Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I don’t agree.”

“Of course you don’t,” the taller of the two men sighed. Sure it was the reply he was expecting and the response he was used to getting, but regardless, it still didn’t make hearing it any less frustrating. Resisting the urge to shout, he simply frowned back at the other man not exactly sure what it would accomplish. The reward for his effort was a flat expression and an even more insipid reply.

“It’s reckless.”

Blue eyes flashed with obvious annoyance, but his tone came out much more pleading then his gaze. “It’s not reckless. It’s just a plan that leaves room for a few unknown variables, but if anything goes wrong, I know we can handle it.”

Although his opponent’s tonal countenance never once changed, Clark was sure his super hearing detected a bit of disparagement in Bruce’s reply.

“The truest characters of ignorance are vanity, pride, and arrogance.”

It took nearly all of the Clark’s resolve to stifle back a groan. “Oh don’t give me that line again. I already memorized it.”

“And yet here I am repeating myself again.”

An amused laugh escaped Wally’s lips. Until now, he had just silently watched the scene unfold from the other side of the table, but once it started escalating into impassive bickering, he could no longer contain himself.

“Uh oh, looks like Ma and Pa are at it again.”

“Be quiet and pay attention,” Shiera barked. Even if she had already long since tuned out Superman and Batman’s tiresome debate, hearing Flash’s self-satisfied voice was somehow even less bearable for her.

This only earned her a deeper grin as Flash leaned back in his chair and smiled up at her knowingly.

“Why? You and I both know this meeting will go on like this for another 20 minutes with neither Bats nor Supes paying any mind to the rest of us. Stubborn ol’ Pa will never cave and Ma will eventually give up and come up with some lackluster compromise that neither parent will really be happy with. Then they’ll both go off and sulk about it, we’ll do the mission, one of them will end up in a life or death situation since the new plan will be substantially inferior to the two original ideas, one of them will save the other by the skin of the neck, and then they’ll kiss and make up.”

Shiera met Wally’s proud smirk with an not so amused frown. She then shook her head, although it was less from the inaccuracy of his account and more due to his frankness.

“You really are,” she started before the sound of a hand slamming down onto a table stole her words.

“NO! I’m not going to back down this time!” Superman shouted, his insistent voice echoing louder than his fist. “I know I’m right about this. For once why can’t you just trust this team’s abilities and trust my judgement?”

The hall was a mix of both shocked and horrified faces. Half the room was in disbelief that Superman’s seemingly impenetrable patience had been lost, while the other half waited in fear of Batman’s retaliation. Regardless of the reaction, no one in their right mind dared to disrupt the confrontation. That is everyone but a certain speedster.

“Well, that’s different,” Wally murmured. “He just pulled the trust card.”

Although the hero was speaking mostly to himself, Sheira couldn’t help but look in the direction of the only person bold, or rather, stupid enough to speak. She then started to make a move to reprimand him, but decided against it after looking at his face. Although his smile had not faded, it had transformed into an uneasy shape.

A few more painful moments of silence passed before Batman suddenly stood from his seat. He clenched his jaw before directing a narrowed gaze toward the table. This slight movement caused Superman to inadvertently look down as well, giving him a perfect view of Batman’s tightly griped fist.

“Fine,” the vigilante gritted out through a more than strained voice. “Do whatever you like. Just don’t involve me any further.”

The wiser half of Clark’s mind told him it was time to make amends, his stubborn determination, however, had other plans. Clark was typically the one to cave into Bruce’s demands, but this time he decided he would not falter.

“Works for me,” Clark replied in the most nonchalant voice he could muster. “Meeting adjourned.”

Once the words were out, an immediate feeling of remorse began to surface. Clark quickly looked back up in the direction where Bruce should’ve been standing, but the dark hero was already long out of sight. The damage had been done and there was no taking it back.

“Whoa. Didn’t see that coming,” Wally chuckled with a tone as incredulous as his wide eyes. “Ma and Pa know better than to go to bed angry. It’s bad morale for the kids.”

“Would you shut up?” Shiera groaned, already regretting the fact that she had resisted the urge to smack him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Okay, so does anyone have any further input on the situation?”

Superman scanned the hall. Several heroes verbalized their agreement while the rest gave a mix of indifferent or approving nods.

“Alright, then on to the next agenda.”

“Well this is awkward,” Wally mumbled uneasily. “I can’t believe those two still haven’t made up.”

Shiera gave the worried looking hero a questioning glance, and then, against her better judgement, took his conversational bait. “What are you going on about now?”

“Don’t you think something is off about this meeting?”

Shiera glanced in the direction of the silent Batman. Although it was always hard to read his face, it was apparent his attention was completely on Superman who was now fully engaged with briefing everyone on the latest mission. Both heroes appeared perfectly calm.

“No, not really. This meeting is actually going pretty well.” She shrugged. “Minus one big mouth commentator.”

The corner of the Flash’s mouth turned up a bit at the last statement but then instantly flattened back down.

“That’s just it. Don’t you think it’s going a little too smoothly?”

Shiera made no attempt to reply to Wally’s comment. She wasn’t exactly sure how to respond as she wanted nothing more than to disagree but couldn’t find the words to dismiss the unsettled feeling washing over her.

“Alright, meeting adjourned.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“And that’s the plan. Any suggestions?”

Superman eyed the crowd in search for any opposition. It wasn’t until he locked eyes with one dark hero that he briefly paused. Batman stared back at him expressionlessly. Thoroughly convinced no one disagreed; Superman directed his attention back to the projector and continued on with the meeting.

“Well this is just kind of sad. Ma is really trying here.”

Shiera let out an exasperated breath. “We really need to do something about these assigned seating arrangements.”

“No, I’m actually really worried now,” Wally exclaimed his tone uncharacteristically candid. “It’s been three months since those two had their big fight, and they still haven’t made up.”

Troubled thoughts once again returned to the back of Shiera’s mind, but she quickly dismissed them.

“You are reading too much into it. They had one disagreement; I’d hardly call it a fight.”

“No, you have to admit, something is different. Sure Supes is the chairman of all our meetings, but usually Bats steps in and takes over, which Superman is absolutely fine with. It’s his way of getting Batman to indirectly take over. Yeah, I’m sure Batman is fully aware what Superman is doing, but it’s the unspoken arrangement that works for everyone.”

“Truue.” Shiera replied realizing she had held the syllable longer than intended. “What’s your point?”

“So my point is when is the last time you heard Batman say more than three words at our meetings?”

Once again Shiera was at a loss, and her mind was now racing with several thoughts she would’ve preferred to ignore.

“Sure it seemed like just a little disagreement, but something in Ma and Pa’s dynamic has changed.”

Shiera glanced over at Wally’s worried face. She then opened her mouth to speak, but was once again interrupted by familiar words. “Meeting adjourned.”

Shiera looked back in Wally’s direction and immediately noted his troubled countenance had been replaced with a puckish grin.

“This problem requires a little outside interference.”

“Maybe that’s not the best-” Shiera warned, but her companion was gone in a flash.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Batman, wait up!” Superman called out. Before concluding the meeting, Clark had made an extra effort to keep his eyes on the vigilante, but at the last second, had made the brief mistake of blinking. This was probably due to the fact that Batman had whipped his cape just before retreating from his seat. An intentional distraction Clark now realized he’d fallen for on more than one occasion.

“Yo Bats, just the man I needed to talk to!” Flash beamed while perfectly blocking the side exit Batman was attempting to use.

Batman’s eyes flashed with barely noticeable surprise before they were immediately replaced with a stern frown. Wally resisted the urge to laugh as he realized Batman had been so distracted by his attempt to dodge Superman, he had actually missed the speedsters appearance.

“So there was something I was hoping you could help me figure out,” he continued to exclaim so loudly that even heroes without super hearing heard him.

“Flash, I don’t-”

“Batman, I’m glad I finally caught up with you.” Both Flash and Batman turned towards the distraught looking Superman.

“Oh sorry, am I interrupting?” Superman’s shock at Wally’s presence was evident from his wildly blinking eyes. This time Wally couldn’t contain his laugh causing both heroes to look at him with mild confusion. There was no way he would let them know it was because he could now boast that he’d gotten the slip on both of them in a matter of seconds. A feat he had attempted and failed to do countless times but was ironically able to accomplish now that he wasn’t trying.

“I was speaking with Flash. He said he needed my help,” Batman replied without even making an attempt to look in the alien’s direction. Instead he continued to glare at Flash; partially due to his questionably proud smirk, but mostly because he was the source of his thwarted escape.

Wally laughed nervously while directing his gaze anywhere but towards the glowering crusader. It wasn’t until he spotted a gaping Shiera, that he devised his plan of retreat.

“Actually, never mind, Hawkgirl is over there scowling at me and I just remembered why. I completely forgot I promised I would help her right after this meeting. You know how she gets if you keep her waiting. Maybe you can help me some other time?”

Batman opened his mouth to speak, but before Flash could find out if it was to protest or to scold him, he dashed off towards a baffled looking Thanagarian. Taking a bit longer than usual to watch the speedster be reprimanded by Hawkgirl, Batman finally turned towards the silent yet anxious Superman.

“What do you need? I’m busy.” At his cold tone, Clark’s smile faded.

“You’re always busy.”

Batman merely raised a brow in show of his complete disregard towards the other man.

At this point, Clark had to reach into the very depths of his patience to restrain an edging frown. Trying to match Bruce’s attitude would never help him get his point across.

“In any case, I have been trying to talk to you for a while, but you keep avoiding me.”

Batman crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged. “I’m not avoiding you.”

Clark slowly closed his eyes. For some reason, no longer staring at the source of his frustration did wonders for his resolve. “Don’t give me that. I know you have been avoiding me, and I know you are still mad at me.”

“Why would I be mad at you?”

At this impassive reply, Clark’s eyes immediately flashed back open revealing a shade of utter disbelief. “Really? Why do you have to be like this?”

“Be like what?”

It was apparent to both men that Clark was now on the verge of shouting as his reply was both a mix of stammering and controlled rage. “Like this. Like, just so, so passive aggressive!”

Bruce took note that Clark’s voice had raised at his last point. He, however, had no desire to provoke him any further. Instead he let out an irritated growl. “Superman, I told you I was busy. I don’t have time to argue with you.”

For a moment Clark just looked at Bruce in stunned silence, but in an instant, both his face and his voice dropped in intensity.

“I don’t want to argue with you either;” came a worn-out sigh. “I just, I’m just tired of things being this way between us. I just wanted to talk with you and fix this mess.”

“There is nothing to fix,” Bruce replied frankly. “You asked me to trust your judgement, and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

A flash of realization overtook Clark’s once tired face. Bruce instantly regretted his words as he realized he had revealed more than he had intended.

“I knew that’s what this was about,” Clark exclaimed. “I didn’t mean to lose my temper and go that far, but, those were just my honest feelings, and sometimes you are just so infuriatingly stubborn, and I wasn’t sure how else to get my point across, so I...”

Clark’s voice trailed off upon noticing the uninterested look on Bruce’s face. Not only was he losing his audience he was also getting off point.

Realizing this, Clark closed his eyes, and swallowed on the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat. After a brief moment, Clark recollected himself and gazed back at the dark vigilante with a look so pure and transparent Bruce couldn’t help but falter at the sight of it. Something about Clark’s tired defeated smile perfectly publicized what the other was about to say.

“Look,” Clark murmured just barely above a whisper. “I guess what I’m trying to say is-”

A familiar chirping sound abruptly interrupted the moment. At this point Batman wasn’t sure if he was more relieved or upset at the bleating. Taking a short moment to examine Superman’s startled yet disappointed face, Batman finally acknowledged the communicator.

“Batman, Superman, we have a situation.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“On your left, 9 o clock!”

Upon hearing the warning, Flash dodged the giant amorphous blob coming at him. He then made a dash towards the cackling assailant who had directed it at him.

“Ah, ah, ah, not so fast,” the man laughed. He then threw his hand up causing the black substance to lift up like a wave twenty feet into the air above Flash before instantly barreling down over him.

When they had gotten the call that a swamp like creature was robbing the New York Federal Reserve, they weren’t sure what to expect. When they had arrived, it was exactly what had been described. A giant pool of unknown substance that could probably fill an Olympic size pool was devouring everything in its path.

Luckily everyone besides the authorities had evacuated the premises. Shots had been fired at the formless glob but had proven ineffective. When one policeman willed enough courage to approach it, he was promptly knocked away with so much force, he was sent flying into the air. Luckily Superman had arrived just in time to catch the aerial officer.

While the heroes were being briefed on the situation, Batman had picked up a strange signal from outside the building. Upon further investigation they found a suspicious looking man huddled over a computer that happened to be hacked into the bank’s security cameras. When Superman went to question the man, the black blob immediately bursted through the building and rushed the unsuspecting hero sending him flying into a neighboring building and eventually leading the heroes to their current situation.

Somehow the unknown criminal had the ability to control the blob at will. Narrowly missing the wave crashing over him, Flash double backed towards the direction of Batman who was now perched on a nearby fire escape examining the aggressor.

“Any idea what this is?”

“No,” he replied calmly before firing his grapple gun. Flash’s eyes widened when he realized why. He then dashed off in the opposite direction Batman had swung narrowly missing the second wave that smashed into the fire escape.

“Nice warning!” Flash shouted while waving an angry fist at the vigilante.

He then redirected his anger towards the source of the attack running at full speed towards the enemy. The criminal gave Flash a superior smirk before directing another flood toward him. He was then surprised when Flash suddenly stopped and winked at him. It was at this point Superman dove from above. Catching a glimpse of red cape in his peripherals, the man whipped his head up in his direction. The wave that was once barreling towards Flash shot straight up into the air and collided with the airborne hero. It was at this point Batman swung down from the opposite direction and threw a batarang straight at the assailant’s head. Unfortunately the man became privy to this attack as well and swallowed the batarang up within his formless shield.

“Is that the best you can do?” the man laughed triumphantly, but was immediately surprised when the batarang detonated. The force of the explosion sent him toppling over backwards giving Flash the perfect opportunity to dash toward the man and grab him.

“Umm, guys what do I do with this guy here?”

“Toss him!”

“Hold him!” came the in unison command. Batman and Superman immediately turned and looked at each other.

Once their eyes met, Superman looked back at Batman with a questioning glance. Batman made a strange sound under his breath before nodding his head and muttering. “Never mind.”

“Batman!” Superman growled.

“Come again?” the confused Flash yelled. “Which do you, ACK!”

Before the last statement could be made, the blob engulfed Flash and the man. Superman’s eyes widened in horror before Flash was launched out of the glob and straight into the air. Superman instantly dashed towards the plummeting speedster and caught him. He then placed him on the ground and glared at Batman. “Now is really not the time for this, don’t you think?”

Batman looked back at him, but made no move to reply. It was clear he was deliberating something over in his head. Superman, however, was out of patience for the heroes newly found attitude of passiveness.

“Batman, it’s obvious you have some kind of plan.”

Batman finally nodded before pulling out his grapple gun and swinging away. Superman was about to protest with of slew of words ranging from “immature” and “petty,” but luckily Batman spoke up before he could form them. “I want you both to rush him at the same time.”

“Really!?!” Flash exclaimed.

“Just trust him,” Superman encouraged as he patted the wide eye hero on the shoulder.

“Well, as usual, I don’t really have much of a choice,” he muttered. He then waited for Superman to gesture he was ready before both heroes charged the attacker.

The man smirked arrogantly at them. He then brought both his hands up in the direction of the stampeding heroes causing the black mass to shoot towards them.

“So just keep rushing?” Flash questioned nervously. He groaned when he realized the motion Batman was giving him was a signal for the word yes. He then cringed before a batarang whizzed past him.

“I knew you were going try that again!” The man shouted.

At this he halted his assault on Flash and Superman, and swatted at the batarang while simultaneously launching a small projectile mass straight at Batman. Unable to dodge in time, Batman blocked or rather caught the goop with his left arm. It was at that exact moment the batarang made contact with the blob. Although it had solidified in a way that knocked the batarang away, the instant the metallic blade touched the glob an electrical pulse went off.

Suddenly the entire black mass froze as it was surged by a charge of electricity, unfortunately so did the small bit that had hit Batman, causing both him and the glob to light up.

“BATMAN!” Superman shouted. He then immediately stopped rushing the assailant, and flew towards the plummeting hero. Apparently the shock had been so great Batman had lost consciousness and was now falling off the landing he had been standing on. Once he caught him, Superman ripped the still electrified glob off of Batman ignoring the pulses that shocked him in the process.

Flash was about to head towards them as well, but realizing Superman had a handle on the situation he instead turned towards the man and glared. A panicked sound came from the robber. He then lifted his hands up, but his amorphous weapon was still lit up and frozen by electricity. Realizing this, he turned his body in an attempt to run, but was immediately clocked in the face.

He stared at the ground stunned for a moment while holding his bruised cheek before the blob suddenly stopped lighting up and fell to the ground like a pool of water.

“His hat!” came Batman’s strangled shout.

Realizing what Batman was instructing him to do, and also glad the crusader was conscious again, Flash immediately knocked the wool cap off the man’s head revealing a small metallic band on the inside.

“NO!” The man shouted as he made a grab for the hat earning himself another punch to the face.

“Batman, thank God you’re okay!” Clark exclaimed with genuine relief spread across his face. Bruce eyed him wryly as though expecting to ward of an oncoming hug, but instead the other hero just smiled back at him brightly. For some reason that was worst.

The vigilante nodded in reply. He then attempted to stand to his feet, but the remnants of his previous shock nearly caused him to double over. Superman immediately caught the dazed Batman by the shoulder and steadied him in place. Batman considered brushing the helping hand aside, but decided against it. It was probably best for him to wait till his head stopped spinning first.

“So he was controlling that swamp thing with this?” Flash questioned as he held out the confiscated headband.

“It appears so,” Batman replied almost breathlessly.

“Good catch, but I guess it makes sense considering how well timed those attacks were.”

Flash continued to examine the device, the scientific wheels in his head turning with an almost questionable delight.

Realizing Bruce was no longer shaking, Clark released his grip on the man’s shoulder. He knew if he held it there any longer, the other hero would more than likely brush it away. It was at that point he realized there was a strange sensation on his wrist. He thought he had imagined it, or it was an after effect of the electric shock he had taken earlier, but now an unsettled feeling told him it was probably worth further investigation.

Clark inspected his hand, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe it was just an aftershock then again this wasn’t the first time the man of steel had been electrocuted, so this feeling still came off as a bit unusual.

Clark then looked over at Bruce, who was now rubbing at his own wrist. He didn’t seem as concerned over it, but he was also currently preoccupied with questioning their newly caught assailant.

Not willing to shake the feeling off as mere paranoia, Clark finally resorted to using his x-ray vision.

“What is this? My wrist…”

Batman suddenly felt a pair of disseminating eyes on him. He looked over at Superman who was staring at his hand and frowning. Before he could question the other hero, Superman looked up at him and replied.

“I think we have a situation.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So what’s the diagnosis, Dr. Palmer?”

Superman stood over the man who now had his face pressed harder against his microscope than was actually necessary. His excitement at what he was examining resembling that of a kid on Christmas.

“Remarkable, I have never seen anything like this before,” Ray exclaimed as he continued to adjust his lens settings without once removing his eyes from the scope. After several more moments went by with him making elated sounds and forgetting that he had just been asked a question, Clark politely cleared his throat.

Palmer tore his attention away from the petri dish, and gave Clark an apologetic smile before replying. “You were correct to come to me. These are definitely nanomites.”

“I was afraid of that,” replied a deep voice from the corner of the lab. Batman had been silently watching the two heroes from the shadows waiting on the conclusion he had already made. “Superman already tried heat vision, and I tried electromagnetic pulses, but it would seem neither has been effective. Once the nanomites are destroyed with heat, they simply regenerate and electricity only seems to temporarily disable them. ”

“It doesn’t appear that they are doing anything, but I am definitely concerned that they won’t leave our wrists.” Superman added while raising his hand in the air and looking it over. “What could be their purpose?”

Dr. Palmer’s smile faded and was replaced with a mask of concern.

“I think I have an idea. Let me ask a question. Since the discovery of these nanomites, have you two been together this entire time?”

“Yes,” Superman replied. “Flash turned in our mystery robber to the authorities and is currently questioning him, and Batman and I arrived here in the Javelin.”

“I thought as much,” Ray mumbled. He then stared at the ground in silent thought before motioning towards Batman.

“Batman, why don’t you leave the lab for a minute?”

Bruce raised a brow at the doctor. Ray smiled reassuringly back at him. “Trust me. This is a bit easier than a verbal explanation.”

Although a bit hesitant, Bruce complied. He knew all too well that things weren’t always best explained in a vocal manner. He made his way toward the lab exit before stopping just a few feet shy of the door.

“Is there a problem?” Superman questioned as he noticed Batman’s posture suddenly tense up.

“Yes, there is,” Batman replied. Although his voice was even it was anything but calm.

Now Clark was even more confused. “Did you forget something?”

“No.”

Clark cocked his head to the side, taking note that Bruce’s reply was more a growl than a response.

“Is something wrong?”

“Yes. I can’t leave,” Batman grounded out as he lifted his wrist into the air.

“Oh…OH!” Clark gasped realization hitting him hard. He then attempted to bring his own hand up to examine it, and was confused when he was met with a bit of resistance. Not thinking much of it, considering the opposition had been minuet, he forced his hand up.

Wait, I wouldn’t-” Ray cautioned, but the warning came a second too late. Before either caped hero could react, Batman came barreling towards Superman. Luckily Clark responded in just enough time to readjust the position of his hand and caught the flying vigilante. There had been many circumstances in the past where Superman had caught Batman with ease. So it was understandable that he was literally thrown off balance when Batman crashed into him with the force of a small locomotive.

Clark felt his face go flush when he finally recovered from the collision. He had somehow kept a firm hold of Bruce so that the he had absorbed a majority of the impact, but the position they had landed in was a little less than flattering for either man. Clark had managed to at least fall in a sitting position but now had the dark hero wrapped firmly in his arms by the waist with Bruce’s head nuzzled in the curvature of neck. The majority of Bruce’s body was sitting in Clark’s lap with his knee resting between his inner thigh and crotch. It also didn’t help that Bruce was still a bit dazed from the impact causing him to sit in the position long enough for Clark to panic over whether to keep holding him or not.

When he finally came too, Batman’s embarrassment over their position was quite evident as he quickly pushed Superman away and leaped to his feet.

“I’m so sorry. I had no idea that would happen,” Clark apologized somehow feeling as guilty as a teenage boy who was just slapped for copping a feel. He then tilted his head up in an attempt to use his superior height to hide a faint blush before looking at Ray with genuine confusion.

“I mean, what the heck is going on?”

Though he wanted to believe it was his imagination, it appeared to Clark that Dr. Palmer’s face was also a shade darker.

Ray also turned his face out of view, before clearing his throat for and replying. “I was afraid that considering the differences in your strengths something like this would happen, but that definitely confirms it. These nanomites are part of a colony of sorts, and for whatever reason, they are designed to never be more than, oh, judging from the size of the lab, 10, maybe 15 feet apart from each other.

“WHAT?” Clark exclaimed he then looked over at Bruce who looked equally concerned.

Ray nodded before sitting back down at his work bench and fiddling with his microscope again.

“In addition, as you just demonstrated, if a strong force is exerted to bring the mites apart, they will use a force of equal magnetic strength to drive themselves back into range.”

The room fell quiet. Ray hadn’t expected a raving response, but the silence was unnerving. Eventually Batman cut the stillness.

“Something about your hypothesis is slightly incorrect because as it stands right now, I can’t get more than three feet from Superman.”

“Oh, is that so,” Clark questioned before motioning his hand forward. Feeling a bit of resistance he started to jerk it up before he was suddenly stopped by an angry warning growl.

“Don’t even think about it.”

Clark’s eyes widened as he realized what had almost happened. “Oh yeah, good catch.”

Ray gripped his chin with his hand and began to hum to himself before he finally brought his thoughts together into words. “Maybe since Superman exerted such a powerful force the strong magnetic power field that was generated as retaliation is still in effect. Hopefully after enough time has passed it will reduce in strength.”

Batman’s expression was hard to read through his cowl, but it was evident to everyone it had changed to a pained shape.

“Tell me you can remove these.”

Dr. Palmer’s remorseful smile gave the vigilante little comfort.

“I will try my best, but this is definitely something I am not completely familiar with. I have a few more extraction methods we can try right now, so let’s keep our fingers crossed.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So the good news, I was right about the magnetic effects wearing off. It took an hour, but it would seem you two are back to your ten foot limitation.”

Neither Batman nor Superman looked very relieved. It was obvious what both heroes were actually waiting to hear. Reading their faces perfectly, Ray got straight to the point.

“The bad news, I still am not any closer to figuring out a way to remove the nanomites.”

Ray paused for a moment waiting for some kind of reaction. When there was none, he continued on with his explanation bringing up a few pictures on a computerized projector. He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to do this, but he hoped in some way a complete understanding of the situation might give the two heroes some kind of solace.

“Luckily Flash was able to go back to the site of the attack and collect some sample nanomites that do not appear to be of the same colonial strain that you two are infected with. So I will at least be able to run more test without you two having to be here in the lab with me.”

Batman stared at the projections and seemed to be in thought. It was actually Superman who finally decided to say what was on everyone’s mind. “So what you’re saying is that we’re stuck like this?”

“It would appear so.”

“And you have no estimate as to how long,” Batman replied.

Although it could’ve have been translated as an inquiry it was obvious Batman had said it more as validating statement. Regardless, Ray still felt the need to reply as if he were answering a question.

“Unfortunately, no, I’m sorry I can’t be much more help at this time. I guess it would seem you two will just be together for now.”

“Perfect,” Clark groaned.

To Be Continued…

Chapter Text

“It was stolen tech from Professor Ivo’s lab, another item that Lexcorp conveniently failed to report missing until now.”

Flash paused for a moment expecting some kind of reaction. Both Batman and Superman made no reply and merely stared at him expectantly. At this point his news was the least distressing thing the two heroes had heard that night.

“Unfortunately for you guys, Mr. Swampmaster does not know how to reverse the effects of the nanomites. He just found the tech, saw the advantages, and turned to a life a crime.”

There was still no response. Flash let out an impatient sound. The lack of reaction he was getting was a bit unnatural and somewhat disappointing. Not exactly sure what to say to his suddenly mute companions, Flash debated on leaving the men to their examination of the ground.

Eventually Batman spoke up. “In other words, Atom is probably our most likely bet when it comes to getting rid of these things.”

“Yeah, but I’m sure the professor will have it taken care of in no time. So until then, you two have plenty of bro time to look forward to.”

Batman glared murderous intent at the smaller man.

Wally laughed in reply, “Kidding.”

Batman’s gaze did not falter and now even Superman was giving him a reproachful head nod. Wally laughed again, but this time it was a mix of nervous panic. The hero never knew when to keep his mouth shut, but he knew exactly when it was time to make his exit. “Well, it’s late, so I have to get going. Let me know if you guys need me to check up on anything else.”

“Thanks…” Superman replied before giving Flash a weak smile. This was all the assurance Wally needed as he made a hasty retreat.

After watching Flash dash off, Superman ruffled his hands through his hair and let out a defeated sigh.

“Well this is just great. I’m already treading thin ice with Perry considering all the work I’ve I missed due to league missions that send me to God knows where for days and weeks at a time. I can’t remember the last time I used vacation time for its actual intended purpose.” Clark made a pained face as though he'd just gotten a visualization of something unpleasant. “But there is just no way I can show up to work tomorrow with the ultimate Wayne accessory dangling from my wrist. I hate to do it, but I will probably have to fake an illness in the family.”

Finally settling on his plan, Clark shook himself out of his inner turmoil and looked back up at Bruce. “So what’s the plan from here? Should we just stay at the tower till this is resolved?”

Clark turned in the direction Bruce had been standing only to notice he was already making his way out of the lab.

“Wa-wait where are you going?” Clark stammered as he chased after him.

“Home.”

Clark took a moment to interpret Bruce’s words before replying, “Your home?”

“Yes, I have patrol soon.”

“Patrol?” Clark exclaimed incredulously. “Did you forget that we are basically joined together at the wrist here? Don’t you think patrolling Gotham can take a rest for a night?”

Bruce stopped just shy of the exit. He then started to type something on the computer attached to his gauntlet before turning to address the ever patient yet irritated Clark.

“Yes, I’ll admit, it would be troublesome having you patrolling with me, not to mention how suspicious it would look, but that’s not exactly what I meant. In any case, I don’t plan to wait this out at the tower. It’s...disruptive.”

For some reason the sound of Bruce’s blasé voice was seriously annoying Clark. As usual, Bruce had already concocted a plan that Clark had been no part of.

“So you automatically decided we will just be staying in Gotham?”

“Yes,” Bruce answered frankly.

Suddenly Clark could hear the sound of the Batwing. He looked up in the direction it was approaching before turning back to Bruce who was now walking outside. It took the majority of what little resolve Clark had left to resist the urge to yank his own hand back. Instead he just muttered something in Kryptonian under his breath and followed behind.

“So what makes you think we wouldn’t be better off in Metropolis?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Bruce chortled before jumping into the Batwing.

Clark clasped his wrist with his left hand as though it was the sole thing keeping it in place.

“I guess it wouldn’t have anything to do with me being a single man who lives in a shoebox apartment?”

Bruce let out an exasperated breath before replying. “It’s because I’m a single dad and for practicality sake, I live in a mansion with plenty of space for an unexpected house guest.”

For some reason Clark was extremely offended by Bruce’s tone. What right did he have to sound more frustrated then how Clark was feeling? It’s not like he was the one being pushy and unreasonable.

Okay, well maybe he wasn’t exactly sure why he was so upset and comparing the size of his apartment to Wayne Manor. It also didn’t make sense why he was being defensive over it either, especially when he was the one who brought it up.

Now Clark was even more irritated. Sure what Bruce had decided was probably the most sensible course of action, but damn if the man didn’t have a way of being unbearable while at the same time right.

“Fair enough,” Clark finally replied, his grip on his arm tightening. It was then that a mischievous thought played its way into the back of his mind, but he decided against it. Instead he took a seat in the back of the batwing and smiled proudly. Bruce may have won the argument, but Clark at least got the satisfaction of knowing he’d been the bigger man that night.

Bruce took note of Clark’s strange smirk and for some reason felt the urge to remove it with his next comment.

“Consider this the vacation you were complaining about.”

Clark was already regretting his decision.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Hi Alfred.”

The Wayne butler stared back at the smiling reporter and nodded. “Master Bruce. Master Clark.”

“Just Clark is fine.”

Alfred merely raised a brow in response his face as unflappable as when he first opened the door. Clark had tried several times in the past to get the older man to call him by just his first name alone. He knew it would probably never happen. The fact that he was still trying was more or less a game now.

“Typically I would have prepared a guest room for you, but considering the predicament Master Bruce explained to me, I have made special arrangements for you instead. I do hope they will be enough to keep you comfortable for the duration of your stay here.”

Despite Alfred’s composed voice, Clark could tell the butler felt genuinely dissatisfied with the arrangement. The man held himself to a high standard regardless of the situation being completely outside his control.

“That’s fine, thank you,” Clark replied with a reassuring smile.

As usual Clark couldn’t read the older man. However, considering he wasn’t given another indifferent eye raise, he felt his attempt at comfort had been successful.

“I also realize it’s a bit late, but I’m sure you both missed dinner. If you give me a few moments, I can prepare something.”

“I have work to take care of right now,” Bruce replied his voice a bit impatient.

“Then I shall bring it down to you,” came Alfred’s immediate rebuttal.

“I’m not hungry.”

Alfred gave Bruce a look of disapproval. Although Bruce had caught it, he still remained unmoved.

Clark resisted the urge to smile. He was sure he had seen a scenario play out like this before. Once when he had visited home and a family friend had been over that night for dinner, and she had argued with her son when he refused to eat his vegetables.

“Master Bruce, I implore you to eat something today. You already missed breakfast and lunch.”

Bruce responded with an indignant frown. At this point, Clark decided to step in.

“Thanks, Alfred. You’re right, it has been a long night, and I’m starving.”

Alfred nodded his concurrence not bothering to wait for Bruce’s reply and made his way to the kitchen.

Bruce glared at Clark. Clark smiled back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“No rest for the weary,” Clark commented as he leaned against the nearby console.

Bruce was now stationed at the main computer typing vigorously away. After their late dinner, he wasted no time heading to the cave and getting to work.

“I may not be able to go on patrol, but there is still plenty of work that needs to be done here.”

“I see,” Clark mumbled. “Anything I can help with?”

Bruce made a noncommittal sound.

“Ok, dumb question.”

After several minutes had gone by, Clark finally took a seat at the chair adjacent to Bruce. He then stretched his arms high into the air and yawned before glancing over at the computer. At one end of the screen, several pictures of Gotham citizens flashed by in a manner too quickly for a normal human being to follow. On the other end a pattern of ones and zeros scrolled by. At the center there was a report that Bruce was writing up, and the rest of the screen appeared to be dedicated to Gotham surveillance cameras. Clark may have already been tired but looking at the computer suddenly made him feel exhausted.

Clark cleared his throat and then began to look about the cave. Eventually he looked back at the computer and stared in disbelief. The number of screens that were there before had multiplied by two. Either Clark was so tired he was seeing double, or Bruce needed to tone it down. Realizing waiting for an opening was turning into a pipe dream, Clark finally spoke up. “Listen, Bruce, about what I said earlier.”

Bruce dropped his head and let out a heavy sigh. “We’re back on this again? I thought we already talked about it.”

“We did, but what I said, I didn’t really mean-” Clark protested before he was sharply cut off.

“What you said were your honest feelings, were they not?”

Clark’s eyes drifted to the side. “Yeah, but-“

“You think that I have trust issues,” Bruce once again interrupted.

Clark’s eyes shot back at Bruce revealing a defensive look. “No, that’s not what I meant!”

“Well, you were right,” Bruce replied evenly.

Clark was suddenly rendered speechless. Of course the onetime Bruce decided to agree with him was the one time Clark didn’t want him to.

Bruce finally turned his chair to meet Clark’s face. The reporter’s intuition told him that the fact Bruce was finally prioritizing their conversation over work was probably not a good sign.

“I didn’t join the league because I thought you were in need of my abilities. I joined the league because I felt that if someone wasn’t around to keep it in check, it could turn into a real threat.”

“I am more than fully aware of the reason you joined the league, you made it painfully clear when you signed on,” Clark groaned. His eyes then traveled towards the ground in attempt to hide his clearly visible annoyance. “But after all these years, after all we’ve been through, do you honestly still feel the same way?”

Clark looked straight at Bruce, his gaze reflecting nothing but a hopeful plea. Bruce’s stern expression did not falter. “My motives have not changed.”

Clark’s face transformed from expectant to skeptical. “So you mean to tell me that I…that the league is still not a group that you can trust?”

Bruce was suddenly more tired of Clark’s face than he was of his voice. No longer able to tolerate it, Bruce stood up and started to walk away. “What difference would it make if I answered that question?”

Clark’s patience was officially shot. “Goddammit Bruce!” He shouted. Then, without thinking, he threw his hands into the air before jerking them forcefully to his sides.

Both Bruce and Clark’s eyes widened, realization hitting them both simultaneously. This time Clark had a little more time to react as he braced himself for what was coming.

Bruce attempted to look angry but realized it was a difficult thing to do while holding back an oncoming blush. Clark had caught the man in a very tight embrace. Bruce figured it was an overreaction considering how hard he’d crashed into him last time this happened, but the fact that Clark was still holding him made him start to think otherwise.

“Bruce I, I’m sorry. I forgot,” Clark stammered. He finally released Bruce, but they were only able to get a few inches apart from each other. Clark looked back at Bruce his face both flustered and anxious.

“Clark…” Bruce gritted lowly.

“Wow, I guess it really is true!” An extremely amused voice from the other end of the cave laughed out.

Clark instantly recognized it. “Dick?”

“I mean what other explanation is there for B allowing someone so close into his personal bubble. You two have gotten yourselves in quite the mess.”

Dick smiled and made a suggestive gesture that left Clark wondering how much of this incident he’d actually seen.

“What are you doing here?” Batman questioned sharply.

“Grayson volunteered his services for the night despite me telling him several times that I do not require his assistance,” “Damian answered from the opposite end of the cave “I had things more than handled,” he added with a scowl directed at Dick.

Dick shrugged in response obviously unfazed by the glaring Robin.

“Well, I figured if Bruce didn’t feel like someone capable was babysitting Gotham, he would do something silly like trying to go on patrol with a Kryptonian strapped to his wrist. I guess I was being paranoid.”

“Not entirely…” Clark mumbled more to himself.

Damian crossed his arms over his chest and frowned more deeply. “Are you implying I am not capable of taking care of things myself?”

“I’m not implying anything, but I thought what I was saying was pretty clear.”

Upon hearing Dick’s reply Damian’s face puffed up. “You are insufferable, Grayson.

Dick’s grin widened. At this, all the air that was apparently expanding up the boy’s face was let out in one aggravated breath. “Well, you helped. So why are you still here?

“I just thought I’d tuck you in before I left, and I wanted to check up on Bruce before I go.”

“That isn’t necessary,” both Bruce and Damian replied in unison.

Dick let out a satisfied laugh.

“Haha, okay Batman, and mini Batman,” he chuckled while he mounted his bike. “You’re welcome by the way.”

“No one is thanking you, Grayson. Just leave already!” Damian shouted just before Dick revved up his engine. He then gave the Robin a nod of compliance although his face showed he wasn’t really serious. He then put on his helmet and took off.

“Those two seem to get a long pretty well,” Clark replied while glancing over at Bruce.

Damian glared at their guest and snorted. “I see Grayson is not the only comedian around here who thinks he’s actually entertaining.”

Clark watched the boy walk over to the bat console and then looked back at Bruce. “Charming, he’s the spitting image of you.”

Bruce just gave Clark an empty look before walking past him and towards Damian.

“Robin. Your report.”

“Yes, father.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Clark saw the arrangement, he suddenly understood why Alfred seemed so apologetic. Right next to Bruce’s already over-sized bed was another equally large one. Both beds were so great in size there was no way Clark or Bruce could maintain their ten foot limitation if there was any space between them. It was a bit awkward to say the least, but Clark took note that there was at least enough distance between them that it would hardly be noticeable.

Bruce didn’t seem bothered by the arrangement at all. He hardly even glanced at the beds when he walked into the room.

“I’m taking a shower,” Bruce stated, and then he went to the bathroom and shut the door. That was basically the gist of his reaction over the whole situation.

Clark felt a tug at his arm. It was then that he realized the bathroom was too large for him to just stand at the door if Bruce wanted to make it to the shower. Taking the hint, Clark walked over towards the direction the shower would be in relation to the room.

The next several minutes consisted of Clark getting small arm jerks, and him walking about the room in reaction. He actually started to get a bit demeaned over the whole ordeal once he realized he was beginning to feel like a dog being yanked around on a leash.

Eventually he made his way back towards the door. He could hear Bruce toweling off and changing. Realizing he was now free of their little game of tug of war, Clark leaned against the door and stared up at the ceiling. Slowly his annoyance dissipated, and he finally felt like he was ready to say what was really on his mind.

“Look, Bruce, I know it’s kind of low to talk to you like this, but I just wanted to get something off my chest without starting another argument.”

Clark waited for a moment. He heard Bruce suddenly stop moving. That was all the sign he needed that the other man could actually hear him.

“I haven’t been trying to talk to you all this time so we can argue. I just…what I have been trying to do all this time is actually apologize.”

Bruce remained still. Clark swallowed hard as he started to realize this was more intense then he first imagined it would be. How silly of him to think it would be easier to talk to Bruce when they weren’t face to face.

He took in a deep breath and slowly released it before continuing on.

“I don’t know why I lose my cool around you so easily, but I didn’t mean what I said about you not trusting us in the way that you think. When I said that, I wasn’t judging you for your position. I fully understand why you joined the league, and I accepted it a long time ago.”

As Clark was speaking a sudden thought hit him causing Clark to furrow his brow in response.

“But while I’m on the subject, I want to point out that I…that we didn’t invite you on just to keep tabs on us. Contrary to what you believe, your abilities, your way of thinking is a vital asset. You have saved so many lives, including my own. Without you, the team would be incomplete.”

There was still no reaction from the other side of the door. Satisfied that he'd gotten that thought off his chest, Clark continued on.

“In any case, my point is that I was just hoping after all this time, despite your original intent, you would eventually come to trust us as more than just a group of heroes moving towards the same goal.”

Clark paused for a second before saying his next words. “I just hoped that one day you would see us as your teammates.”

The door opened revealing a slightly damp and frowning Bruce Wayne. “Clark. You really don’t seem to get it.”

Clark nearly fell over backwards before he caught up with gravity and steadied himself. Bruce walked past him, not bothering to help, and continued on with his explanation.

“My distrust in the team isn’t for the reason that you think. After our first mission together I was more than aware of what the league was really all about. It’s a group of individuals who wanted to work together to make the world a better place,” Bruce’s face began to soften as he spoke. “You all have abilities far beyond anything any normal person is capable of, and rather than abuse your power, everyone chooses to use it for the betterment of mankind.”

At his own words, Bruce lowered his head and half smiled. “I honestly respect that. I respect all of you.”

“So when you pointed out that I should trust the team’s abilities, you were right. That’s why I backed off.” Bruce paused for a moment before he narrowed his eyes. His smile then dropped but his voice remained soft and thoughtful. “However, when you brought up the issue of trust, it made me realize something. I was starting to forget my place, losing sight of the reason I joined the league, and it made me realize if I continue to allow myself to get too involved, too attached, I will lose my impartiality, and if the time ever came for me to rein the league in, would I be able to make the hard choice?

Clark felt his heart drop when Bruce finally looked up and spoke. “Because you see, Clark, the person I can’t trust more than anyone else…is myself.”

“Bruce,” Clark whispered through a pained voice.

“So don’t sit here and demean your character any further,” Bruce chuckled spuriously. “You are the last person who should think you still haven’t earned my trust. It’s just not something that simple.”

Clark wasn’t sure what to say. These were the words he wanted to hear from Bruce for years now, but instead of feeling happy he was overcome with grief.

Bruce patted the silent Kryptonian on the shoulder and gave him an expectant look.

“So now that you understand my position, can you drop this?”

Clark just looked back at Bruce in a stunned state. “Bruce you…” he started to say, but then his voice trailed.

“It’s getting late,” Bruce replied as he turned and walked towards his bed.

Clark was still stuck in an emotional stupor at this point. In the end he could only manage a pathetic, “Yeah.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a rough night to say the least, and it wasn’t because of the bed. No, the bed was far from the reason. Never in this farm boy’s life would he ever have dreamed a bed could be as lush and inviting as this one. Under any normal circumstance, a bed like this would have lulled him to sleep the moment his head hit the pillow. However, despite sleeping on the comforter of wonders, the heavy atmosphere in the room had Clark tossing and turning all night.

For some reason the conversation that had ended the night was weighing heavily on Clark. There had been so many things Clark wanted to tell Bruce, but as usual before he could let the other man know, he was completely shut down. Somehow Bruce had this uncanny way of winning most their arguments by using undeniably harsh yet true facts to spin the dialog in his favor despite being completely wrong.

It drove Clark absolutely insane. So much so that despite being both physically and mentally tired, he was unable to sleep. Instead he kept replaying their conversation in his mind. At what point had it gone so wrong? What could he do to get Bruce to finally understand that there was so much more to life?

In all honestly this wasn’t the first time Clark had spent a restless night mulling over an argument with Bruce. What would it take for him to understand the world would never be as black and white as he saw it? Why did this upset Clark so much? Why was it so important that Bruce agreed with him? Normally the reporter was so passive when it came to pushing his opinion onto others. As a man of the press, he was always careful about remaining impartial. So why was Bruce so different?

Clark continued to ponder this in his head before eventually dozing off. It wasn’t long though before he was quite literally shaken from his sleep. Although he should’ve been alarmed, Clark’s body felt strangely at ease. There was an indescribable warmth infiltrating his body, lulling him into a false sense of relaxation. Clark was also finding it increasingly hard to open his eyes for fear that the faint scent of a lavender cedar bay-rum mix would be disrupted by his sense of sight. Combined with the soothing heat, this intoxicating aroma was almost too inviting for Clark to give up.

Unfortunately, Clark’s mind would not give into the call of his body. There had definitely been some kind of force that had struck him in his slumber. Eventually giving in to his wits, Clark willed a foggy blue orb open. It was at that point his once dream entranced body instantly froze up. Well that is everything but his heart which was now racing at record breaking speeds.

Never in a million years did he imagine he would wake with his face mere inches from one billionaire playboy, Bruce Wayne. His head was slightly tilted downward but was still level enough for Clark to have a perfect view of his face. Although they were close enough for him to feel Bruce’s heat, they were not touching save for Bruce’s hand which was now rested against Clark’s own wrist and faintly clasping it. This was probably the thing that alarmed Clark the most as he tried to steady his pulse for fear that the violent pounding would wake Bruce up.

Clark’s breath hitched in his throat as Bruce leaned his body even further into Clark’s space. A soft deep sigh escaped Bruce’s barely parted lips as his hair fell carelessly over his face releasing an earthy sweet scent of shampoo into the air.

Once again, the man of steel was thankful that he didn’t need oxygen regularly because he was so close to Bruce he was sure that even one breath would disturb the man from his slumber. Then again, maybe something like that would’ve been the best course of action. Actually, how was one supposed to react when they woke up with the richest man in Gotham nearly cradled in their arms?

Sure Clark wasn’t able to come up with quick decisive plans like Batman, but he was still a pretty clever and resourceful thinker, but at this particular moment his mind was a complete blank. The only thing he could do was stare at the other man in stunned silence. Which ended up being one of many mistakes he was about to make that morning.

There had been cases where Clark had confronted Bruce in face to face altercations, so he was not unfamiliar with the physical appearance of the man behind the mask. This, however, was the first time he had stopped and taken the time to actually appreciate it.

Although Clark had never really felt an attraction for men before, it was hard to deny that Bruce Wayne was the perfect combination of well-bred genes. How did he manage to inherit the strong dashing bone structure of his father while still maintaining the unrivaled grace and beauty of his mother? The reporter had only seen a picture of Bruce’s parents once. It wasn’t even something that was intentional, but at one point in his career, while writing a story about Gotham, he happened upon an old article featuring the couple. There was no denying from the picture alone that attractive people had the capacity to breed even more attractive children, and Bruce Wayne was living evidence of that fact.

Then again, Bruce’s naturally good looks weren’t what had captivated Clark at this moment. What had actually caught his mind in a suspended state of infatuation was the realization that this was the most vulnerable and serene he’d ever seen the man. His typically stern face and piercing blue eyes were now completely extinguished, and for once, he actually looked his age. This was probably because he didn’t have the weight of the world and his city monopolizing his thoughts and wearing down his handsome features.

A few more ebony locks fell over Bruce’s eye lids, and Clark was suddenly overcome with the urge to remove the silky obstructions out of the way.

Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or a momentary lapse of sanity that did it, but before he knew it, Clark had already reached forward and brushed the strands aside. His fingers lightly caressing Bruce’s cheek in the process before his hand decided to rest in that position, as if the contact would somehow further aid in his examination of the billionaire’s alluring face.

It was then that Clark’s body leaned even closer towards the unsuspecting playboy. Something compelling him to get closer, that if he could take in even more of Bruce’s face, he would somehow be able to peer into very his soul.

Their faces were now nearly touching, Bruce’s breath becoming his own. He wasn’t sure what would happen if he closed the distance any further, but something deep within him told him if he did, the answer would be so clear, and then it happened.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

A stern icy gaze stared daggers back at two pale and distressed pupils.

‘Crap.’

To be continued

Chapter Text

“What do you think you’re doing?”

That was a pretty good question, and maybe an even better question might have been what he would’ve done had Bruce not woken up when he did. If Clark knew the answer, he would’ve said so in an instant. At this point any kind of diversion to rescue Clark from his overwhelming mortification would’ve worked. Even if a simple explanation was the only thing he could come up with. The only problem was in this particular case, he didn’t have one.

Hopefully avoidance would work.

“I was, well that is, you were,” Clark stammered out nervously before his face and voice dropped to a deadly serious volume. “The nanomites.”

Bruce crossed his arms over his chest obviously not convinced and waiting for further explanation. Upon making eye contact, Clark suddenly lost all his resolve and immediately transformed back into an uneasy panicked mess.

“I think maybe you accidentally moved your arm in your sleep in a way that pulled me over here. Since I was asleep I didn’t put up any resistance, so-”

The longer Clark talked the tighter Bruce’s face got until he eventually heard enough.

Bruce let out a frustrated growl and stormed off the bed his annoyance apparently so overwhelming, he completely forgot a very important detail. As soon as he made his move the recoil of his arm not following the rest of his body caused him to spin around and crash into an equally surprised alien.

Bruce was now lying on top of a furiously blushing reporter who was looking everywhere but up.

“Guess you don’t know your own strength?” Clark murmured weakly.

The sound of a throat clearing could be heard, and Clark could feel his face go from red hot to pale cold.

“Master Bruce. Master Clark,” Alfred replied.

“ALFRED! This isn’t what it looks like!” Clark shouted as he immediately jumped up causing Bruce to move to the side of the bed. He then looked over at Bruce his eyes begging for assistance.

“It isn’t,” Bruce replied flatly not seeming at all nervous or guilty and his comment more pointed at Clark then anyone else.

As usual, Alfred gave no indication that he was fazed. He merely walked over to the window and started to open the curtains.

“I just came here to inform you that breakfast will be ready shortly so whenever you are through getting ready, please come down.”

“S-sure, thanks.” Clark stammered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Here you are, Master Clark,” Alfred replied as he set a plate in front of him.

“Is this what I think it is?” Clark’s eyes lit up. “Blueberry buttermilk pancakes, with warm maple syrup. This is my favorite! There is no way this is a coincidence. How did you know?”

“My resources may have informed me,” Alfred answered his eyes briefly glancing in the direction of the man who now had a paper conveniently covering his entire face.

After their morning mishap, Bruce hadn’t uttered a single word to Clark. In the end, Bruce decided not to question it further. Although he didn’t want to admit it, he was too embarrassed to press the subject. Certainly what had happened was some kind of misunderstanding. It was obvious he was the one to blame for pulling Clark over to his side during the night, and then due to his overreaction had caused an even more uncomfortable scene. So instead of injuring both men’s pride any further, he simply decided to avoid the matter altogether.

“Wow, these are really good. They even rival Ma’s recipe,” Clark complimented through a hearty bite. It had been a long time since he’d been able to visit his parents and this particular breakfast was making him feel very nostalgic.

“I am glad they are to your liking.” Although it hardly showed, it was obvious the butler was very pleased with Clark’s reaction.

“We don’t typically have such a heavy breakfast on weekdays,” Damian muttered. He then looked down as his already empty plate and gave Alfred a satisfied nod. “But this was still quite acceptable.”

After breakfast Clark suddenly felt like a new man, and it appeared Bruce was in a better mood as well. Maybe food really does cure the soul.

Damian stood from his seat and walked over to Bruce. Clark chuckled to himself as he came under the realization that whenever Damian spoke to Bruce, he always seemed like he was attempting to mimic his posture. Damian was definitely unlike any Robin before him, but they all seemed to have one thing in common.

“So Father, considering your current circumstances, will you not be up for morning training?” Damian asked as he glanced down at Bruce’s hand.

Bruce looked over at his wrist, and then back at Clark before bringing his attention to his son.

“No, I think I can manage something. We may have to be in close proximity, but there is still a reasonable distance we can keep.”

“Is that so?” Damian replied before a questionable smirk spread over his face. He then turned to Clark who suddenly felt a bad premonition come over him.

“Mr. Kent, if you don’t mind, I have another idea, that is if you are willing?”

“Sure, it depends on what you need,” Clark replied a bit hesitantly.

Damian’s smile widened, but it still wasn’t exactly what Clark would classify as happy. It came off way too smug.

“Well, I know my father has dueled with you on more than one account, so I was wondering if you would mind sparring with me? I would like to see how I fare against Earth’s supposed mightiest being.”

“I, well, I guess I could,” Clark answered while looking over at Bruce for any reason to be worried.

Bruce merely nodded back his concurrence.

“Perfect. Well, then, I will meet with you shortly.” Clark watched a satisfied Damian walk off with a somewhat content smile on his face.

“He really is the spitting image of you,” Clark said while shaking his head.

“So I’ve heard,” Bruce replied with a proud smirk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“This is a bit more complicated than I thought it was going to be,” Clark huffed just before blocking a kick to his side.

Somehow the sparring match had turned into a free for all. They had agreed to no weapons and no super powers outside of Clark’s super senses and strength. Clark was apprehensive to say the least. His Kryptonian abilities aside, it still didn’t seem like a very fair match up. Most grown men didn’t usually fight with children a third their size, then again, this was Damian Wayne; Bruce Wayne’s son who was trained by Ras’Al Ghul and sparred with members of the Batclan on a regular basis.

In the end, realizing he wasn’t going to get much use out of his right hand for fear of slingshoting Bruce seemed like a somewhat enough of a compromising disadvantage to make Clark not feel entirely guilty.

“I would have preferred to do this without you being handicapped, but you are much more formidable then I calculated. No wonder father holds you in such high regards,” Damian shouted just before back flipping out of sight.

Clark wasn’t sure how he kept doing it, but Damian seemed to be an expert at misdirection, and somehow his super fast reflexes kept losing sight of the boy. Although Clark had expected his smaller size to put him at a disadvantage, Clark was starting to realize the younger Wayne knew how to use it in all the right ways.

“Now then, why don’t you stop holding back!” Damian laughed as he lunged from behind Clark. Unfortunately for him, Clark had heard him coming, and perfectly parried the flying kick. However, Clark miscalculated Damian’s weight, and sent the boy flying much further then he anticipated.

Before Clark could react, the young Robin was swiftly caught by Bruce. “Whoa now.”

Damian made a face as though he was about to reprimand Bruce, but when he saw the dubious smirk on his face, he suddenly retracted his remark.

“Allow me?” Bruce asked with a smile that was more Batman than Bruce.

Until now Bruce had just silently watched the whole match. A few times he would move around as a precaution when Clark inadvertently used his right hand, but for the most part he seemed really deep in thought and invested with just watching. Clark knew Bruce offering to finally join only meant trouble for the man of steel.

“Father…” Damian murmured questionably. He and Bruce then stared at each other for a quiet second before both their faces transformed to a resolved look. They then nodded at each other as though there had been some unspoken agreement. Clark recognized Batman and Robin telepathy when he saw it. This was definitely not good.

“Damian, why don’t you assist me a bit?” Bruce smiled as he formed his stance.

“Fine,”Damian answered as he got into position.

“Clark, don’t worry about your wrist.”

“If you say so…” Clark trailed as he continued to wonder how Bruce could look so innocent and foreboding at the same time.

As soon as Clark signaled he was ready, both Wayne’s were gone in a flash. Clark was able to keep his eyes on Bruce, or rather anticipated him as he attacked him from his blindside. This was actually a pretty common tactic that Clark was already very familiar with. It was then that Damian made his attack as he went straight for Clark’s kidney. A lesser man definitely would’ve felt that in the morning.

After that, it was a series of Bruce distracting Clark, and Damian surprise attacking him. Eventually Clark got use to the pattern, and got to at a point where he was able to block and dodge most of their attacks.

Bruce let out a impressed sound as he suddenly remembered what a fast learner his opponent was. It was definitely time to change up tactics.

You see, Damian,” Bruce instructed as he suddenly rushed Clark. “Superman may be inhumanely fast and strong, but you of all people know it’s not always about overpowering someone quicker and stronger.

Clark watched as Bruce never once stopped dashing towards him and then suddenly spread his legs so far out before he reached him he was perfectly level with Clark’s waist. Clark made a move to block his midsection, but the strike never came instead the martial expert launched forward in such a way that his face was a mere millimeter from the shocked alien.

Clark blinked wildly at Bruce’s mischievous grin, and was taken aback, literally. Not expecting the man to end up so close and so suddenly in his face, and definitely unable to see what his hands or feet were going to do next, Clark took a step backwards.

The corners of Bruce’s mouth turned up further before his chuckled out his next remark. “Sometimes it’s about balance!”

The moment Clark moved his foot, Bruce rammed into him at full force, causing Clark to lose his footing and fall over. Just as he was about to hit the ground, Bruce caught him by the shirt. Clark was utterly confused and at a loss as to why Bruce had steadied him and why he looked so pleased. It was then that the tactician did something Clark was definitely not expecting. Bruce jumped off of Clark’s chest and did a backwards somersault.

“And most importantly…” Bruce shouted while he was still in the air, “using your environment and circumstances to your advantage!”

Clark felt a tug at his arm and subconsciously pulled his hand back. It was then that realization hit him a second too late as Bruce came barreling towards him.

Clark was now lying flat on his back staring up at Bruce who was sitting on top of him and smiling one of his superior vigilante smirks. Clark frowned though he wasn’t exactly mad. Bruce’s smile deepened before he stood up and extended a hand out to him.

“That’s kind of playing it unfair, don’t you think?” Clark grumbled as he accepted the peace offering and stood to his feet. “I feel like maybe it was pay back for something.”

Bruce shrugged. Typically Clark would’ve felt upset over the cheap shot, but he hadn’t seen such a spirited and entertained look on Bruce’s face in a long time. Somehow seeing it took all the bite out of Clark.

“I see,” Damian murmured as he touched his chin thoughtfully. “Thank you for the advice.”

Bruce nodded back at Damian, who in return gave him a reverent look and nodded back. He then turned towards Clark and did the same.

Clark wasn’t sure how to respond so he simply rubbed the back of his neck and replied. “You two really don’t hold back.”

Damian let out a snort and his once pious face was soon replaced with his typical haughty smirk.

“No, we don’t. My father is much less polite then you are when we spar, but this will do for now. I think I have a pretty good idea as to where I stand now when it comes to dealing with you.”

“Dealing with me?” Clark questioned his voice a bit broken by his surprise.

“Of course,” Damian answered while crossing his arms over his chest. “One day my father won’t be around to watch you, so I’m sure the matter of dealing with you will be a task handed down to me.”

“So this is what this whole thing was about?” Clark asked this time with a bit more irritation.

“Partially,” Damian smiled proudly before he picked up his towel and walked off.

Clark was in disbelief at Damian’s level of directness. The kid was definitely lacking in the manners department and was desperately in need of some kind of an authoritative figure to set him straight.

“He is a really smart and clever kid, but he could definitely take a few more lessons in tactfulness,” Clark muttered before frowning at said authoritative figure. “It’s as if he’s already written you off as dead.”

Bruce just shrugged in response his smile still not fading. “You never know when that day will come. It may be sooner than you think. Not all of us are invulnerable with an undetermined life span.”

For some reason all of Clark’s annoyance had moved off of the younger Wayne and onto the senior. How could Bruce say such things with such an indifferent expression?

“I’d rather not be having this conversation with you. It’s already bad enough that I get this speech every time I visit Ma and Pa. The older they get, the more they talk about it.”

Bruce continued to smile but narrowed his eyes. “Well, the older you get, the more you realize you’re waltzing with death, and considering the occupational hazards, I don’t have the luxury of not accepting it.”

Suddenly Clark’s displeasure turned to a heavy feeling in his chest as he started to realize the depth of truth in Bruce’s words. It was a cold hard fact that Clark typically avoided thinking about. For a moment he started to imagine a life without Bruce Wayne, and the thought made him very sad.

After several seconds of disheartened dwelling, Clark shook the thoughts from his mind and turned towards Bruce. “Well that’s why having the right dance partner will keep you from tripping on your feet.”

Bruce furrowed his brow and finally made eye contact with the smiling Clark. “I’m not sure what you are suggesting.”

Clark let out a playful laugh. “Bruce, I was just getting in on the lame dance parody action.”

Bruce made strange sound, and walked off, but not before Clark had time to see an uncharacteristic eye roll and an unusual smile on his face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was now day three of Clark’s incarceration at Wayne Manor. Every day was like the one before and it was getting hard to tell one day from the next.

Morning recess with a physical and verbal beating from Damian, followed by a mind-numbing day in the study with Bruce who was working on what Clark wanted to believe were Wayne affairs, but had better odds betting on Batman and league related efforts. Clark wasn’t sure if he was more annoyed or more impressed that running a multi-billion dollar company was something that required so little of Bruce’s attention.

Low morale was kept in check by Alfred who somehow managed to prepare all of Clark’s favorite meals. He stopped even questioning the older man’s accuracy, but to say Batman’s Intel on league was beyond absurd, maybe even borderline obsessive, would be an understatement.

The nights were just as long and grueling as the days. There was evening training, followed by monitor duty, which amounted to Clark watching Batman bark orders from the batcave at Robin and the not so well hidden Nightwing. Bruce may complain about Dick’s unrequested meddling, but it was pretty obvious he was relived someone was looking after Robin, or keeping a leash on him. At this point, Clark really couldn’t tell the difference. Maybe it was both.

Then, there were the awkward mornings. Every morning Clark woke up with Bruce sleeping next to him.

Clark started to realize the reason he kept being pulled to Bruce’s side was due to several violent reoccurring nightmares. Even while sleeping the man was fighting with his demons. Clark had thought or rather hoped that Bruce could at least get a moment of peace in his dreams, but it seemed like even that was just wishful thinking.

In one instance, he actually was fully awake and seen Bruce thrashing around calling out for his parents or murmuring names like Jason. However, once they were in a close enough proximity, he would grab Clark’s wrist and squeeze it tightly just before he would finally relax and calm down.

In this particular instance it took all of Clark’s Kryptonian strength to hold back the urge to grab the tortured Bruce, and hold him in his arms. Clark had devoted his life to protecting the people around him, so it was only natural his protective instincts would go into overdrive at such a heart wrenching scene. However, no matter how much he wanted to comfort him, Clark resisted the temptation.

He had learned his lesson from their first fiasco and made a point to quietly slip back into his own bed before Bruce noticed. Clark was certain if Bruce found out what was going on, he would stop sleeping all together. So rather then get in another fight, or rob the already sleep depraved vigilante of what little rest he could get, Clark simply went against himself and retreated. The only thought that kept Clark from falling into a completely miserable state, was the knowledge that after Bruce would grip his hand, he would finally settle down and sleep peacefully for the rest of the night. Maybe Clark was fooling himself by actually believing he was the source of Bruce’s comfort, but this fleeting idea was the only thing that was actually reassuring the hero.

“Clark, are you okay?” Bruce questioned as he noticed the alien was deep in thought and had a disturbed look on his face.

“Oh yeah, sure, I guess maybe I was just spacing out. You know that tends to happen when you’re as busy as I am right now.”

The two men had been sitting in Bruce’s study for the last four hours. Bruce was working on something at his desk, leaving Clark sitting in the chair next to him twiddling his thumbs. Bruce had reassured Clark that he could turn the TV on, but Clark had declined mentioning something about not being interested in daytime gossip shows or poorly acted out dramas.

“Are you sure there isn’t anything I can help you with?” Clark questioned.

Bruce was silent for a moment. Clark knew it was a pointless question, but it seemed like the perfect thing to say to get Bruce to stop prying over the reason Clark had looked so troubled.

“Actually, maybe there is something.”

“Really?” Clark blurted in a genuinely surprised voice. He then walked over to Bruce who was now motioning Clark over to look at his computer.

“Well, I developed a new program to help assist with the tower’s security system.”

Clark internally smiled. So he was right about his assumption that Bruce was not working on Wayne affairs.

“I had the computer double check, but I know your eyes and processing level are as good as any computer, but there are certain things I can’t program it to understand.”

Clark scanned over the array of letters and numbers flying across the screen in a sequence and speed far too great for any normal human being to comprehend. After a few brief seconds, he took in a sharp breath and pointed at the screen.

“Actually, I think maybe if you alter this area a bit here.” Bruce narrowed his eyes on the screen. It was clear from his expression he wasn’t quite sure what Clark was getting at. Absentmindedly, Clark placed his hand over Bruce’s own that was holding his mouse, and guided it to the area he was referring to. “Like this, over here.”

Bruce’s hand tensed up for second and Clark immediately realized what he had done. However, before he could apologize, Bruce’s eyes widened. “I see! Yes. That is exactly what I am looking for.”

Clark let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, relieved for the lucky diversion.

“Good catch,” Bruce exclaimed with sincere appreciation. “I knew you would have a far better understanding of what I am looking for.”

“Is that a compliment?” Clark asked. He was partly joking but was mostly in disbelief.

Bruce’s smile dropped but his tone remained light. “It’s a factual statement. Don’t read too much into it.”

Clark didn’t even try to hide his eye roll. “Guess you can’t just let me have this one.”

The corner of Bruce’s mouth turned up, but he was still far from smiling. “I’m afraid what would happen if your head got too big.”

Clark’s eyes widened. “Is that an actual joke?”

There was no doubt now that Bruce was in fact smiling.

“Just another factual statement,” he replied.

“You know, when most people tell a joke, they laugh,” Clark groaned.

Bruce finally turned in his seat to face Clark. “I am not most people.”

Clark stared at Bruce in mild wonder, trying very hard to read Bruce’s sudden playful interaction. It was a rare occurrence, and even though he could say he was one of the lucky few who experienced it, he was still always caught off guard when it happened.

Realizing that if he stared at Bruce any longer it would turn uncomfortable, Clark responded the only way he knew how, with sarcasm. “Boy is that the understatement of the year.”

Bruce let out an amused sound in response, and Clark chuckled back lightly.

Clark then felt a bit of anger rise when their moment was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing. He then silently cursed when he realized it was his own cell.

Bruce raised a brow as the Superman theme song engulfed the room causing Clark to blush and walk away.

“Hello? Perry?”'

“Kent, I need you in Metropolis, pronto,” came the immediate command.

“Wha-what do you mean?” Clark sputtered out.

“The King of Novascotchia just croaked today.”

Clark’s blood suddenly froze. “What? Are you kidding me?”

“Yeah, and the prince has wasted no time announcing his succession to the throne. He also said he will be signing a peace treaty with Letvia today, and as a sign of good faith he’s marrying Letvia’s eldest princess. In any case, the treaty is going to be signed here in Metropolis due to Luthor having good relations with both countries, and afterwards there will be a celebration.”

Clark wasn’t sure when it happened, but he was now sitting down. “I can’t believe how fast everything is happening and now of all times,” he murmured absently.

This was a story that Clark started covering due to some inside Intel he received during a league mission. What seemed like a small civil matter ended up being a bigger problem. Clark wanted to keep tabs on the whole ordeal and ended up bringing the story to Perry’s attention. As a result, Clark was assigned as the lead journalist covering the story.

In short, Superman had thwarted an assassination attempt on the king. It was then that he discovered relations between the prince and the king were pretty strained due to their conflicting social and political views. Because of this fact, the king had threatened several times to renounce the prince’s right to the throne. Due to this, the nation had been split into two factions; the old monarchy that sided with the king, and the new revolution that sided with the prince.

After the failed assassination attempt, not much more newsworthy controversy had developed, but Clark had still been in charge of keeping his eyes and ears on the matter.

“Kent this is your story. You’ve been working on it for the last year. I want you at that conference.”

Clark was suddenly shaken out of his daze.“What, me? Perry, I really don’t think that is possible. I kind of have my hands tied here taking care of my parents.”

“I don’t care. Hire a nurse or something. I want you at that conference, and I want you at the after party.”

“But-” Clark made another start to protest, but was immediately cut off.

“Word has it the prince and princess were actually seeing each other for a while. So now folks feel the King’s untimely demise might not be so natural. If this is true, this story could be big! Since you have been on this for so long you already have all the inside resources and leads. If there really is more to this, you would know better than anyone else.

“Perry…” Clark pleaded.

“Kent, unless your folks are dying, you better be there. So either you have an obituary headline for me or the draft for this story on my desk tomorrow, otherwise don’t bother coming back at all. Got it!”

“Yes…” Clark groaned although Perry had hung up long before it was ever heard.

Clark was at a loss. For a minute he just held the phone to his ear and said nothing. His mind than began to race with a million thoughts, before he finally gave up and turned over and gave Bruce a look of pure defeat.

“Bruce, that was Perry.”

“Yes, I heard,” Bruce replied back frankly.

Clark blinked back in confusion and then looked at his phone in utter embarrassment. “Really? Did I accidentally have my cell on speaker again?”

Bruce nodded and smirked. “No, but trust me, he didn’t need it.”

Clark’s shoulders dropped and he frowned. “Well, then you already get what kind of a mess I’m in. I’m not sure what I’m going to do.”

That was lie. He knew exactly what he had to do. There was no way he could make it to that party, and Perry sounded pretty intent on firing Clark if he didn’t. He tried to think of possible ways to explain Bruce’s presence at the party, or ways to make it seem as though they were not together, but nothing he came up with seemed feasible enough to meet Bruce’s standards. There were just too many ways those scenarios could go wrong, and the last thing he wanted to do was anything to risk revealing their alter egos.

“You’re going to go to that party,” Bruce answered back.

“What?" Clark was shocked by Bruce for another time that day.

Bruce flashed Clark one of his famous omnipotent smiles. “Well, we can’t have our hardworking salary man getting fired, now can we?”

“But how-“

Bruce rested a reassuring hand on Clark’s shoulder. The kind of contact he only made when he had a full proof plan. “Don’t worry, I’ll just go with you.”

Clark raised a skeptical eye. Suddenly all the comfort he’d felt seconds prior was washed away.

“No offense Bruce, but if you show up with me to that party, we’ll probably end up drawing as much attention as the prince and princess.”

Bruce shook his head knowingly. “It’s okay. No one will even know I’m there.”

“How?” Clark questioned as he replayed all the scenarios he had concocted just a few minutes ago for any loopholes.

“Don’t worry. I have an idea,” Bruce simply replied. Clark felt a bit worried, but at the same time had complete faith in the man who was now smiling down at him confidently.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Well?” Bruce questioned as he walked in front of Clark with his arms spread out and an expectant look on his face.

Clark was at a loss for words as he realized he’d completely forgotten about another one of Batman’s remarkable skills. The man was now wearing a green tweed suit that was a little too big for him which was a big difference from his typically well-tailored clothes. His once neatly trimmed raven hair was now a dark auburn mess, and somehow Bruce had managed to gain a stubbly matching goatee and beard. However, the thing that stood out the most for Clark was the fact that Bruce’s once brilliant blue eyes were now a deep emerald green.

“Well, Bruce, if you are asking what I think, I will confess, you definitely look like a whole new man,” Clark admitted with genuine awe.

“Bruce?” The newly disguised billionaire laughed before reaching his hand out for Clark to shake. “No, just call me Chez Remington.”

To Be Continued…

Chapter Text

“How many journalists does it take to change a light bulb?

Three. One to report it as an inspired government program to bring light to the people, one to report it as a diabolical government plot to deprive the poor of darkness, and one to win a Pulitzer prize for reporting that the electric company hired a light bulb assassin to break the bulb in the first place.”

The entire group of reporters erupted into laughter.

“Oh my, you simply are a delight,” one of the woman laughed as she lightly tapped the jokester on the arm. “Clark, where have you been hiding this charming man?”

At that very moment Clark was giving the group comedian a very reproving eye, but upon hearing the woman he pulled his attention away from him and gave her a broken smile.

“Oh, well, you know…”

“Clark and I are old college friends,” the man interrupted with a very hard jab to the reporter’s ribs.

Clark rubbed his side and looked back at the man who was now grinning at him.

“Yeah, we go way back,” Clark added through a strained voice.

“It just so happened that I was in town for work, and I decided to pay Clark a visit after all these years. Of course the weekend I decided to come, the king decides to kill over. Don’t I have the devil’s timing?”

Clark stared at his companion with skepticism at his unmoved attitude towards the death of a political leader before turning back to address the woman.

“Yeah, and there was no way Perry would let me miss covering this story.”

Upon hearing Perry’s name the woman shook her head in agreement. Clark’s guest let out a derisive snort through the glass of wine he was drinking.

“That’s okay, thanks to him, I got to tag along with Clark to this big fancy event. It’s not every day a guy like me gets to drink all this expensive alcohol and eat all this expensive food. So, how about another round on Perry?” He shouted as he raised his glass to the entire group. “Here’s to per diem!”

“Cheers!” The entire crowd applauded as they all raised their glasses back at him and laughed.

Clark pressed a hand to his temple and closed his eyes as he contemplated on the many ironic levels those words just held. It wasn’t till he felt another nudge to his forearm that he finally opened them back up.

“Of course I’m sure Clark would’ve preferred to have a gorgeous cutie on his arm instead of an old college buddy like myself.”

Clark glared a silent warning at the man now giving him a suggestive eye raise.

“Well, it’s not like Clark usually brings company to these events,” the eldest woman commented.

“Well, all you beautiful young ladies might be able to help in that department,” he countered as he winked back at her.

The woman blushed and slapped him on the shoulder before giggling madly and looking at her husband. “Oh my, you really are too much.”

“By the way, Mr. Remington,” she started after she finally recollected herself.

“Chez,” he corrected while giving her another suggestive wink.

“Ok, Chez,” she smiled through an even deeper blush. “So, Chez, do you happen to have a special someone in your life?

“As a matter a fact, I do,” Chez replied immediately.

Clark who was trying to disappear to the back of crowd suddenly moved his way back up at this interesting detail. He then internally groaned as he heard several of the women in the crowd pout at the news of his marriage.

“Oh, what a shame,” the woman frowned.

“Yes, Serena and I have been married for 15 long years,” Chez continued to explain, his eyes suddenly very soft.

“Oh, how sweet. Do you have any children?”

At the question, Chez’s expression immediately transformed from thoughtful to proud. “I sure do, four remarkable boys.”

“Four boys, oh my,” the woman exclaimed with genuine delight. “Well, I bet they are all as handsome and charming as their father.”

Chez looked over at Clark playfully before replying. “Yeah, folks are always commenting on how my youngest is the spitting image of me.”

Clark couldn’t help but laugh to himself at the comment.

“Well, Chez, would you mind doing me the honor of a dance?”

A bit of panic over took Clark. He then looked back at Chez who was now clasping his wrist but seemed completely at ease.

“Madam, I would love too, but unfortunately I was born with two left feet. You don’t need this uncoordinated fellow stepping on your pretty shoes.”

The woman seemed disappointed but was appeased by the complimenting of her shoes and just laughed in response. “Oh, you are so funny. Alright then, I guess I will just have to settle for a dance with my husband.”

Eventually the crowd began to dissipate as several of the ladies took this as a lead in to dance as well. One woman looked at Clark expectantly, but he expertly pretended not to notice. After a while, Chez made a comment about needing another drink and the two men took this as the perfect opening to leave the group and headed to the bar.

Clark let out a tired sigh as they sat at the table in the back of the room. He then glanced over at Bruce and gave the man a wry smile. “Well, you seem to be having fun.”

“It’s a party, Clark, how about you lighten up a bit,” came Bruce’s immediate rebuttal.

“I guess if you of all people are telling me that, I really am being a stiff,” Clark groaned.

“As stiff as your suit,” Bruce chuckled back.

Clark looked at Bruce with wide eyes and replied back flippantly. “Did you just make a joke and actually laugh? I’m not used to seeing this side of you.”

Bruce let out an amused sound. “Well, as Chez this stuffy high collar event is actually pretty bearable. Usually when I get stuck at parties like this, I’m Bruce Wayne. Sure I get to be the life of the party, but I can’t let myself cut too loose. I still have my exhausting Brucie appearance to keep up.”

Clark took note of the faint bitter undercut in Bruce’s last statement. Realizing that he had let it slip, Bruce instantly covered it up with a sheepish grin. Not wanting to see the smile leave Bruce’s face, Clark pretended not to notice.

“Yeah, Bruce Wayne is kind of a tiresome, clueless, asinine playboy. At least that’s how he comes off every time I’ve encountered him,” Clark commented while glancing over at Bruce to gauge his reaction.

“Is that what those silly reporters are writing about him?” Bruce replied evenly not bothering to look back or show any indication of caring.

“Not going to take the bait?” Clark smiled back teasingly.

“Nope,” Bruce replied nonchalantly as he took a sip from his glass. “Chez Remington could care less what folks have to say about Bruce Wayne.”

Clark let out a fraudulent gasp. “Another joke? This really is a monumental night.”

Bruce laughed lightly causing Clark's smile to widen. The two men then shared a quiet moment just watching the crowd and enjoying each others company. Eventually the music started to die down causing Clark to stand to his feet and look back down at Bruce.

“Well, I think I’ve got all the coverage I can take. Let’s get out of here before your adoring fans notice.”

Bruce nodded at the comment proudly. He knew it was a play at sarcasm but decided to take it as a compliment instead. Clark shook his head as he realized what Bruce was doing. Not wanting the night to end just yet, Clark suddenly had an idea.

“Thanks for being such a good sport, Br-Chez. How about you let me thank you properly?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Well, I have to admit, this really is the best pie in Metropolis.” A genuine smile played across Bruce’s normally dark features. This was all the assurance Clark needed as he happily took another fork full of his own dessert.

Upon leaving the party, Clark decided to take a detour to a diner that was not too far from his apartment. Much to his surprise, Bruce had accepted without complaint. Maybe it was the alcohol that had made it so easy to convince him, but now both men were sitting at the table enjoying a late night meal of coffee and homemade pie.

“Well, it’s the closes thing I found to home. Coming here always reminds me of Ma,” Clark replied with a reminiscent expression.

Bruce caught the look from the corner of eye, and smiled to himself. It always amused him how young and content Clark looked any time he mentioned moments of his life back home. Those must have been some of the happiest times in Clark’s life, and it showed.

“So, Mr. Remington certainly lives an interesting life. You played the part well.”

Bruce looked back at Clark with a moment of question before a confident smirk played on his face. “What can I say? A master detective often has to become a master of disguise.”

“So is Bruce Wayne just a character too?”

Bruce paused for a moment, the corner of his mouth making an odd shape. “If you want to put it that way.”

“Well, if I had to be honest, out of all the personas I’ve seen you play, it seems like you enjoyed Chez the most.”

Bruce raised a brow indicating his interest but still didn’t find it a good enough reason to abandon his pie. “Really, what makes you say that?”

“I don’t know,” Clark answered as he looked out in front of himself and smiled thoughtfully. “Maybe it was just your great acting, but you seemed really comfortable playing the role. A simple guy with a simple life and simple problems…”

“You think that’s the kind of thing I’m into?” Bruce snorted. He then looked down at his plate his eyes filled with an odd mix of mock amusement.

“Am I wrong?” Clark asked. Bruce’s undecipherable shrug was all the reply Clark was given.

Clark stared at Bruce before turning his face and dropping his smile slightly. “In any case, I really like Chez too.”

“Oh?” Suddenly Bruce was more interested in Clark’s words then his food as he looked back up at him. Clark had an unreadable and somewhat bittersweet look in his eyes.

“Yeah, he’s a fun guy, and most importantly, he and I are friends.”

“Clark.” The deep tenor of Bruce’s growl came out as a warning, but his subdued eyes took out most of its bite.

Clark couldn’t help but laugh in response even though there wasn’t actually anything funny at all about the situation. “Bruce, don’t read too much into it.”

A stale silence began to form in the air around them. Clark stared at his empty plate and let out a regretful sigh. Considering how well things were going, he immediately wished he never made the comment. “Well, I guess it’s late. We better get going.”

Bruce nodded in agreement, seemingly grateful to cut the stagnating mood. He then started to pull his wallet out before Clark rested a hand on his wrist and smiled.

“No need to pay, I already did that when I put our order in. My town, my treat.”

“Fine,” Bruce muttered with an air of childish rebuff. “Then I’ll leave the tip”

“Really, Bruce?” came Clark’s incredulous laugh as he watched Bruce throw down a tip worth more than the bill. On any normal occasion he would’ve been offended, but the moment he realized Bruce resembled a certain puffed up Robin, the only thing he could manage was a low snicker.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Dick?” Bruce questioned as they made their way to the cave and immediately noticed a familiar figure standing at the console.

Dick’s face lit up with genuine surprise before an air of nervousness overtook him. “Bruce, you’re back sooner than I was expecting.”

Upon catching Dick’s tone, Bruce frowned. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, funny story,” Dick started as he glanced to the side in attempt to avoid one icy blue gaze. “Damian and I kind of got into it during patrol. Maybe I teased him too much.”

Bruce crossed his arms over chest and glared at Dick impatiently. It was apparent he cared less about the exposition and more about the point.

“In any case, he ran off to go sulk and turned off his communicator. After that, I couldn’t find him for the rest of the night. I thought maybe he came back here, but there’s no sign of him. I didn’t want to alarm anyone, but even Orcale can’t locate him. So now I’ve been trying to track him on the batcomputer.”

“Let me see,” Bruce commanded as he took control of the console.

“The little twerp somehow jammed the tracking function,” Dick growled. “I know he was upset, but this is just plain careless.”

Clark examined Dick’s face, and could see the genuine concern in his eyes despite his obvious frustration. At this point he didn’t look any less upset than a parent who had lost their child.

“Maybe, I can help?” Clark interjected.

Dick’s eyes widened just before he looked at Superman in genuine confusion. “Oh man, sorry Clark, I actually forgot you were here. Oh, wait, you really could help. You have pretty good ears.”

“I’d like to think so,” Clark shrugged while trying not to sound arrogant. He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Give me one second,” the world around him suddenly became a mix of a million different sounds. Noises he could hear as perfectly as if he were standing next to their sources but had spent years training to filter and ignore suddenly surrounded him.

After several minutes, Clark’s eyes opened back up. “I think I found him.”

“How the hell do you do that?” Dick laughed with genuine awe.

“Well, everyone has a pretty unique heart pattern, and Damian and Bruce have a very similar beat.”

“Of course they do,” Dick droned through an eye roll. “So where is he?”

“Well, I can hear where he is, but it’s not like I know exactly where he’s at. I just have to go in the direction I hear him,” Clark explained.

“That makes sense,” Dick mumbled thoughtfully.

“Well then, we can take the Batwing,” Bruce replied as he already started to make his way towards the hanger.

Clark nodded his head and gave Bruce a contrary look. “Honestly, it would be a lot easier for me to track him if I just flew to him. I admit, the Batwing is pretty quiet and stealthy, but the engine is still a bit of a distraction.”

Bruce looked back at Clark crossly. “Well it’s not like I can fly, and considering we are stuck together, how can we-“

Before Bruce could finish his thought, Clark grabbed him by the waist under his right arm and lifted him off the ground. “Like this.”

Bruce’s eyes widened before his face immediately turned from surprised to angry and defiant. “Clark, put me down.”

“Bruce, stop being stubborn, you and I both know this is the best way,” Clark countered.

Realizing he was right but not wanting to verbally admit it, Bruce stopped struggling and turned his face as far away from Clark as he could possibly do in his position.

“Pfft.” Dick made a strangled sound. When both heroes turned to look at him, he had a hand over his mouth and an amused smile he was attempting to cover. Bruce glared at him causing Dick to drop the grin.

“So yeah, how about you guys take care of tracking him, and once you pinpointed the location I can follow behind in the Batwing,” Dick replied as he made the most serious face he could manage while trying to contain his laugh

“Fine,” Bruce gritted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“It would probably be more comfortable for both of us if you let me carry you like-” Clark started to say as he attempted to readjust Bruce’s weight so that he could reach for his legs with his other arm.

“Don’t even think about it,” Bruce hissed.

“Wow, you really are pretty uneasy about flying with me,” Clark muttered while trying to mask his own irritation. “Don’t worry. I won’t drop you.”

“That’s not what bothers me,” Bruce muttered under his breath.

“Oh I get it,” Clark replied this time not at all concerned if Bruce heard his aggravation. “You just hate having no control of the situation and having to be completely dependent on me.”

Bruce made no attempt to acknowledge Clark’s caustic words. Clark hated it when he did that. “It’s okay, you can trust me or maybe that’s exactly what bothers you?”

“Superman,” Bruce growled.

“We’re here,” Clark replied using the situation to avoid another argument.

“This is the place?” Bruce questioned as they landed on the roof of an old abandoned factory.

Clark shook his head and narrowed his eyes. “Not sure if this is the place, but he is definitely pretty close by.”

Bruce recognized the expression and could tell Clark was using his x-ray vision to scan the area. “Who are all these guys?” Clark asked.

Bruce peered into one of the overhead windows and examined the room. “They are mostly remnants of Falcone’s gang.”

Clark frowned and started to assess the room further. “Them being in the same area as Damian is probably not a coincidence. Speaking of which, I found him, and I think his leg is injured.”

“Is he captured?” Bruce asked in a not entirely calm voice.

Clark nodded. “No, he’s actually concealed at the moment, but from the looks of it they are searching for him.”

Although it was faint Clark caught the sigh of relief Bruce let out. “So what’s the plan?”

“How many?” Bruce asked as he stood to his feet, cracked his knuckles, and walked towards the highest window.

“Twelve, and all armed, heavily,” Clark answered as he walked to the opposite end Bruce was positioning himself at.

“So I guess these guys are just going to be in for a little surprise?” Clark asked. Bruce just smirked in response.

“That’s what I figured,” Clark smiled back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time Dick arrived the pack of thugs had already gotten a thorough tromping from a not so happy vigilante and his surprise out of town Metropolis visitor. Needless to say they were more than a little shocked. After neatly packing the gang back into the van they showed up in and gift wrapping them for the GCPD, the three heroes were now tending to a not so pleased Robin.

“I didn’t need your help,” Damian grumbled through a faint blush of frustration. “I had everything under control. I just miscalculated a landing and twisted my ankle a bit, but it was hardly a problem.”

Dick’s eyes widened in disbelief and his voice was already on the verge of shouting. “Really? With your leg badly injured like that? Look Damian, I get that you were pissed off at me, but you should’ve called for help.”

Damian turned his face away from Dick and frowned. “Why would I need to do that?”

Now Dick was definitely yelling. “WHY? Are you kidding me?”

“Nightwing,” Bruce interrupted as he placed a hand on the trembling heroes shoulder. He then looked at Dick as though he were quietly asking his permission to cut in. It was obvious that at this particular moment Dick was too heated to get his point across properly.

Dick immediately calmed down at the touch of reassurance and stepped to the side. He may have been upset, but he wasn’t too proud to realize he needed a moment to calm down.

Bruce kneeled to one knee and looked at the flustered Robin so that they were face to face. “Damian, there is a difference between being brave and being prideful. What you did tonight was careless and irresponsible.”

Damian’s face turned a deeper shade of red as he continued to avoid eye contact with Bruce. It was obvious he was still pretty upset although at this point it was hard to tell if it was from the reprimand or embarrassment.

Bruce decided to change tactics. “Even if I was in the same situation, I would’ve called for backup.”

“Yeah, back during our crime fighting days, I couldn’t count how many times this guy had to save my butt,” Dick added as he patted Bruce on the shoulder.

“I bet,” Damian snorted, a bit of his usual arrogant tone returning.

“It was also the case for me. He and I were partners,” Bruce added never once turning eyes from Damian. “Sometimes you can’t handle every situation on your own. Our way of fighting isn’t just about proving we are strong. We more often have to rely on using what’s up here.”

Damian finally glanced over at Bruce who was now pointing to his head, his frown dropping to an indifferent shape.

“You don’t have to try to do everything on your own.” Damian stared at the ground, before briefly looking back at his father.

“Fine. I get it. Everyone doesn’t have to band against me,” Damian growled as he stood to his feet and crossed his arms over his chest. He then glanced over at Dick. “I admit, he may be a rambling fool, but at least Grayson is reliable in a fight.”

Damian turned to Dick who was now staring back at him in mild disbelief. “I apologize for my thoughtlessness.”

In an instant all of Dick’s anger had completely dissipated. He then smiled and opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say anything Damian rolled his eyes and let out an aggravated sound.

“Well what are we waiting for?” He huffed as he started walking, or rather limping towards the Batwing. Dick just shook his head and smiled realizing that was the best he was going to get.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clark quietly stared at Bruce as they made their way from the cave to his room. Normally Bruce would’ve wondered about the alien’s sudden vow of silence, but his mind was too preoccupied with Damian to notice. It wasn’t until he sagged tiredly onto the bed that he finally felt a pair of scrutinizing eyes on him.

He turned his head towards the taller man and made an attempt to acknowledge him, but before he could say anything, Clark finally spoke up. “Pretty good fatherly advice you gave tonight.”

Bruce raised a brow, taking note of the unusual smile on Clark’s face. For some reason, it was not matching his voice.

“You know, those words sounded pretty familiar.”

Bruce’s posture immediately turned from drained to defensive, as his senses prepared him for what he knew was coming next.

“Although it’s usually me saying them to you.”

“Clark.”

The Kryptonian didn’t even bat an eye at Bruce’s threatening growl. Instead he continued to ignore all attempts at intimidating him to silence. “You know, maybe you should start taking your own advice for a change.”

“This is different,” Bruce sighed tiredly. Tonight was not the night that he wanted to have this reoccurring argument.

“How exactly?”

“Damian is still young. It’s not too late for him.”

Clark’s eyes widened at this comment. “So you think it’s too late for you?”

Bruce furrowed his brow and glared past the others incredulous expression. He then rose to his feet before pushing past Clark. “This is pointless.”

“Avoidance, what a surprise,” Clark chuckled caustically. “Only this time you can’t run away from me.”

Bruce frowned at the wrist Clark was now holding up.

“Just drop it.”

He wasn’t sure if it was Bruce’s cold voice or the frosty gaze that set him off, but suddenly Clark was finding it very difficult to keep his patience at bay. Resisting the urge to forcefully jerk his hand towards himself, Clark took a step forward into Bruce’s space.

“Bruce, this is what I have been trying to get at. The league, no, you and I, are more than just allies. Sure we don’t go parading around in matching costumes, but you have to admit there is more between us. To an extent, you and I are also-”

“Clark, stop it.”

A bit of Clark’s anger dissipated, as Bruce closed his eyes in such a way that all his feature softened up. As a result, Clark’s voice transformed from barely controllable frustration to fervent pleading. “Why does there have to be so much distance with the two of us? Why do you put all these walls up? Do you really think allowing yourself to be close to me would be that much of a risk to the world?”

“Yes,” came Bruce’s quick sharp reply.

Once again, Clark could only respond with a callous laugh. “Unbelievable. You really are something else, you know that?”

Now more than ever Bruce wished he could sever their nanomite link. Unfortunately that wasn’t something he could do, so instead he turned his back to Clark. The sad look in the others eyes mixed with his uncharacteristically cold laugh had driven Bruce to his limit. If he let this conversation continue any further, one of two things would happen, and he didn’t like either option.

“Enough, why are you so insistent on putting what you and I have into words? I’m perfectly content with the way things are now.”

It took everything within the enraged Kryptonian to stifle an oncoming shout. Why was Bruce one of the few people on this planet who could so easily test Clark’s ability to hold himself back?

“Are you kidding me?” Clark exclaimed. “Bruce, you are so selfish. Everything always has to be on your terms.”

“Clark.” Bruce’s warning fell on deaf ears, as Clark continued to talk as though he hadn’t heard him.

“You just want everything and everyone to fit perfectly in the little glass house you built for yourself.”

“Clark.” Came the second warning, but it was already too late. Something within Clark had finally been released. Years of pent up frustration was now flowing from his lips freely and he was not going to let Bruce shut him down this time.

“Well, did you ever stop to consider some folks just aren’t built that way?”

KAL-EL!

Clark’s verbal assault was instantly cut off. There weren’t many times Bruce addressed him by his birth name. Under any normal circumstance, the mere shock of hearing it shouted from his mouth could’ve quieted him, but in actuality, the dim color in Bruce’s dejected blue eyes was exponentially more effective. “Why is this so important to you? Isn’t this enough? What more do you want?”

“I…” Clark wasn’t exactly sure how to respond. There were so many things he wanted to say, was planning to say, but in an instant his mind was filled with only one thought.

'What more do I want?'

The answer should’ve been simple, but for some reason, it was something he could not formulate in his mind, nonetheless verbalize into words. Realizing it was impossible to get through to Bruce when he himself was still struggling with his thoughts, Clark conceded defeat.

“Never mind, forget it. You’re right,” he mumbled before turning his back to Bruce. “Well, it’s getting late. I better start this report for Perry.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once again, Bruce was standing in the cold empty darkness alone. Most people would have fled from the shadows but not Bruce. He actually ran willingly into the darkness of his own accord. To him it was a welcome escape from the harsh realities of his life, a perfect cover to mask his broken heart. So rather than fear the darkness, he embraced it wholeheartedly until eventually he could no longer tell the difference between himself and the night.

However, every now and again, Bruce felt a yearning that reached into the depths of his being, but every time that feeling began to surface, the darkness would devour it. That is until this particular day when something warm surrounded him. Bruce was apprehensive at first, but he headed towards the source until he suddenly came in reach of a light so bright it cut through the darkness. His first instinct was to run away from it. The light was so devastating it overpowered the darkness he was hiding under revealing just how transparent and truly alone he was. At this point, Bruce wasn’t sure he wanted to face the world, and yet despite the fear of the unknown, he could no longer deny how much he longed for its warmth.

Suddenly the cold cruel world seemed like something he could finally face if only he could reach out and get a firm grasp on that light. Slowly he reached out his hand, his fingers stretching as far as they could go. Just a little bit further. He now had his hands wrapped around it. He clasped tightly onto it and then suddenly…

Bruce blinked once, and then blinked again at the image he was staring at. Not quite ready to accept it as reality, he closed his eyes and counted to ten. It was a tactic he used whenever scarecrow managed to hit him with a new strain of fear toxin, a way for him to bring himself back to this world.

After taking in a deep breath, he opened his eyes again. There was no doubt about, the image he saw was not a dream. He had in fact woken up with his face just a few inches away from one Daily Planet reporter, Clark Kent.
Bruce was ready to leap to his feet, but before he could he looked down and was surprised by what he saw.

‘I’m holding Clark’s hand.’

Well, he wasn’t really holding his hand per say, but he did have a pretty tight grasp on the man’s wrist. A wave of shock and embarrassment washed over Bruce followed by a sudden realization.

‘Ah, I see, maybe that was it.’

Despite spending most his nights crime fighting, Bruce never really got much sleep to begin with. He would often wake up in the middle of the night, no doubt the product of a nightmare he had long since forgotten. However, he did seem to notice that over the past few days, he was waking up feeling much more refreshed. He originally believed that since he had been taking it easy the last few nights working the console, his body was not as overworked, allowing his mind a moment of rest thus being the reason behind his peaceful sleep. However, after witnessing what he was seeing, Bruce realized that deduction may not entirely be the case. Then again there was no reason for him to jump to any assumptions.

Before Bruce could ponder this further, he heard Clark stir. He immediately shut his eyes, and calmed his breathing. He then steadied his heart to the rate of someone who was asleep. Sure he hadn’t done anything wrong, but he wasn’t exactly sure how to deal with Clark waking up with Bruce holding his hand and staring at him. Speaking of hand, Bruce had forgotten to let go.

‘Damn!’

It was extremely difficult for Bruce to maintain his heart beat, but luckily it was something he spent years training at. He waited for Clark to react to the predicament Bruce had inadvertently caused, but the frenzied response he was expecting never came. Instead he felt Clark let out a soft sigh and then gently removed Bruce’s firm grasp from his wrist. He then quietly slipped back over to his side of the bed, or rather as far as he could go considering the pull of the nanomites was still in effect.

Bruce was no longer controlling his breathing, because now his heart had frozen with only one thought in mind. ‘So it is true...’

Now Bruce was at a complete loss as he spent the rest of the morning contemplating over what had just occurred.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was an awkward morning to say the least, but both men were too distracted by their own thoughts to notice how strange the other was acting.

Alfred, however, did not miss this detail. Typically Clark was so enthused about the meals he prepared, but on this particular morning, he barely even touched his plate. It also didn’t help that Damian never made it down for breakfast that day so the interaction at the table was beyond absent.

The Wayne butler considered making a witty quip to cut the mood, but even his instincts told him that it would not have much effect. So instead he just went about his routine in hopes that the two would be in higher spirits later.

As typical of their daily routine, both Clark and Bruce made their way to the workout area, but there was no arrogantly smirking Robin there to greet them. Instead there was just a note stating that due to his injury, Damian would not be attending morning training.

Beyond explaining the letter, neither man said another word to each other. Bruce started to do a warm up on his own on the opposite side of the room as far as he could possibly get from distracted reporter. Clark stood in front of a weight rack as though he were about to use it, but in all honesty, the equipment in the room was pretty useless to him. It just seemed like the normal thing to do, and right now the man was operating on cruise-control while his mind raced at an unruly speed.

‘I don’t understand what has gotten into me. Why am I so worked up over this? Bruce is right. Why am I not happy with things the way they already are between us?’

Clark unconsciously clasped one of the weights and tightened his grip around it.

‘What more do I want?’

And then it hit him, hard. As though the question he’d been struggling with over the last several days had been so simple, and in actuality it was. All of his questionable actions during the past week, no over the last several years just seemed to align to one obvious truth.

Clark dropped the weight. It landed on the ground with a loud sound, shocking the alien out of his daze. He then slowly closed his eyes and let out a very heavy sigh. It may have taken him a while to finally realize the problem, the solution, however, was something he was able to discover much quicker in his mind. No matter how he wanted to see it, there really was only one viable conclusion.

“Bruce, about last night, I want to apologize.”

Bruce’s eyes barely showed his surprise as he blinked in minor confusion. For some reason he didn’t even notice when Clark had approached him, nonetheless started talking. Was he really that out it?

“I guess we were getting along so well earlier, that I got carried away. Maybe I got swept up by your Chez character, or maybe it’s because we’ve been stuck together like this for so long,” Clark continued to explain not at all noticing Bruce’s reaction.

Bruce turned to look up at Clark who in fact looked pretty remorseful. Actually, he looked beyond apologetic. He looked out right miserable. Sure the two of them hadn’t seen eye to eye, but there was no reason for Clark to feel this upset over it.

“In any case, it was wrong of me to try to force my feelings on you. I really do value the relationship you and I have now.”

Clark paused and Bruce could not miss the hurt look in the other man’s eyes. If Clark was so resolute, why didn’t it look like it? Did he really agree with Bruce?

“That’s why I wouldn’t want to do anything to jeopardize what we have now. You were right. I don’t need more than this.”

A feeling Bruce was all too familiar with slowly began to creep over him. It was an emotion he spent years learning to control, but regardless, it was something he still could never get use to, panic.

Although the argument from the night before was suddenly resolved, the ending was much more dramatic than it seemed on the surface. Something happened just now, and Bruce wasn’t exactly sure what, but he knew if he didn’t say something now, his relationship with Clark would never be the same.

“Clark...” Bruce murmured, but no words followed. He couldn’t think of a single thing to do or say. His mind was a complete blank. Then, as if by a cruel twist of fate, a familiar sound started to ring in Bruce’s ears.

“Batman. Superman.”

“Atom?” Clark replied as he was the only one who made a move to respond.

“I think I have some good news for you two,” the man replied back happily.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

“Congratulations, you two are free men!”

Batman and Superman stared in stunned silence, or at least that is how Ray translated it. Then again, if the heavy mood that was now overtaking the room was just a product of shock, why did Ray suddenly feel so down? After spending the last four days tirelessly working on a virus that could destroy one of the most complex and intricately engineered nanomite technologies he’d seen in years, Ray was expecting a much better reaction.

Not quite sure how to translate their response, Ray spoke up with even more enthusiasm. “Well, don’t look so thrilled.”

Clark smiled weakly at the confused doctor and finally replied. “I guess we are just in shock that this is finally over.”

Batman nodded in agreement.

Ray gave them a skeptical look, but before he could question them further, Clark put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and looked at him with honest sincerity. “Thank you, Dr. Palmer.”

After saying their goodbyes, both heroes made their way outside.

“Well, I guess this is it,” Clark replied as he turned to face Bruce.

“Yeah,” Bruce replied back.

Unable to make eye contact and still not sure what else to say, Clark just stared past Bruce. In actuality he expected Bruce to be the first to leave, like he usually did, but instead he was just staring at Clark without a word.

Clark shifted his weight and cleared his throat before finally deciding to end the silence. “Well, I better get back to Metropolis. I’m sure Perry has a mountain of work piled up for me.”

Clark waited for a reply. When there was none, he lifted off the ground and gave Bruce one last glance. He then opened his mouth to speak but different words than what he wanted to say came out. “See you at the next meeting.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It started off subtle. So subtle, it could have been mistaken for nothing at all. He was never the type to jump to conclusions though. He was, however, the observant type. It was one of the main reasons he was still alive. Ever watchful of his surroundings and the people around him, knowing all their tells like a well seasoned card hustler. This level of vigilance was necessary in order for him to always stay one step ahead, predict the hand death continuously dealt him. Needless to say, it didn’t take him long to figure out something was wrong.

The first sign was probably the change of attitude at their meetings. The sudden decline in attentiveness, the complete lack of eye contact, and low sighs of what he was certain could be translated as frustration. Even when he was addressed directly by him, the dialogue between them was kept to a bare minimum, which brought up a second point.

In the past, after mission briefings, Superman would usually make a point to linger behind to go over notes with Batman. At first it annoyed Bruce, but once he realized Clark was not doing it to question the competency of his plans, he was aggravated for a different reason. Somehow a certain super powered being always managed to turn any kind of mission planning into a “let’s get to know each other better” segue.

Batman wasn’t sure which irritated him the most. Maybe it was the constant need to pry into his personal affairs?

How is Alfred doing? Is Damian finally settling in? When’s the last time you spoke to Dick?

Then again, it was hard to compare the level of annoyance he got from playing 20 questions with the volume of irritation produced from hearing Superman’s reprimands.

You should get more sleep. It might be healthier if you ate on a more regular schedule. Try taking a break every once in a while. Lighten up a bit.

He was almost as bad as Alfred!

If Batman was busy he would cut these encounters short, and luckily Superman seemed to be an expert at translating this. However, there were cases where the caped crusader didn’t have pressing matters to attend to, and in those situations he would silently tolerate the array of chatter. Sure it was mostly one sided, with him contributing little more than nodding and one word responses, but it seemed to be enough to satisfy the probing alien. This was evident from the smile spread across Superman’s pleased face. Not one of his fake smiles either. The kind of smile that the world’s Boy Scout could so easily conjure up for the masses. Sure it wasn’t something hard for him to do considering he was genuinely a kind person. Yet somehow, despite all that, even though it wasn’t exactly forced, it was still something someone as perceptive as Batman could see as not entirely genuine. In its own way, it was the kind of smile that allowed Superman to keep his emotional distance with as much effectiveness as Batman’s own perpetually dark scowl.

So even though Batman was not exactly fond of small talk, he made the effort to bear it from time to time. To allow Superman the opportunity to drop the perfect hero façade so that he could sit and speak freely while smiling purely without motive. Batman told himself he did it because morale was an important part of keeping the team at its best. More than likely that probably was the reason, and yet, if that was completely true, why couldn’t Bruce shake the feeling of triumph he got every time Superman flashed him one of his winning smiles? Batman knew it was a bit ridiculous to associate seeing someone’s smile with a feeling of success, but knowing it was something that Clark only did for close friends and family somehow made Bruce feel a bit…special.
So when Clark started immediately disappearing after every meeting, Bruce knew something was awry. He couldn’t remember the last time he spoke with the hero outside their JLA meetings and mission briefings. He was also quick to note the transformation in Clark’s smile. It was neither his forced public smile nor his genuine relaxed one. It was something more along the lines of nervous and strained.

Finally, the last key tell was the avoidance. It wasn’t that Superman just made a point to cut their encounters as short as possible, or that he disappeared at the end of meetings with as much haste and finesse as the dark crusader, it was the fact that Superman made sure the two of them were never left alone together.

In the past, when assigning out tasks for missions, Superman always made an extra effort to be paired with Batman. In the situations where this was not the best plan of attack, the small show of disappointment on Clark’s face was something Bruce never missed. However, as of recent, this was not the case. It was actually quite the opposite. Now Superman was very vocal and quick to make sure he was partnered with anyone but him.

In the end, Bruce finally came to an obvious conclusion. It was exactly as he predicted. Ever since the day they were finally separated from their nanomite chain, something had changed. Clark’s seemingly innocent declaration meant so much more than what was said, and Bruce was determined to get to the bottom of what it all really meant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It started off subtle. So subtle, it could have been mistaken for nothing at all. Bruce wasn’t sure at what point the infatuation began. A glance here, an undetected eye there, but eventually he started paying more and more attention to one distant Clark Kent. So much so, that the other was the only thing on his mind besides work. Sure there was a perfectly good explanation for Bruce’s growing interest. Superman’s attitude had changed, and it was Batman’s job to observe all deviations in his teammates’ behavior. It was for the safety and the preservation of the mission, right?

With Clark continuously making an effort to avoid him, it affected the solidarity of the team. Sure Bruce was never exactly fond of the times Superman would challenge his plans, but there were several cases where in doing so, he pointed out details Batman may have missed; especially when it came to particulars concerning the psychological state of the league.

The dark knight was well aware that he was a goal oriented individual, and sometimes he was so focused on the results, he forgot to take into account the emotional repercussions of his plans. So in a way, he looked towards Clark for guidance in areas he himself was less sensitive, a conscience of sorts. There were also cases when Bruce had the tendency to over complicate or overthink a situation, but somehow Clark could perfectly translate Bruce’s thought process and was able to seamlessly simplify things in a way that satisfied everyone. So when Superman suddenly became aloof and unresponsive at meetings, it was only natural that Batman became upset, right?

So the slowly growing anger he was now feeling towards getting the cold shoulder was perfectly justifiable, right? Yeah, it was true that Batman preferred his solitude, but when he joined the JLA, he was already aware he would have to give that up. That was the annoying nature of being part of a team, but something he had come to terms with before signing on.

Okay, so maybe Superman was still being pretty cooperative when it came to the team and missions. If Batman asked for input on a situation, the alien would give him his honest opinion, albeit, he was much less defiant these days if they had a conflict of interest, and for some reason that irritated Bruce more than their typical bickering. Maybe it was the almost complete lack of engagement from Clark in their dialogs that bothered him, but if Bruce had to be completely honest, it was the vacant empty smile he would give as he spoke. At least when speaking with other league members, Superman had the courtesy to flash them one of his charming shallow smiles. So what made Bruce so different?

After pondering these thoughts long enough, there was only one viable conclusion. Clark was upset with him, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out why. The change had started after they had their confrontation. Bruce knew he had said some pretty harsh things to the other man, but it was the only way he could get his point across. He knew his words would upset Clark, but he never thought it would be to this magnitude.

Batman had never been a man of very many words. He firmly believed in the ideal that you choose your words carefully. If there wasn’t something important to be said, then there didn’t need to be anything said at all. He also didn’t consider feelings and emotions as things that had to always be verbalized to be understood, much less expressed at all. Of course, he also wasn’t such a small minded individual to believe everyone was built the same way as him. There were people like Dick and Clark, who were quite the opposite. Outward expressions and verbal signs of affection were things that came natural to them. It made communication with others easier, and it was part of the reason they were able to draw the adoration of everyone around them.

Things like this did not interest Batman. It would only get in the way of his mission, however, that didn’t mean he was the kind of person that didn’t have these kinds of feelings and emotions. It didn’t mean he was someone who didn’t understand and value of these things. He just had a different way of expressing himself, and there were very few people who understood that about him. People like Alfred, Dick, and Tim and prior to recent events, people like Clark.

After years of working together, one day Bruce realized the two of them were just completely attune with one another. Even while butting heads, everything between them felt so, well, natural. Just like the bond Batman had with all of his Robins, he didn’t need to speak a multitude of words to be understood or to get his point across. Somehow Clark had managed to crack the complicated enigma that was Bruce’s mind, and it was for that reason their relationship worked so well. They had an unspoken agreement, a silent bond between them. Had Batman taken that for granted?

Even though Bruce didn’t want to say it out loud, there was no denying the obvious. He and Clark were friends, best friends. Bruce knew that was the truth Clark was trying to wring out of him, but for several reasons, Bruce just couldn’t bring himself to put it into words. Despite this, it was still an obvious fact. So why had Clark been so insistent that day? What had changed in their relationship that Clark suddenly needed validation from Bruce over something they both already understood?

“Are you kidding me? Bruce, you are so selfish. Everything always has to be on your terms.”

Bruce also couldn’t forget Clark’s biting words. It took a lot of restraint for him not to answer that question. Then again, Bruce couldn’t really blame Clark for coming to that conclusion, and to a point he was correct. A friendship with Bruce meant things had to be on his terms otherwise, Bruce could do without it. It was part of the reason Bruce was alone. He realized his terms weren’t very fair, and he would never force them on anyone. Clark had been the one who strode his way into Bruce’s life despite the strings that came attached with it.

He knew what he was getting into. Isn’t that why Clark had been the one to apologize and explain he understood and accepted Bruce’s feelings? So if that were the case, why had things turned out this way? Why was Clark giving Bruce the cold shoulder? Why say he was okay with everything when he wasn’t. If he had a problem with Bruce, he should just out right say so instead of being so passive aggressive!

Bruce let out an exasperated breath. Once again he had let his thoughts come full circle onto one frustrating man of steel. Even when the two of them were on friendly terms he never let his thoughts and time be consumed by the alien like this.

Bruce scowled at his blank computer screen. His frown only deepened when he realized two hours had gone by with him not even attempting to place his hands on the keyboard in the right position. Had his thoughts on Clark really distracted him that much?

Bruce growled deeply and silently cursed. He was upset. Upset that he had not gotten any work finished, upset that he was letting Clark get under his skin, upset that Clark had lied, and most importantly, upset that, well, Clark was upset with him.

“Master Bruce,” a familiar voice called out. “I came to inform you that the gala you were invited to begins in an hour. You asked me to remind you but never confirmed if you will actually be attending.”

Bruce had completely forgotten about the expedition. It was an event that was being held by a close family friend. Old art had been collected from around the world, in addition to pieces that were submitted from famous nationally and critically acclaimed artist who were inspired by the excavated art. In the end, Bruce had no intention of attending and had just donated a considerable amount of money to the event. He figured that would be enough to appease everyone regardless if he showed up or not.

Then again, at this point, Bruce was ready to take any kind of distraction from his current inner turmoil. How ironic it was that he was now considering a tedious social event as an upgrade from his current state. “Yes, Alfred, I will be going.”

“Very well, I have already laid out your attire for the evening.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Bruce we are so glad you could make it!” A jovial voice sounded from across the room. The moment the eccentrically dressed man caught eyes with Bruce he was waving him down in an instant.

“Vincent! It’s been too long,” Bruce replied back with as much enthusiasm.

Vincent was a famous art dealer in Gotham whose family had been long time acquaintances with the Waynes. Although they were not exactly close, Vincent and Bruce had grown up in each others company. Vincent had made many attempts at befriending Bruce, and despite Bruce’s evasion, had always treated him as such. In actuality, Bruce really respected Vincent. His family was one of the few wealthy families left in Gotham that didn’t try to use their riches for personal gain or corruption. They just had a genuine love and appreciation for art, and Vincent was no different.

“When you didn’t RSVP to the event, I figured you weren’t going to make it, again,” Vincent laughed out.

Bruce smiled back before Vincent suddenly grabbed him by the arm and turned him to face the crowd of people he was just entertaining.

“Bruce here is actually one our biggest benefactors. He contributed so much money I thought he was trying to use his donation as a ‘get out of attendance free’ card.”

Bruce expertly hid a look of guilt before putting on his best Brucie face and addressing the crowd. “Well, I figured I mine as well come and see what I blew all my money on since I can’t take anything home with me.”

The group burst into laughter and Vincent shook his head with amusement.

“Well, you won’t be disappointed,” Vincent smiled as he motioned the group to follow him. “So, Bruce, what do you think of this piece?

Bruce let out a soft gasp as he took in a full view of the painting Vincent had led him too.

“It’s…remarkable,” Bruce replied honestly. At first glance, one would have just seen an array of subdued dark colors. However the alignment of this particular piece somehow took those typically dull tones and hues and turned them into a canvas of shadowy life. It was what Bruce would have imagined the backside of a rainbow would look like. Each stroke was placed with so much care and thought it was hard to not feel the emotion behind the piece. As though the artist were trying send a message to the viewer that even after a heavy loss, beautiful rebirth can follow.

“You want to hear something even more remarkable,” Vincent asked as he leaned closer into Bruce’s space. “This piece was created by royalty.”

“Royalty?” Bruce echoed as he felt a strange premonition come over him.

“Well, speak of the devil, here’s our artist now!” Vincent exclaimed happily. “Everyone, I would like to formally introduce to you her highness Princess Lael of Letvia.”

A lean woman with olive colored skin and dark brown hair approached the group. She wore a sleek purple gown, and compared to the rest of the women in room had very little makeup or jewelry on. If Vincent had not introduced her, she would’ve fit in perfectly with the crowd as just another normal guest.

“Her highness has always been well known in the art community,” Vincent continued to explain. “She has a very unique style.”

“Well, it has always been a passion of mine to express to the world the true beauty of my country on canvas. Many people may just see it as a poor third world nation that is struggling to recover from a long lasting war, however, there is so much more than what can be seen on the surface,” Lael explained.

“Yes, it shows,” Bruce inadvertently replied as he continued to admire the piece.

He was then surprised when the princess stepped through the crowd and addressed him directly. “Mr. Wayne, I wanted to personally thank you for your donation to this event and also for all the assistance your company has provided to my country in the past. “

“Me?” Bruce blurted with a sheepish laugh. “I am not sure I know what you are talking about. My secretary stamps all my checks for me,” he lied.

Bruce may have read an article once that was written by a certain Daily Planet reporter about the state of the Letvian empire, and against his accountant’s advice, he might have written a check or two to fund a few restoration projects. It wasn’t something that he really wanted to advertise though.

The princess gave Bruce a wry yet soft smile. “Fine, Mr. Wayne, if that is what you say,” she replied before leaning in and speaking just barely above a whisper. “But remember that an artist with an eye as keen as mine can tell the difference between a stamp and a personally signed check.”

Bruce smiled back at the princess innocently who in return gave him a mischievous eye. She then nodded her head before walking away to speak with Vincent.

Bruce shook his head and held back a chuckle before stepping away from the crowd that was now flocking along with Vincent and the princess. Once he was out of the herd, he dropped his smile and scanned the room.

After realizing who the royalty Vincent had mentioned was, Bruce suddenly recognized the reasoning behind his earlier premonition. When it came to bad coincidences, Bruce was a repeat offender, and the chances that the person he came to this event to avoid would be here were pretty high.

Then if by fate, he finally locked eyes with the last person he wanted to see that night. As soon as Bruce’s sharp blue eyes met with Clark’s own startled sapphires, Clark gave Bruce a strange smile and averted his gaze.

Bruce pierced his lips together as he felt his anger rise. He hated that damn fake smile. Suddenly the room began to feel unbearably crowded. Without another moment of thought, Bruce made his way to the nearest exit. Suddenly he was very much in need of some air. Unfortunately, Bruce continued to be the recipient of bad luck that night. As soon as he opened the door, he was roughly pushed back inside. Bruce made a move of protest before he realized the man who had run into him was not alone. He then took cover as eight more men sprung out from behind the aggressor all carrying assault rifles and clad in black body armor.

“Everyone hands up!” The man shouted before pulling out his own gun and shooting it into the air. The hall became an array of frenzied screams and chaotic stampeding.

The man who had shot his gun gritted his teeth before pointing it towards the crowd and growling out. “I said hands up! If anyone moves again, I will shoot them on the spot.”

In an instant the entire room came to a grinding halt. Hands everywhere were thrown into the air, as the only noises that could be heard were the whimpers and cries of several panicked guest.

The man let out a toothy grin at this before jumping up onto the closes table and spreading his arms out towards everyone in a joyous manner.

“Great now that I have finally gotten everyone’s attention, it is time for an introduction. We are the Black Regalia sworn protectors of Novascotchia.”

As the man spoke he eyed the crowd before suddenly locking onto something and sneering. He then jumped off the table and walked towards they object of his intrigue. A few of his companions followed alongside him, guns in tow as they motioned for members of the crowd to move out his way.

“Ah, Lael, just the woman I was looking for,” the man cooed as he stood face to face with a very cross looking princess.

As soon as he came within two feet of her, two large men stepped out in front of him, no doubt the princess’s body guards.

“We will never let you lay hands on her highness,” one of the guards snarled.

The leader of the Black Regalia dropped his smile and glanced at his own men. At this gesture they immediately pointed their guns at the guards before the princess sprung out from behind them and interjected. “No! Stop! If it is me you wanted to see, then here I am!”

“Princess!” The guard interjected before she turned to look at the man in warning.

“No, there is no point in getting yourselves killed. We are obviously out numbered. I command you to stand down.”

The guard shrank down, obviously frustrated, but not able to protest any further with his princess’ command. Once she was certain she had calmed him, the princess turned and glared back at the grinning ring leader. “What do you want from me?”

The man chuckled back obviously amused by the princess’s attitude. He then leaned in on her so that their faces were only a few inches apart. “You, my dear, are of little importance to me, however, what prince Keyonte can do for me in order to have you back safely is a different matter.”

“Echo team, secure this room,” The man commanded. He then grabbed Lael by the wrist, and pulled her towards the exit. “The princess is coming with me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before the guard even knew what was going on, he was suddenly met with hand to his mouth and an arm wrapped around his throat. He reached for his gun, but the moment he lifted it up, it came up much further than he expected and smashed into his forehead. The man let out one last muffled sound before instantly blacking out.

Bruce gently eased the man to the ground, before positioning his body against a wall so that it was mostly out of sight.

“So what’s the plan?”

Bruce turned and scowled at the man who had suddenly appeared next to him. He had felt his presence long before he had spoken and admittedly was already expecting his arrival.

“The plan is that I will take these guys out,” Bruce replied as he strode past Clark without any further acknowledgement.

“Ok, so what do you want me to do?” Clark asked as he followed behind.

“Leave,” Bruce commanded.

It was at that point Clark suddenly stepped out in front of him and frowned. “You’re kidding me, right?”

Bruce stopped and looked back up and Clark expressionlessly. “Does it look like it?”

“It never does,” Clark muttered. The two men then stared each other down, before Clark finally shook his head and dropped his gaze. Once again, there was no point in trying to match Bruce’s tactics.

“Ok, really, I just scanned the building, there is a terrorist group the size of a small militia here threatening everyone, do you really think you can take care of everything yourself?”

Bruce continued to glare at Clark wordlessly. Clark let out a frustrated yet controlled sigh. “Okay, dumb question.”

Once again Bruce pushed past Clark and started to make his way down the hall.

“Look, I am not questioning your abilities, but I am here. Let me help you,” Clark continued to plead as he followed along side him.

“I don’t meddle in Metropolis, so leave Gotham alone.”

Another exasperated breath could be heard from the man of steel, and this time his voice was much less maintained. “You don’t own Gotham. Okay, maybe your family owns half the city, but Batman doesn’t own Gotham. I see people in trouble I’m going to help them, regardless of what you say.”

“Fine, do whatever you like, just keep out of my way,” Bruce growled as he turned around and started heading the opposite direction Clark was facing.

Finally out of patience, Clark grabbed Bruce’s arm, and forced him to turn back around.

“Bruce, what is your problem?”

Bruce immediately pushed Clark’s hands away and snapped back. “What is my problem? What about you?”

“What about me? What are you talking about?”

The look of confusion on the reporter’s face was hard to deny. Bruce was also surprised at his own reaction but before he could reply both heroes were suddenly interrupted.

“HEY! What are you two doing? Put your hands up!” Both men had been spotted by another guard. Considering neither hero had changed out of their civilian attire yet, the man had no idea who they were and was obviously confused as to why guest were roaming the halls. He pointed his gun at both of them and started to approach.

Both Clark and Bruce raised their hands into the air, however, Bruce flicked his wrist in such a quick manner, the guard completely missed the release of the batarang that flew out his sleeve. Before he even knew what hit him, the man was lying unconscious on the ground.

“We don’t have time for this,” Bruce growled as he finally conceded defeated. “You handle the group on this floor and everything below, and make sure to evacuate everyone. I’ll take care of the floors above and figure out where they took the princess.”

At least with this plan, Bruce could still keep his distance from the source of his frustration while at the same time appeasing the other stubborn hero.

“Fine,” Clark sighed. He was well aware of Bruce’s intent but gave into the compromise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruce crawled his way through an air vent. After confiscating a communicator from one of the guards, Bruce had managed to figure out the location of all the stationed teams and slowly started to pick each member off while remaining concealed. It seemed like the best plan of attack considering he wasn’t sure how many men he was dealing with, and also due to the fact that the spare suit he wore to the party had no body armor and limited weaponry. It was a lighter version of his batsuit that he was able to conceal under his clothes for situations just like this. As usual, Bruce always wanted to be prepared for any occasion, and it seemed like this time he was right to do so.

After listening in on their chatter, Bruce eventually discovered the whereabouts of the captured princess. She was located in the outer most conference room on the 25th floor. Bruce crawled his way through the vents above the room and was now assessing the area. There were two guards outside the room, and three more inside, with the addition of the apparent leader of the group. The princess was located in the back of the room near a large window as far away from the front entrance as she could be. Bruce silently waited from above as he continued to devise the best plan attack.

“Oh, it looks like her highness has something to say,” one of the men laughed out.

He had been staring and Lael, who was now gagged and glaring angrily at him. Taking joy out of watching the princess suffer, the man removed the tape from her mouth only to be greeted by spit to his face.

“How DARE you!” the man thundered as he struck her so hard, she hit the ground.

“Pull anymore stunts like that, and you may not be living for much longer,” the man snarled as he wiped his face.

Lael stood back up and faced the man with even more defiance in her eyes. “Go ahead and kill me. It would be a welcomed fate compared to being used as your political pawn in order to hurt my love.”

“Be careful what you wish for princess, it might just be arranged!” a deep voice laughed out. Up until this point, the leader of the gang had just silently watched the scene in pure amusement, however, after hearing Lael’s threat he finally decided to cut in.

Lael glared back him the resolve in her eyes never once fading. This only caused the man’s grin to widen.

Suddenly the doors to the room flew open as one of the guards from outside came rushing in. “Boss!”

The ringleader let out an annoyed sigh before turning his attention away from the princess and back to the man. “What is it?”

“We have bad news,” the man dropped his smile and looked back at the guard expectantly.

“We haven’t heard from anyone on Echo team in the last half hour. We sent Charlie team to investigate and since then we haven’t heard from either team.”

“You don’t think it’s…him?” One of the men sputtered out nervously.

“Calm down,” their boss snapped. “We knew what we were getting into when we decided to come to Gotham.”

“Boss its worst then we expected,” the guard continued to explain.

“What do you mean?”

The man gulped and looked about the room uneasily before he held out a small black object. “Delta and Beta team have also been taken out, and we found this.”

“So it is him!” One of the other guards gasped as he immediately recognized the batarang.

The room soon became a mix of anxious faces as everyone began to clasp their weapons tightly while the guard continued with his report. “To make matters worse Superman is also here.”

“What the hell is he doing here?” someone exclaimed.

“If they are both here, we don’t stand a chance!” another guard shouted.

“SILENCE!” the ring leader thundered. He then scowled back at the first guard. “This plan is a bust. Tell the rest of our men to rally to the checkpoint.”

The man looked even more panicked than before at the command before stammering. “Sir, there are no other men. We are all that is left.”

At this comment, the Regalia boss grew very silent and looked through the man, his stern eyes never once dropping.

“Sir?” the guard questioned as he began to worry about his boss.

Before anyone had time to react the man whipped around and pulled out the hand gun attached to his side holster and pointed it at the princess.

“This is all your fault!” he roared as he made his way towards her. “Well, we may not be able to take the prince out, but if we at least eliminate you there will be no chance of a Letvian and Novascotchian unification.”

Bruce was out of time. Just as the man began to pull his trigger, he came crashing down from above.

“BATMAN!” the princess and several of the guards shouted just before their voices were covered up by the sound of gunfire and windows shattering.

The princess let out a small sound of alarm as Bruce pulled her behind a nearby desk. It was at that point the ring leader glared at all his men. “Why am I the only one shooting?!”

At this remark all the guards pulled out their rifles and began lighting up the desk, but by then Bruce had already moved the princess and himself to a podium.

“Oh no Batman, you have been shot!” Lael gasped as she noticed an alarming amount of blood gushing out of Bruce’s right arm.

“Don’t worry about me, just stay here and keep quiet,” Batman ordered. He then leaped out from behind the desk while throwing out a few batarangs. Two of the guards were hit squarely in the hands causing them to release their weapons. Bruce dashed towards them and tackled them, while throwing out a smoke bomb in the process.

Lael crouched behind the desk and covered her mouth. The only thing that could be heard was gunfire, men coughing, and the sound of punches being thrown. When the smoke had cleared all of the assailants were incapacitated, save for the man standing next to her scowling. Lael let out a shout before he grabbed her.

“Batman, it is already too late! You can’t stop this,” the man shouted as he made his way towards the broken window. The ringleader had long since lost his gun, but it was obvious what he was about to do.

Bruce threw out his last batarang. Realizing what Bruce was doing the man threw the princess out of the window just before he was knocked unconscious. The princess screamed, but was grabbed by the wrist just in time. Upon realizing what the man was attempting to do, Bruce had dashed towards them at full speed. Luckily he had gathered up just enough momentum to throw the princess back into the building but was moving too fast to stop in time.

As Bruce’s feet left the ground he shot out his grapple hook. The claw connected with the building directly across from him, however, as he felt the reel tighten, he suddenly lost his grip. Bruce had made a grave miscalculation. After losing so much blood and getting a direct shot to the arm, he no longer had the strength or the energy to keep hold of the device.

“Shit!” A rush of cold blood coursed through Bruce’s body as a helpless feeling began to overtake him, but rather than feel panicked Bruce closed his eyes tightly and quietly murmured. “Clark.”

“BRUCE!”

Bruce’s eyes flew open as he heard his name being shouted several times. Maybe it was due to blood loss, but at some point Bruce had lost consciousness. When he finally came too, he was being held in the arms of a very distraught looking man of steel.

Realizing he had finally regained consciousness, the look of alarm washed off of Clark’s face and was replaced with relief.

“Thank God you’re alright,” Clark sighed out. He then dropped the look of ease and glared angrily at Bruce. “What the hell is your problem?! Why didn’t you call for help?”

“I…” Bruce mumbled. For a moment he was lost in a daze and was still slowly registering what was going on. He also was a bit distracted by the fact that this was the first time Clark had given him a genuine smile in months. However, once he fully recovered from his delirium, Bruce immediately shoved Clark away. “Let go of me. I didn’t need your help.”

“Like hell you didn’t,” Clark snapped back. “Bruce, what is wrong? Why are you acting like this? I know you are ridiculously stubborn, but not when it comes to things like this. Why are you so upset with me?”

Bruce’s eye flashed an alarming shade of blue. He then turned to face Clark baring the full ferocity of his disbelief. “Why am I so upset? What about you?”

“This again?” Clark groaned as he held a hand to his temple. “What are you even talking about?”

“Your acting is terrible,” Bruce frowned as he gave Clark a suspicious eye.

“No, seriously, I am completely clueless here,” Clark exclaimed while waving his arms out.

Bruce was still not buying it. “Really, is that why you’ve been avoiding me all this time?”

“What?” Clark sputtered, his confused face somehow forming into an even more clueless shape.

Bruce let out an impatient sound as he realized they were starting to speak in circles. Was Clark really going to make him spell it out?

“You don’t think I haven’t noticed the way you disappear after all our meetings, or how you never want to team up with me anymore? Then every time you do talk to me you’re always anxious to leave and giving me that uncomfortable fake smile while avoiding eye contact.”

Suddenly the puzzled look on Clark’s face began to fade as he continued to take in Bruce’s words in silence. Bruce, however, didn’t seem to notice as he continued on with his complaints.

“You said you understood me. You were the one who apologized to me first. If you didn’t mean it, then why even bother lying to me like I wouldn’t figure it out?”

“Bruce, it’s not what you think…” Clark mumbled almost inaudibly.

“Then what is it?”

Clark’s eyes drifted to the ground.

Several seconds passed in silence, but to Bruce the moment was timeless. He eventually let out a low growl and turned his back to Clark.

“Fine. You want me to say it. I will!” Bruce shouted just before his voice and intensity dropped dramatically.

“Clark, without a doubt, I trust you. I probably trust you with more aspects of my life than anyone else. I trust you to be the one to stop me when I get out of line. I trust that you will support me when I need it. I trust you will take care of this planet after I’ve gone long cold in my grave. Hell, I even trust you with my life.”

With this statement, Bruce suddenly whirled back around to face Clark and pointed at the building across from them. “I mean, just now, when I was falling 20 stories, I never once doubted that you would catch me.”

For a moment Clark just stared at the building until Bruce dropped his hand and continued to speak. “I thought you already understood the reason, but I guess I have no choice but to say it.”

Clark looked back at Bruce’s face and searched his eyes, but Bruce immediately lowered his gaze. There was no way he could speak his next words while facing Clark directly. “It’s because you’re my friend, my best friend.”

“Bruce…”

There, it had finally been said. Bruce finally admitted it out loud. In actuality, it was something that was a lot easier than he had made it out to be, but regardless, getting the words out didn’t make him feel any less frustrated. No, for some reason it was having quite the opposite effect.

“Damnit,” Bruce cursed. “I knew this wouldn’t work out. I knew no one could handle this, handle me. I didn’t ask you to be my friend. I didn’t want you to be my friend. You’re the one that pushed your way into my life!”

Clark winced a little at Bruce’s last statement.

He wasn’t sure at what point it had happened, but Bruce’s thoughts started to spill freely and uncontrollably from his lips. All the alarms kept ringing in his mind, telling him he was reaching closer to the point of no return, but for some reason, he just couldn’t stop. “You were right Clark. I am selfish. I want everything on my terms. So now that you forced a place into my life, you can’t just do whatever you like! Don’t forget, you’re the one that asked for this first. You don’t get to leave until I say so!”

Bruce could hardly believe the unreasonable things he was saying. At some point, he had forgotten what he was even talking about, until eventually he had reached a conclusion he didn’t even know he wanted till the words were already out of his mouth.

Clark smiled and Bruce felt his anger peak to an all-time high. How dare Clark give him that fake empty smile at a time like this!

Bruce let out a strangled sound and was about to protest before Clark let out a soft chuckle and started to walk towards him.

“I’m sorry Bruce,” Clark apologized, the same sad look in his eyes.

“What?” Bruce exclaimed as he took a step back. At some point Clark had gotten too close for his liking. Bruce then felt his panic rise as Clark reached his arms out to him. Unfortunately, due to his already riled and confused state, Bruce hesitated for a split second and before he knew it, he was caught in a tight embrace.

“Let go of me!” Bruce thundered as he struggled to no avail.

“I won’t,” Clark answered back softly.

“I said let go of me!” Bruce commanded.

“No,” Clark replied back as he only tightened his hold.

“What the hell, Clark?” Bruce mumbled as he suddenly took a look at Clark’s face. Although he was the one being held against his will, Clark was the one who looked defeated, and suddenly Bruce was losing his will to fight. In all honestly, he was more confused than upset.

“I am already at my limit, Bruce,” Clark sighed tiredly, the air inadvertently tickling Bruce’s neck as he spoke. Bruce held back a shiver before finally giving up his struggle and letting out his own defeated sigh. At this point, he knew there was no way he could overpower Clark without seriously hurting him, and for some reason, Bruce just couldn’t bring himself to cause the man anymore pain than what was already being reflected in his eyes.

Realizing Bruce had finally given in, Clark released his tight grip on him but still refused to let go of Bruce’s arms. He then let out another dejected laugh and rested his forehead on Bruce’s shoulder. “You drive me insane. You always have to push me over the edge, don’t you?”

Bruce was even more at a loss as Clark looked up at him with a smile Bruce had never seen. It was a mix of raw emotion that Bruce was not at all familiar with. “I give up.”

“What are you-” Bruce stammered, just before his words were lost.

Bruce watched the scene as though it were happening in slow motion. A million thoughts raced through his mind. There were so many things he could’ve done, should’ve done, but in that exact moment the only thing he could manage to do was stare back in shock and watch as Clark slowly leaned in. It was then that Bruce’s breath caught in his throat as Clark finally closed the last bit of space between them, and their lips met.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

His mind was a bit hazy. The last thing he could remember before he recovered his senses was warmth starting at his lips and spreading throughout his entire being. The touch was light, and soft, and entirely too brief, but regardless of its hesitation, there was no denying the raw emotion behind it. However, what it translated to was something Bruce was not able to fully comprehend or rather, couldn’t comprehend.

“Clark?” He managed to murmur, his body still a bit stunned. The lost look on Bruce’s face was priceless.

“Heh, I thought for sure you were going to hit me,” Clark chuckled softly his smile a mix of somber relief.

“I…” Bruce murmured just before a sharp tint of blue returned to his eyes. “Explain.”

“I’m sorry Bruce,” Clark apologized while staring at the ground thoughtfully. “I just, I figured at the rate things were going, it didn’t matter what I did anymore. Regardless of what I try, I just can’t seem to do right by you.”

Clark dropped his shoulders and finally relinquished his hold on Bruce. “So I guess that means I mine as well just give it up and be completely honest now.”

Bruce continued to stare quietly at Clark who was now pacing the rooftop. “Bruce, I was never upset with you, well maybe at the moment I am. I mean, you had me worried sick. Why are you so damn stubborn?”

Bruce clenched his jaw in response. Realizing he was losing him, Clark shook his head and regained focus. “Okay, this is not what I want to say. It’s just, I don’t know what I would do if I lost you again.”

Bruce’s gaze faltered a bit as Clark looked back at him revealing the full extent of his worry. “That’s why I have been acting the way I have. The avoidance, the uncomfortable smiles, it was because…” Clark paused for a moment as though he were debating whether to say his next words. “It’s because being around you makes me miserable. “

“What? Why?” Bruce questioned with more panic then intended.

Once again a fake empty smile appeared on Clark’s face, but the pure emotion pooling in his deep blues left little for him to hide behind. “Bruce, it’s because I am so hopelessly in love you with you right now, it hurts.”

“Clark?”

Once again, Bruce was in a complete state of shock as he listened to Clark as though he were speaking another language. It wasn’t that he couldn’t translate his words, but at the same time, everything felt incredibly foreign.

“I am not sure when it happened, but I think I have loved you for a long time. I just didn’t realize it till now. You were right, I already knew you considered me your friend, and I know the reason you don’t want to say it out loud. I know you think you have some stupid curse, and that anyone you care about is doomed.”

Clark balled up his hand and lightly swung his fist to his side. “Damnit, Bruce, you aren’t the selfish one. I am.”

Bruce finally stopped staring past the other hero and looked up at Clark with question.

“I truly do respect your feelings, and I never meant to force myself on you, but you were right. I pushed my friendship onto you. It was all I could do to get closer, and I should’ve just been happy with that, with the way things were between us. Now I’m sure I’ve ruined everything.”

For a moment Clark stopped talking, but Bruce still couldn’t find any words to reply with. After taking a moment to gather his next thoughts, Clark continued to speak.

“You asked me what more I wanted, and when I realized I wanted more than friendship, it was at that moment I recognized just how much I love you, but I knew that was something I could never tell you. I didn’t want to risk ruining our friendship. After all we have been through. I don’t want to lose you.”

The look of distress in Clark’s eyes was clearly visible now, and suddenly the intensity of his voice began to rise. “So I was going to try to keep these feelings to myself. I really thought I could. Like how I was able to with Lois, but I just couldn’t. It’s wasn’t the same. It’s so much different with you. Just being around you is torture. Even now, I…”

Clark choked on his last thought.

“Clark…” Bruce started, but the sound of his voice triggered something.

“I’m sorry, Bruce. Just give me a little more time. I know I’m being selfish again, but just don’t give up on me, on us,” Clark pleaded adamantly. “I doubt I can ever stop loving you, but I know eventually I can get these feelings under control. I just want things to go back to the way they were before. I know that eventually I can be satisfied with just that again, so please...”

Bruce just stared at Clark with wide eyes. For some reason the more Clark spoke, the less assured he sounded, and at this point, Bruce wasn’t really sure who Clark was trying to convince.

Bruce slowly closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. When he opened them back up, a dim emotionless color had taken them over. “Clark, I don’t think that’s possible anymore.”

“Bruce?”

Bruce raised a hand to Clark who had taken a step towards him causing the man to freeze where he stood.

“Clark, I never thought, I never considered you felt this way, but now that I know you do I…” Bruce turned his back to the distraught Kryptonian. “I have to go. I need to process this.”

Clark opened his mouth as though he were about to protest before lowering his head and smiling sadly at the ground.

“Ok, I understand.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruce paced the cave for the hundredth time.

Clark loves me?

Bruce kept replaying Clark’s confession over and over in his mind, dissecting it, analyzing it, looking for any hint of doubt or insincerity, but no matter how much he tried, he could not find a hole in it. The cold hard fact was that his best friend, Clark Kent, was in love with him.

This wasn’t the first time Bruce had received a confession of love. The drove of mindless Bruce Wayne fans aside, there had been people in his past that truly loved him.

It puzzled him how they could. He knew he was a difficult person to deal with and an even harder man to understand, but there had been those who looked past Batman’s hard shell, and truly loved him, and he would be lying if he said that in many of those cases, the feelings weren’t mutual.

But regardless of whether he loved them back, whenever he was confessed to, the first thing that always ran through his mind was the way out. There was no room in Batman’s life for love. It would only get in the way of the mission. So even though it was something that chipped away a little more of Bruce Wayne, he would always look for a means to let that person go.

In this particular instance, that was not the case.

Bruce let out a confused sound. Somehow his feet had gotten as lost as his thoughts, and he was now in the middle of one of the many inner caverns.

What is wrong with me?

Rather than look for a way out of his relationship with Clark, Bruce was thinking of ways he could still salvage their friendship, despite learning that the man was in love with him. This wasn’t like Bruce.

This time a frustrated noise escaped his lips.

No, it won’t work out.

Bruce prided himself on how he was always capable of devising a plan for any situation and several contingencies in case it failed. In this situation, however, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t figure out the answer.

Why didn’t I realize it?

They say you never truly understand how much you value something until it’s no longer in your life. This was something Bruce knew all too well. Over the course of the last few months it had been a harsh reality. When Clark was avoiding him, Bruce had spent a lot of time thinking about their relationship. Sure it was under the misguided assumption that his friend had been angry with him, but now that he realized it was quite the opposite, he was finally forced to see things in a more clear perspective.

Clark had muscled his way into Bruce’s heart, and for the brief moment he had left, Bruce felt emptier than he ever felt before. That spot was something he couldn’t replace with work or the mission. True Bruce had been upset, but now he realized the real reason why. It wasn’t because he thought Clark was being unreasonable, or that he was doing anything to jeopardize the team. Who was Bruce kidding? He was angry at the realization that Clark meant so much to him now.

Why didn’t he realize until it was too late how much he valued Clark? The man challenged him like no one else. He forced Bruce to be a better person, to see things in a way he never saw before. He also didn’t realize how much he actually enjoyed working with the man. Sure he preferred working alone, but if he had to pick anyone to work with, his first choice was Superman. And yeah, Clark’s incessant chattering and prying into his life was tiresome, but it felt good to know someone genuinely cared. It wasn’t just about Batman, Clark actually cared about Bruce.

But what he probably missed the most was Clark’s smile, the real one. During that brief moment they were fighting, that sad pathetic smile he gave him, that was the thing that hurt and angered Bruce more than anything else. Who would’ve thought something so simple could mean so much to him?

Bruce leaned against a nearby wall. His body immediately sagged at first contact. He was tired, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

I don’t want to lose him either, but at the same time, I can’t do this to him. It just wouldn’t be fair.

No amount of pondering or planning was going to get Bruce out of this mess. He knew what he had to do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Meeting adjourned.”

The sound of relieved chatter filled the hall. It was the typical response to their uneventful quarterly meetings. A necessary evil that Batman had long since come to terms with. Not that it was something that bothered him to begin with. Then again, the impatient protest of his fellow leaguers was the last thing on his mind.

It had been over a week since Bruce and Clark last spoke. Bruce had thought several times about contacting Clark, but every time he tried, something more pressing always seemed to come up. In the end, Bruce knew he was only delaying the inevitable, and it wasn’t fair to Clark. That is why Bruce had decided at their next meeting, he would finally stop with the excuses, and give Clark the consideration he deserved.

“Superman, may I speak with you?”

A familiar smile formed across Clark’s face, but the voice was lacking in matching warmth

“Sure.”

Bruce hesitated, his eyes darting about the room. It was now almost completely cleared out, save for a few stranglers. Despite this, the room still felt entirely too crowded.

“I don’t really want to talk here though. Can you meet me at the top of Reunion tower?”

“Okay,” Clark replied. He then watched in silence as Bruce left the hall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Batman arrived, it was obvious Clark had been waiting intently on his arrival. This was evident by the way he was scanning the area for any possible noise or movement and was the reason he had detected Bruce long before he could be seen. Admittedly, Bruce had taken his time. He told himself it was in order to mentally prepare for what he needed to say, but in actuality he was once again prolonging their encounter.

“Clark,” Bruce called out from the shadows. He wasn’t exactly sure why he arrived in his typical stealthy fashion. It was obvious Clark was using his heightened sense of sight to see him as clear as day.

When Bruce finally walked into view, the somewhat composed look that Clark was trying to maintain immediately dropped. “Bruce before you say it, I just want one last chance to plead my case. I’m sure that we can make this work, so don’t-”

“Stop it,” Bruce chastised.

The look of desperation on Clark’s face transformed to a pained expression causing Bruce to shift his head slightly so that he could avoid Clark’s gaze. “Quit fooling yourself. You know it’s not going to work out. I think its best we both do each other a favor and end it here now.”

“Bruce!” Clark exclaimed as he took a step towards him.

This caused Bruce to turn away and take a few steps back into the shadows. He had already prepared what he was going to say, and he knew no matter what, he could not let Clark stop him. It was the only way things would go according to his plan. The only way he could reason his friend to the right conclusion.

“It was probably always better this way, if you think about it. I knew better than to let this go beyond anything but professional, and you had the right idea in mind. There is no way you could get over your feelings for me if we continue to spend so much time together. So your plan to avoid me, to stay apart, it really was…is for the best.”

“Bruce…” Clark murmured. Although Bruce could no longer see his face, Clark’s tone alone perfectly conveyed his wounded expression.

Bruce felt something in his chest ache at the sound, but he forced himself to continue on. “Clark, as your friend, I don’t want to hurt you anymore than I already have. You said being around me is torture, did you not?”

“Yes, but-”

Bruce immediately cut Clark off. At this point he couldn’t allow any deviations from his plan. “I don’t want one of the few people I care the most about to be miserable. Being near me, hurting you like this, it’s the last thing I want.”

Clark continued to stare at Bruce with his mouth slightly open and his face twisted into a miserable shape. The ache Bruce felt earlier increased.

“I’m never going to be what you want, what you need. You deserve better. So just let this go,” Bruce added with a dejected laugh. For some reason, despite all his mental rehearsing, he was veering off his own script. He wasn’t sure what had possessed him to do so, but he quickly shook his head and willed himself back on track.

“Stop being stubborn. You and I know this is for the best. You are a strong person, even stronger than me. I know you can move past this. With time you will heal, but not as long as I continue to stand in your way.”

Bruce finally gathered up the mettle to turn back around. What he saw when he did was a dejected slumped over man of steel. Clark had his head lowered so far to the ground that Bruce could not read his face at all. One thing was clear though. The other man was deep in thought and completely at a loss.

“Bruce…” Clark whispered.

For several minutes the two stood together in complete silence. The quiet that Bruce usually welcomed had now turned into agonizing torture. However, just before it became too much for him to bear, Clark began to tremble.

For a moment Bruce began to wonder if Clark was crying, but when he lifted his head back up, Bruce was completely taken back.

“No!” Clark shouted his face now a mix of anger and frustration.

“Clark?”

There weren’t many times Bruce had seen Clark with a face full of this much fury. The few times that he did was usually right before they were about to face off against each other. Bruce suddenly felt compelled to run away. Past experience taught him that it was never wise to take on Superman in a head on battle, but for some reason he just couldn’t bring himself to move.

“You always do this, but it’s not going to work this time!” Clark exclaimed as he walked towards Bruce and stopped just a few feet away. “I’m not going to let you sit here and try to make sense out of what’s going on in my heart. It doesn’t work that way!”

Bruce wasn’t sure when the tables had turned, but now he was the one looking at the other man with a dumbfounded expression. He opened his mouth to speak, but wasn’t sure what to say. His plan had been derailed completely.

“You said you really care about me?” Clark questioned. He then let out an impatient growl when Bruce chose shifting his eyes away over responding.

“Well?!”Clark snapped.

“Yes,” Bruce replied a bit too evenly.

“Then why do you want to end our friendship so much?”

Bruce was still struggling with his thoughts, but he knew he had to respond fast. It was the only way he could regain control over this quickly spiraling situation. So despite himself, he blurted out exactly what was on his mind. “It’s because I care. This isn’t right. This kind of friendship we have. How can I ask you to continue to be my friend knowing that you love me? How are you okay with me brushing those feelings aside like they mean nothing? What kind of friend does that make me?”

Clark’s stern eyes remained completely unmoved. “So then you’re better off not being with me at all?”

“YES!” Bruce shouted but for some reason his head was nodding in a completely contradictory gesture.

“You’re lying.”

“No, I-” Bruce interjected while still shaking his head. “I’d rather you move on and be happy than be with me.”

All the anger was completely extinguished from Clark’s face as his eyes transformed to a pleading gaze. “But I am happy with you!”

“No, you said being with me hurts,” Bruce countered as he took a few more steps back.

“Yes, but being without you hurts even more.”

Bruce stopped resisting and searched Clark’s eyes, hoping and wishing he could detect even the tiniest hint of uncertainty behind his words.

“I…” Bruce murmured. There was nothing but honest sincerity reflecting back in Clark’s earnest sapphires, and now Bruce wasn’t sure what to do.

Clark let out a soft sigh, and smiled. Bruce felt another sharp pain in his chest. Once again Clark had thrown Bruce a look that he had never seen before. “You said I was strong. That I could move on. You’re right. So just trust me.”

Bruce just stared at Clark, completely trapped by both his words and his smile. He was then hit with a sudden revelation. A thought that frightened him so much, he let his baser instincts take control.

“I don’t need this. There’s no point in discussing this any further,” Bruce growled as he shot out his grappler.

“Bruce! Wait!” Clark shouted. He then shot a blast of heat vision at the hook causing it to snap off its reel. Bruce had just barely lifted into the air, but the sudden loss of the hook’s pull and weight caused him to lose balance. Before he had time to react, he was suddenly grabbed by the arm and forced back to the ground.

“Damnit Clark!” Bruce thundered as he flicked his wrist out of Clark’s grip.

“Stop running away!” Clark shouted back with just as much ferocity. “What are you so afraid of?”

“What am I so afraid of? !” Bruce snapped back, but as soon as the words were out of his mouth, the answer was clear in his head.

“I...” Bruce murmured just barely above a whisper.

“Bruce?”

“I’m afraid that if I Iet myself get any closer than this, than I.” Bruce stopped and clasped onto his broken grappler tighter. He knew there was no escaping this now. Clark was completely determined and had quite literally backed Bruce into a corner.

“Then what?” Clark questioned as he tried desperately to read Bruce’s face through his dark cowl.

Bruce’s mind kept telling him to lie his way out, but he knew at this point, Clark would see right through it. Suddenly the cold night air became much too thin to sustain Bruce. In attempt to steady his breathing, Bruce closed his eyes tightly, took in a sharp breath, and chocked out his reply.

“Then I’ll grow to love you more than I already do.”

“Bruce?” Now Clark was the one with a shocked expression as his body was overtaken with one overwhelming desire. He took another step forward in an attempt to quell the urge, but was immediately stopped as Bruce threw a hand between them.

“I can’t,” Bruce continued to heave out through a strained voice. “If I ever had to fight against you I don’t think I could. It might actually already be too late…”

“What the hell Bruce! I won’t let that happen. I won’t ever give you a reason to!” Clark argued though his voice was more desperate than offended.

Bruce stared back at Clark with a gravely serious expression. “I know you say that now, but you don’t understand. You haven’t seen the things I’ve seen. You don’t know what people are capable of. This world is so dark. It can corrupt even the purest heart.”

“You said you trust me!” Clark shouted back angrily.

“I do!”

“Bullshit!” Clark snapped. “Saying you trust someone but expecting the worst out of them, that’s not trust!”

Bruce was speechless as he took in Clark’s words. Sure he always told himself that what he did was for the sake of the mission. That no matter what his heart told him, he always had to be prepared for the worst, but in the end, Clark was right. Bruce didn’t trust him. Sure he had his reasons, good reasons, but it was time he came to terms with himself and stopped believing the lie.

“Clark I want to trust you, I really do,” Bruce choked out. “but…I’m afraid. If I allow myself to give in, then…and what if something happens to you?”

At some point Bruce was once again speaking words he had buried so deep within himself even he was surprised to hear them. “If you were to die because of me, I don’t think I could live with myself. Too many people have been hurt, have died because their feelings for me. I just don’t think I can take that anymore.”

“Bruce, are you kidding me,” Clark chuckled softly. “I’m Superman.”

Bruce glared at Clark who now had a light smile on his face. “This isn’t a joking matter.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Clark laughed with a sheepish grin. He then slightly dropped the smile and inched a little bit closer. “Bruce, regardless of what you do or say, I am going to put my life at risk. I was doing that long before I ever met you. I have made plenty of my own enemies and at this point, adding a few of Batman’s foes won’t make much more of a difference.”

Bruce’s face slowly began to transform to that of irritation. Clark knew Bruce had misunderstood his words, but now was not the time to argue over this set of insecurities.

Clark let out a sigh, and tried once again to get his point across. “Bruce, I do this because I want to protect the world that the people I love live in. That includes people like you. So even if you end it here. I will still put my life on the line, and maybe tomorrow will be my last, there’s no telling.”

Now Clark was standing directly in Bruce’s space, his words had been the perfect distraction. Bruce, however, was still processing Clark’s argument and didn’t seem at all fazed.

“So for as long or as short as I have left in this world, I want to live my life following my own convictions, following my own heart, and either you can follow along with me or you can just give up here. I won’t force you to do anything, but at the same time you can’t force away my feelings.”

For the majority of his speech Bruce had just stared at the ground in thoughtful silence. He knew Clark had skillfully made his way towards him, but at this point he didn’t care. He was too busy struggling with the war raging between his heart and his mind.

“Clark, I just don’t know,” Bruce finally replied. He then looked up and realized he was only a few inches from Clark’s reassuring eyes.

“Bruce, do you love me?”

“I…” Bruce started as he remained confined under the gaze that would not let him lie. “yes.”

“Then for once in your life, will you actually trust me?”

Bruce lowered his head and closed his mouth. It had betrayed him one too many times that night. However, Clark’s warm expression did not falter, and when he spoke his voice was gentler than Bruce could ever remember hearing it.

“I wish I could say I will protect you from every bad thing that comes your way, but I can’t any less than you can for me, but regardless, I can promise you this. I will love you with all of my heart, and when those hard times do come, I will be with you every step of the way. Because loving someone is not about shielding them from everything or hiding yourself away from pain. It’s about learning to face everything together.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Bruce muttered in one last ditch effort to deter the alien.

“And you make it sound impossible,” Clark countered.

“Clark, you might regret this in the end,” Bruce warned as he finally looked back up at him.

Clark grinned, fully aware what Bruce was doing. “I’ll take my chances.”

And with that final smile, all the walls came crumbling down. Bruce could deny himself no longer.

“Clark…” he whispered in attempt to relay this, but Clark had received the message long before he spoke. Slowly he leaned in, their lips only millimeters apart. For a moment Clark hesitated as though he were waiting on Bruce’s permission. When Bruce didn’t resist, Clark closed the last bit of space between them.

The kiss started off shy and uncertain, as though Clark were testing the boundaries Bruce had laid out. It also didn’t help that Bruce wasn’t being very responsive. This may have been for the fact that he was still in a state of partial shock, still trying to process exactly what had brought him and Clark to this point. One moment he was trying to end their friendship, and the next minute he was slowly melting into the man’s embrace.

Soft light touches that caressed his mouth, coercing him to respond, ever patient and controlled by a man who was an expert at restraining himself. Bruce held back a shiver as he imagined just how much Clark was actually holding back, waiting for Bruce to finally let go of his last bit of doubt. His body was crying for more contact, but his mind was trying desperately to dull his senses into a state of reason.

However, the slight ache Bruce had felt earlier in his chest had slowly spread its way throughout the rest of his body, until eventually it had reached past his lips and started to invade his mind. His thoughts slowly shifting from his fear and doubts, and focusing only on the warmth of Clark’s kiss and gentle hands that somehow found a place at his waist.

Clark’s smile deepened as Bruce finally began to respond. His patience rewarded as Bruce pressed his lips and body closer into his own, ever slightly opening his mouth to gasp in a bit of air. It was then that Clark decided to take a gamble as he made his way into Bruce’s mouth. He had waited far too long to get a taste, and now that the opportunity was finally presenting itself, he could barely contain his desire.

He was, however, surprised as Bruce kissed him back with even more ferocity and began overtaking his mouth instead. For the majority of their kiss, Bruce had been so passive and hesitant, but it was clear to Clark now that Bruce had finally made up his mind.

Dominated mercilessly by the smaller man, Clark released the final reigns of the fear and doubt he was also struggling with. Bruce was a man of action, and Clark knew this fact oh too well. It was Clark’s turn to reveal to Bruce just how deeply his passion for him actually ran.

Bruce felt his head go light as Clark invaded his mouth and began to steal his life’s breath. His body burned and he wasn’t sure if it was from the lack of oxygen or the raw emotion Clark was pouring back into him in exchange for the air.

Now Bruce barely had control over his body as he was flooded with Clark’s feelings. He was sure he was trembling a bit as he became completely aware what the other man had been trying to convey to him all this time. How stupid Bruce suddenly felt. Why would anyone in their right mind resist this feeling, this man? How could one person make Bruce feel so absolutely naked and vulnerable, while at the same completely safe and protected? This was definitely a puzzle that Bruce could not solve at the moment. The warmth that Bruce had both fled from and sought out was now surrounding him, and filling him up. It was a feeling Bruce had never experienced, and even though it was something new and frightening, he couldn’t think of a single worthwhile reason to give it up.

Finally they separated as Bruce took in a much needed gulp of air. He then let out a heavy sigh releasing the excess oxygen he had greedily taken in. Clark rested his forehead against Bruce’s own and let out a small laugh in response. Bruce tried to give the beaming hero a shrewd eye in attempt to wipe away his satisfied smirk. For some reason it was making Bruce feel even more exposed. In the end, he only managed to barely frown as he muttered. “Fine, Clark, I’ll put my faith in you. Just don’t complain later when it doesn’t turn out the way you expected it. I’m not an easy person to deal with.”

Bruce felt Clark shake through their embrace. It was obvious he was trying to contain his chuckle. He then grinned back at Bruce and replied. “Bruce, stop overthinking it.”

Bruce felt his heart skip. Once again Clark had shown Bruce a dazzling smile he had never seen before, and it was at that moment Bruce’s heart and mind finally aligned. If being with Clark meant he could experience more of these hidden smiles, then there was no way they couldn’t overcome whatever the future had in store for them. With that final thought Bruce smiled to himself before taking the grinning reporter by surprise and capturing him in another heated kiss.

The End!