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Waking up next to Bruce is a treat.
It doesn’t happen often, seeing as the commute from the manor to his office is a nightmare. Of course it doesn’t help either that Bruce has to leave in the middle of the night or never makes it home in the first place.
However, waking up to Bruce this very morning is more of a shock than any sort of treat.
Because Harvey knows that Bruce has other partners, but that doesn’t mean he was expecting to be reminded of it in quite this way.
“Oh. Good morning, Harvey,” a whisper comes, soft and careful. “I’m sorry if I woke you up.”
“No. No, it’s—” Harvey shimmies around, glances at the red lights of the clock standing on the bedside table. 4:27 A.M. “It’s fine. Nightmares. I usually wake up a few times a night.”
He yawns and blinks, tries to rub the sleep out of his eyes. When he looks back at Clark, he’s still got that look on his face. Slightly guilty but also curious; worried but like he’s happy to be here.
“But what are you doing here?” Harvey asks. At this time of day, he doesn’t have the brainpower to use gentler phrasing. He’s sure Clark can deal with the roughness of his words.
“Geez, I really am sorry,” Clark replies, flustered.
“I can’t believe this either but I couldn’t help it,” he says, which really doesn’t explain anything.
Confused (and doubly so because of how tired he is), Harvey lifts his head and tries to infer a reason for Clark’s being in Bruce’s bed from his physical appearance.
While Harvey is snuggled up to Bruce’s right side — arms curled around his biceps and one leg thrown over both of his — Clark only has one arm thrown across Bruce’s chest, hand splayed out above his heart. It’s too dark to make it out but Harvey can guess that Clark is flushed. Beet-red, most probably.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t tell him anything about why he’s here. However, the explanation comes before he can do so much as drop his head and ask.
“I need my partner’s touch. It’s something about the specific warmth, I think. It’s a Kryptonian thing.”
“Kryptonian thing?” Frequent nightmares or not, he’s too tired to make himself sound like any semblance of smart.
“Yes, a mating bond. My species takes ‘till death do us part’ a little more literally when it comes to the partners we choose. And, well, the bond means I need Bruce’s touch a lot, but you know how he is. So he knows that I end up sneaking into his room every once in a while to just… touch him.” Clark sighs and Harvey can only sympathise with him. “I try my best to work it around his schedule, but I can’t always account for my body’s needs.”
Harvey nods. And thinks. He nods again but then squints his eyes at Clark.
“For needing his warmth, you aren’t very close to him right now.”
There is no reply forthcoming for a while until…
“I didn’t want to impose.”
Self-sacrificial superhero. Of course. Thankfully, that is one thing Harvey knows how to deal with. He simply grabs Clark’s shoulder and pulls him in closer. And when Clark’s body is pressed against Bruce’s other side, Harvey smiles.
“I don’t want to impose but could you wake me up at six if you’re still here by then?”
Clark chuckles at the question but returns his smile. “Sure thing. I usually leave around that time anyway.”
“Thank you, Clark.” He yawns again and closes his eyes.
When Clark answers this time, his voice is quieter than before. Sweeter, even. “Of course, Harv.”
At the sound of his nickname, Harvey’s heart starts beating fast.
And suddenly, as they lie there with their shared love between them, Harvey wonders if maybe, one day, Clark will have that bond with him too.
(In his tired state, he doesn’t remember that Clark can hear everything. And for a while still he won’t know that the racing of his heart makes Clark’s own race too.)