I are together even in this world, without Batman and Superman and the Justice League tying us together.

The other thing that had intrigued him were the mers. Bruce was obviously aware of the fact that mermaids exited- one of his friends was a half mer. What had intrigued him was the way Jason and Bruce had talked about them, like they were animals. On searching he found that mers were actually a lot different from the world where he was from. They were ferocious predators with sharp razor-like teeth and long claws to tear anything apart easily. They were also known to attack humans which caused humans to hunt them- thought Bruce could easily see that a mer feeling threatened when a human entered his territory and attacked him to save himself as self-defense was in no way a reason to call out mass extinction on the species. And many people saw that as well, they fought for mer rights and over the years due to their protests and riots mers were now considered a protected species- though still not considered worthy of human rights even though they showed intelligence alike that of humans and that they could speak if taught well- it was still leagues better than what they had before.

But that had led to another thing- many people thought that the scales and teeth of mers were a kind of panacea and when the hunting of mers was legally banned in all countries- the demand rose causing black markets to rise up selling mer parts at extravagant prices. This lead to illegal poaching of the mers and breeding rings to rise up to sell mer fangs and scales.

"Old man, what are you doing?" Jason asked as he entered the cottage.

Bruce switched off the tablet and put it aside as he greeted Jason, "Nothing just some reading around the internet." He replied.

"Whatever." Jason rolled his eyes, then looked at him excitedly "Also- Alfred said that you are now allowed to come out of bedrest. Wanna walk around the island together? I'll show you my super awesome tree house I told you about!" He recited.

Bruce was thankful that Alfred had allowed him the privilege of finally being able to move around again. But he had also realized that magical wounds were way different than physical wounds. Physical wounds could heal easily but magical wounds were a lot different- overusing your magical circuits could fuse your magical pores which took a lot of time to heal during which one could not even use his body correctly and the reason why magicians like Zatanna and Constantine always tried to hold back whenever they fought and when they did use their full strength, they would usually take weeks and months at a time for rest.

Zatanna had also once told him that there was once a guy who had overexerted himself so far that he had completely burned off his magical circuits and he was never able to use magic again no matter how much other magicians tried to heal him. Bruce would have to keep that in mind considering the fact that he didn't want to get stuck somewhere in a different universe with no way to get back to his own or some way to survive when he would essentially be as useful as a half-burnt fish on land.

He could admit that using interdimensional magic twice in a day coupled with energy blast and psychokinesis- was extremely risky and dangerous even though he knew that it would probably lead to something bad. He was thankful that he had arrived in a world where he had been able to find help immediately rather than somewhere hostile. He was The Batman, he should have been more prepared- but at the same time, he didn't know why he had escaped off so fast in the last world. Something about seeing his kids there and interacting with them had churned something unpleasant in his stomach.

"What are you doing? Come one!" Jason called out, forcing Bruce to snap out of his trance and try to get up. It was easier this time, though he could still feel some of his magical circuits twitching inside him, still in the process of healing.

When he stepped out of the cottage he was almost blinded by the bright sun- he hadn't seen the outside in a week, his eyes were still getting used to the light when Jason once again called out to him.

"Come on you slow-poke! My tree-house is there!" He shouted, waiting for Bruce as he stood there in the sand- paying no attention to the bright sun harshly hitting his skin. Though Bruce was sure that Jason was used to the sun as he had lived here his entire life.

As soon as Bruce managed to catch up to Jason- Jason grabbed Bruce's wrist and pulled him towards the inland densely filled with trees and vines- like a tropical forest.

"Be sure not to step on a snake though- there are many of them here." Jason warned, "But since I am a grown boy- I am not scared of snakes~" He puffed out his chest proudly.

And as he was too busy singing his own praises about his bravery, he didn't realize that he was face-to-face with a snake hanging from one of the tree branched until it was right in front of his face.

"EEP-!" Jason squeaked, letting go of Bruce's wrist and falling into the river they had been walking alongside.

Noticing that the snake was just a harmless non-venomous snake and that the river Jason had fallen into was only a few inches deep, Bruce allowed himself to laugh.

"Where did your bravery go, Jason?" He snaked, smirking at the boy.

But Jason didn't laugh with him.

He didn't even start grumbling.

Or throwing insults.

"Jason are you alright?" Bruce asked worriedly, thinking that Jason might have hurt himself- so allowed himself to look.

Jason's face was filled with pure and utter terror.

Bruce was confused for a second until he looked a bit lower as saw-

"Oh..."

A tail. Like that of a mer.

"Jason... are you-"

But before he could ask anything he was cut off by Jason, who was now looking at Bruce with eyes wide and filled with horror.

"Don't tell B."

Chapter Text

Bruce and Jason sat on top of the treehouse Jason had wanted to show Bruce, but a heavy air of awkwardness lay around them. The walk to the treehouse had been just as awkward and silent, Bruce had wanted to ask about what had just happened and about the latest reveal that Jason was actually a mer but looking at how spooked the kid looked, he held himself back hoping that the kid would start to explain by himself without Bruce pressuring him to do so.

His hopes were fulfilled when finally Jason opened his mouth and broke the silence in the treehouse cabin.

"My father was a human," He started, looking far off at something at a distance- eyes unfocused as though re-living past memories, not so good ones too considering the entire melancholy that radiated from him.

"But you are a 'Mer' right?" Bruce asked, confused. "How can you-"

"Let me finish old man-" Jason rolled his eyes, then pause for a while more. "My dad... he was a fisherman. He told me stories about the big beautiful sea and all the marine life inside of it. He always used to tell me stories about his adventures in the ocean like getting trapped in a storm and what not." He took a deep breath, "one of them... was about how he met my mom..."

"So your mother was..." Bruce prodded, leaning a but in front of his chair listening intently.

"A Mer, yes" Jason answered softly, "Apparently she somehow got caught in one of my dad's nets and that's how they met and fell in love apparently." He scoffed, "It was dumb love, dunno if it was even reciprocated considering the fact that right after giving birth to me my mom went ahead and jumped into the ocean to never come back." Another long silence. "It was just me and my dad when I grew up, he used to keep telling me about my mom and how beautiful she was and how he loved her so much. I used to ask him when she would come back- he always replied with the same thing, that one day she'll return."

"Did she ever?"

"Nope." Jason shrugged, "It seemed like she never had any plans to return to me or my dad and had decided to run away once and for all after my birth. Maybe she realized that love with a human, a species that hunted their kind would not end well- or.. you know, after seeing me born she realized what a freak she had created and-"

"You are not a freak Jason." Bruce instantly cut in, voice and face serious and firm. Listening to all this was tough, especially because he was Jason, even though he wasn't his own Jason- he was still a version of his own Jason he loved and loves very much. Hearing him go through such pain and have such negative thoughts about himself was disheartening.

"I am tho-"

"No, you're not." Bruce repeated even more firmly.

"Look at me! I'm neither a human or a Mer!" Jason stood up and pointed at himself. "I'm not something that should have been born!"

"You're not a thing Jay." Bruce also stood up, towering over Jason's smaller figure.

"I'm- I am-" Jason had tears in his eyes by now, "My existence shouldn't even be possible- I looked through so many studies about Mers and their reproduction and how its different from human reproduction- science says its not possible for a human or Mer to have the other's offspring. I was a mistake by nature itself-"

"No," Bruce said firmly, but a bit softer now. He walked closer to Jason who was now full on crying and wrapped his hands around him in an embrace. He couldn't remember the last time he had ever hugged someone, he was too touch averted to allow people to get close to him and the people who were close to him were too awkward around him or straight up hated him to do anything even remotely closed to something so intimate. He couldn't even remember the last time he gave Clark a hug and he wondered if that was the point of their relationship when everything had gone wrong and that the last few months they had just been deluding themselves thinking that the spark between them hadn't died down and that they- no, no- he wasn't going to think about that now. Not now, he could wallow in his self pity sometime later when he was all alone. Not now, not here, where Jason needed him. He had to hold himself strong. "You're you Jason, not what the world says you are or how science says your existence should be. You're just a cute kid who loves exploring and adventuring the islands his dad owns and is passionate about his likes and dislikes and likes to help Alfred with his chores."

Okay, maybe this wasn't the best comfort he had ever given to someone, but it definitely wasn't the worst.

"Then why did she leave me..." Jason whimpered against Bruce's chest, hugging him tightly, burying his face into Bruce's clothes- trying to hide his obvious tears on his face. "Why did they leave me?!"

"'They'?"

"My mum and my dad. He-" Jason hiccupped, "After he finally realized that mom wasn't coming back to him anytime- he... he spiraled. He started drinking, and started taking drugs- he wasn't Dad anymore. I hoped that one day he would go back to how he was before and start taking care of me again, but I was just stupid to hope that because next thing I knew- he walked right out of our small house saying that he'll finally reunite with my mother in the sea again and then proceeded to jump off the tallest cliff he could find into the ocean. They found his body the next day, washed up at the shore- half eaten and left completely disfigured by the Mers."

"I-" Bruce struggled to say something, provide comfort. But he had always been bad at emotions, not ever since his own parents had died in that alley way by a no name thug. But he knew that empty same old words like 'I'm sorry' and pitying the other were no use and would just anger Jason as they had angered him as well. And him and Jason were really too much alike. "That should never ever had happened to you Jason. You should have had a happier childhood, your parents should never had abandoned you- truly, they missed out on taking care of such a cute kid like you."

"But I'm a monster- I-" Jason sobbed.

"Hush, no more of that- I will not allow you to call yourself or refer to yourself as anything less than what you are."

"Then, why did they leave me?" Jason asked in a quiet voice.

"Because they were assholes." Bruce simply replied.

"But my dad was nice at first-"

"Yes, at first, but then he changed because he couldn't cope with his own feelings and status of being rejected and took it all out through self pity and chemicals and started chasing after something he never had and would never get and ended up ignoring the happiness he did have and ended up leaving him." Bruce took a deep breath, "People make... bad choices Chum. It's not your fault that your parents left you- it theirs and theirs alone- it was their choice and even if they left because of you, it's not your fault. They decided to shift their own shortcomings and failures in life onto a kid who could barely fight for himself and just wanted his parents' love. Even if they never loved you- you do have people who love you now, doesn't Bruce pamper you and shower you with love every day? Doesn't Alfred keep making you those cookies which are bad for your health just because you smile whenever you eat them? And there will be more people you know- in the future. Life may seem lonely now- but it will get better. I- I know, I've lived through it."

He bitterly remembered his early days, the years right after his parent's murder. How empty and sad and angry he felt. He deluded himself into thinking that he needed no one, ran himself dry until he would pass out thinking that no one out there would worry about him. He had even left- without saying anything, leaving everything behind, his past, his origin, his life, Alfred. He had came back years later even more empty with what the league had taught him and how Talia had betrayed him, drugging and raping him. For months and years later he was just a walking ball of anger and hate, just something that wanted to end crime. His house had never seemed so big and empty before. He convinced himself that human relations were something above him, when he was just wallowing in loneliness and solitude.

But then Dick happened, it was awkward between them at first- he didn't knew how to take care of others let alone parent a literal child but he taught himself. Re-learned human emotions and for what felt like (and probably was) decades he finally smiled- a real, genuine one and he had never felt that high of happiness before, never after his parents had died. He opened his heart and allowed himself to feel. When the source of his happiness left, he could feel it- that big hole in his chest, the loneliness he had thought he had left far behind, just like the emptiness from his parents' death, but this one was fresher than ever and his fault too.

No wonder he imprinted on Jason so fast after that, Dick called it the 'Empty nest Syndrome' and maybe it was that, maybe Bruce did just want a partner beside himself, to fill the hole in his heart again and Jason had been perfect.

Of course life happened-

he lost some people

he got some people

and then he got Clark

and he was happy

truly

truly

Happy.

His life had once looked so dark and alone once, and he had thought that was it- that was how he was going to live away the rest of his life from then on- in solitude and he was genuinely fine with that, but then his kids and lover showed him something more. The feeling that someone was going to be there waiting for him when he came back home, he tried to get less and less injured, tried to live more of his life as Bruce rather than the Dark Knight of Gotham.

And maybe that's why when all this was ripped off away from him yet again in an entirety-

"Old man, you there?" Jason asked, breaking Bruce from his inner thoughts.

"Yes, I'm here Jason." He patted the boy's hair a few times just because he could, his own Jason never allowed this kind of intimacy with him anyways, might as well-

Suddenly he felt a bit sick in his stomach.

"Please keep this a secret..." Jason asked in a small voice, prying himself away from Bruce's chest and looking him dead at his eyes which were now swollen and red from all the crying.

"I was going to ask about that too-" Bruce started, "Why did you ask me to not tell Bruce about it?"

That was definitely something he was curious about, this world's Bruce Wayne was like him and didn't seem like such a bad guy, heck without the entire Batman thingie going on, he must have had an even better moral compass than his own.

"You..." Jason looked at him, exasperated. And then gave out a long sigh, "You seriously don't know anything huh?"

"What do you mean?" He tilted his masked face

"It was all over the news when it happened you know, probably the entirety of this nation knows about it- even international if they are interested in the Wayne Foundation's affairs." Jason drawled out.

"About what Jason?" Bruce asked again.

"About how B's mum and dad died."

Bruce flinched at that and it seemed like Jason saw that too but decided not to comment on that and brush it off as a normal reaction to how one would react if they heard a story about someone dying.

"They... B and his family was in a cruise ship you know- when he was a kid. In the middle of the night they went out to look at the ocean and sea gaze and something or the other happened, the couple fell into the sea and... the Mer ate them." Jason looked down. "All in front of B."

Bruce stayed quiet, trying to process the information.

"His parents were killed by Mers, he was orphaned because of what one half of my kind did-" Jason chocked out with a sob, "If he- if he knew about... this-" He waved at his legs which had been a long beautiful tail only about an hour ago and continued, "Him kicking me out would be the best case scenario, and the most generous one, I'd probably get killed or sold at the black market for my body parts- or heck, a lab- where they would push and prob at me like some kind of guinea pig and experiment on me. He'llabandonmehe'llabandonmeBwould-"

"Jason breathe." Bruce cut in, holding Jason steady and helping him calm down.

"Please don't tell him, please don't- pleasepleaseplease. He can't know- He-" Jason's breathing started staggering again.

"It's okay Chum, I won't tell anyone, now just take a deep breath and calm down." Bruce instructed.

"Yeah, yes... I'll do that-" Jason agreed and tried to focus on Bruce's breathing to clam himself down, he could feel Bruce's body pressed against his own in a calming embrace and he felt safe- just like how he had felt that time B had held him close to his chest after he had accidentally woken him up from a nightmare.

After a while when he had calmed out and the atmosphere once again quieted down, but this time with a lot less awkwardness in the air Jason finally opened his mouth and whispered a small 'Thank you' which Bruce wouldn't have heard if not for them being so close to each other.

Bruce smiled and patted Jason's hair again, "anytime son."

Jason was too tired and exhausted to realize that Bruce had just called him 'son'.

By the time they got back to Bruce's cottage, the sun was already setting down. When they neared it- they saw Alfred.

"Ah, there you two young gentlemen are, I was searching all over for you two." Alfred scolded with a strict yet soft tone.

"Sorry Alfred, just wanted to show the Old Man my super secret base- couldn't have let you and B know about it." Jason cheekily replied, he had already recovered from his crying earlier. They had spent the rest of the time hugging and then Jason finally could show him his treehouse and the places around it and his super secret stash of candies there Alfred should totally never know about.

"I understand, although I wanted to see you two for a different reason." Alfred started, "Master Bruce has summoned everyone including our guest to the main Bungalow."

"Why?" Bruce asked.

"Master Dick has returned."