Chapter Text
Darkseid towered over the ragged heroes, an unbreakable monolith of power.
They had thrown everything at him, every weapon, every skill, every ounce of strength they possessed, but he hadn’t even bled. Hadn’t even flinched.
He was gloating, but Wonder Woman could barely understand him over the bells ringing in her head.
“- one at a time-…- I will-…-suffer--- volunteer-… -let live-“ with each word, Darkseid took another measured step toward them, foot coming down with a boom like thunder.
A dark shape flowed in front of her, she didn’t have a chance to stop him- “-Atman! Bat--! No!”- her own words obscured by the ringing in her ears.
Batman pulled himself up to his full height, wings flaring outwards- to try and protect the rest of the team- Oh Gods! He wasn’t invulnerable, he was the most fragile among them. Diana couldn’t help- her whole body was criss-crossed by cracks, she could barely move, the spiderweb of cracks leaking her strength like wine from a broken amphora.
Batman growled, not words, just a desperate show of bravado, trying to get Darkside to focus on him, to give the others a chance to run.
Darkseid took the bait.
The Omega beams glowed from Darkseid’s eyes and hit Batman square in his chest.
He didn’t even have a chance to scream.
Reduced to dust in a heartbeat.
Wonder Woman could hear the moment when something in Clark’s heart snapped.
“Bruce!” his wail was agonized, the grief loud enough to make her chest ache.
Clark hauled his bleeding body to his feet, uncaring of his injuries, eyes burning, heat vision leaking until it made the air hard to breathe.
Clark was silent as he launched himself at Darkseid.
No words.
No hissing.
Just pure white-hot silent anger.
He was moving so fast that the human eye could not perceive him, as he slammed into Darkseid hard enough to send him through half a block of -gods blessed- evacuated buildings.
Later, Diana would ask the Flash-es if they were able to see anything. Clark had been moving so fast that even the Flash-es could only see a blur.
Clark had given up on skill, on technique, on appearance- all that mattered was that Darkseid never drew breath again.
Every one of Clark’s blows drove a crater into the ground, and the shockwaves felt like a punch in the chest.
It went on too long- surely Darkseid had to be down by now? Clark just… kept going, past the point of injury, past the point of unconsciousness, past the point where Darkseid had to be dead.
When Clark finally stopped, Darkseid’s head was nothing but a bloody paste.
Clark plunged his hand into Darkseid’s chest, ripping out his still-beating heart.
Diana saw him staring at it, seemingly transfixed.
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Clark-Kal-Superman- his identity at the moment mattered nothing to him- straddled Darkseid’s corpse, holding the would-be conquerors faltering heart in his hand, warm blood pouring through the gaps in his fingers.
He took a breath, let heat vison pool in his eyes, then turned his gaze on Darkseid’s heart.
It blackened and burned, boiling from the inside out, bubbling and popping, a molten ooze running off his hand with the smell of burnt flesh.
Once Darkseid’s heart was destroyed, he was hit by a wave of bone deep exhaustion, the pain from his injuries hitting him all at once. He slid off Darkseid’s corpse, boneless-limp, landing on his side.
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Diana dragged herself to her feet, literally holding one of her arms on and limped towards where Clark lay, still as a corpse.
Her foot hit a stone and sent a wave of pain up her leg, her vision blurred and she swayed. If she fell, she would shatter into dust.
Clark rolled onto his back, and tried to stand, only to collapse into a kneel when his knees gave out.
It started to rain.
The raindrops mixed with the tears on their faces. Clark’s icy tears that melted when they hit the ground, and Diana’s glass tears, that shattered when they hit the ground.
Clark tilted his head back, staring at the sky, rain and tears running down his face, mixing with the blood from a gash in his cheek.
He opened his mouth and wailed.
Words could not describe the sound heard around the world- by everyone, of every race and creed, in every corner, every hidey-hole. It was heartbreak made manifest- it made everyone stop and look to the sky, thinking that it must be signaling the end of the world. Hearing it, it felt like your soul had been shattered like glass and forced back together, the blindingly sharp edges tearing itself apart. The whole world shook from the force of his grief.
He wailed until he couldn’t anymore, falling to his hands and knees, coughing up blood from the damage he had done to his vocal cords.
In the silence, the sound of his icy tears pinging off the ground seemed as loud as gunshots.
Diana dragged herself to him, knowing that in doing so, she was damaging herself, maybe irreparably.
“Bruce…” he whispered brokenly, blood dribbling from his lips.
“Kal-El… don’t try to speak, you will hurt yourself further.” Diana whispered, unwilling to disturb the silence that had fallen over the battlefield.
He sobbed brokenly as he weakly raised his head.
“Diana… I promised him.” He forced out, between ragged sobs that made blood foam on his lips “There’s no body… nothing left! I can’t- I can’t fu-fulfill my promise!”
He slammed his fist into the ground, but he was so weak, so exhausted, it didn’t even make a sound.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Wonder Woman stumbled out of the Zeta into the cave. Alone.
Alfred was by her side in an instant, mouth pursed into a thin line at the state she was in, eyes glistening with fear for his charge. Blue-Jay clung to his side, tiny fingers in a white-knuckled grip on Alfred’s clothes.
“Diana… we heard the scream. What happened? Where’s Bruce?” he asked, voice quiet, a tone that Diana did not recognize.
“Bruce… Bruce is gone.” Diana sounded broken, grief choking her words, as tears glimmered in the corners of her eyes. “He died… he died to save us.”
Alfred made a punched-out sound, and swayed on his feet, hand going his chest.
“NO!” Jay screamed, as black tarry tears welled up in his white glowing eyes. “Dad… DAD CAN’T BE GONE!” He let go of Alfred and slammed his fists into Diana’s stomach.
That was enough to shatter what was keeping Diana together. She gasped in pain, as half of her torso collapsed inward, pieces of her body falling down inside her leg. She would have shattered completely if Alfred hadn’t caught her. Still, the fall was enough for her leg to come apart, and a crack on her head to open enough to blind her right eye.
She heard, rather than saw Jay gasp in horror at the realization of what he had done and run away sobbing.
Diana’s perspective was strange, flickering in and out. One moment Alfred was holding her torso off the ground, the next she was in his arms, the slight movement of each of his steps drawing a keen of pain from her. She saw Crow, standing frozen, staring into space, unseeing. Robin was kneeling on the ground, wailing, seemingly so stricken with grief that he couldn’t tell Selina was holding him.
She must have lost time again, as she was laying on one of the cots in the medical area, a bright light shining on her face, as Alfred’s deft hands glued her head back together.
“Back in the land of the living, I see. Don’t try to move, your head is still not quite done.”
There was a sound of grinding pottery, then a click and sight came back to her eye. She gasped in pain, as the light felt like it was stabbing through her eye into her skull. A blurry brush came close to her eye and she tried to flinch back, but strong hands held her head still. The brush moved in swift movements, before being pulled away, then paper was gently smoothed over the crack to hold it in place while she healed.
She felt someone’s fingers carding though her hair soothingly.
“Mama?”
The fingers stilled their calming movement and she whined, wanting them to start moving again. “No, just Selina. Sorry Diana.”
She felt Selina trace her fingers over something near the crack. There should be long hair there, but she couldn’t feel it move. Selina must have seen the confusion on her face.
“Alfred had to shave some of your hair to get a get a good glue joint.” Selina explained.
There was something Bruce always said, when he got an injury on his face or head. What was it?
“Still… pretty?” Diana asked, seeing Selina’s head move to block the overly bright light.
Selina made a choked noise, like a sob. Diana couldn’t remember why that was important right now.
“Still pretty Diana…still pretty.” Diana felt rain on her face and tasted salt.
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When Diana came to again, Alfred was still working on her, but Selina was gone.
“Alfred, what happened?”
Alfred sighed, setting down his tools for a moment.
“After you… informed us of what happened to Master Bruce, Blue-Jay hit you and your torso collapsed.”
He sat back in his chair and pushed a jeweler’s loupe off his glasses. “You fell and the impact caused your head to crack. Leading to a similar effect to a severe concussion.”
“Alfred. Why aren’t you crying?” Diana asked and oh, she still wasn’t fully thinking clearly.
He pulled off his glasses to rub at his eyes.
“I believe I am still in shock, Mrs. Trevor.” He put his glasses back on, slipped the loupe back into place and leaned back over the jigsaw that was her torso. “Also,” he gave her a wane smile “I can’t go, metaphorically, to pieces until you are no longer at risk of going literally to pieces. Stiff upper lip and all that.”
“He was the first of the children I raised to die, Alfred.” Diana felt her eyes well with tears, and she shut them tightly, not wanting to get glass in the bandage on her face. She tried to make a fist with the hand that was still attached, but she was so weak she could barely twitch. “I know I’ll outlive all of them, but I had hoped I would have more time.”
“I… had hoped for that as well.” Alfred sighed again, looking every single one of his years, then picked up a small piece, gluing it up, pressing it into place, and wiping away the squeeze-out. “I buried his parents, leaving my boy without. Now I will have to burry my son, leaving my grandchildren without a father… there isn’t a… body. His grave will be empty. A headstone with nothing beneath.”
“I’m sorry, Alfred.”
“It’s… it’s how he would have wanted it. Dying to protect those he loved.”
Diana’s breath hitched on a sob. Alfred let her pretend it was just from pain.
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Diana sighed, as she shut off the holo display. She leaned on the table and clumsily picked up her mug of coffee with bandaged hands, struggling to take a sip without burning herself, but too stubborn to ask for help. She looked like a mummy of washi-kozo, the flexible paper keeping her together while she healed. She was exhausted, perfect skin marred with eye-bags and red marks from where she had fallen asleep face down on the table earlier.
Flash knocked on the wall, next to the automatic door that had already swished open, letting the light from outside into the dim room, lit only by moonlight.
“Can I come in?”
“Go ahead.” Diana put down the coffee mug and watched Flash walk to one of the other chairs in the suite. As he walked, his foot hit tiny somethings that bounced into the corner with a ticking sound.
Diana had never felt the need to use one of the Hall of Justice suites before, but the exhaustion from her injuries, and the crutches she had to use until her leg healed meant that she couldn’t manage the stairs in her home.
As he pulled the chair over, more of the tiny things ticked off into the corners of the room.
“How are you doing?” he asked, with an expression that was too close to pity for Diana’s comfort.
“I’m fine.” She said too quickly, too casually.
Flash rolled his eyes and pulled off the cowl of his costume “As the teams “feelings guy””-he did air quotes -“I call bullshit.”
When Diana laughed, it sounded vaguely hysterical.
“What do you want me to say?” she waved her hand at the holo-projector, pulling up what she had been working on. “Crow and I have looked into everything we could think of every way Br-Batman. Could have faked this. He’s dead.”
She bit her lip and hid her face in her hand. “He’s gone and Kal-el… he’s taken it so, so badly. He’s locked himself away in his Home. Locked down every way in and out- turned his Home into a fortress. A Fortress of Solitude.” She ran her hand through her hair, tugging at it to ground herself “The only reason we know he’s still alive is because Home’s A.I. is still talking to the Cave- giving us updates on his vitals.”
She let her hand drop, nails tapping on the table. Flash was leaning back in his chair, shocked. The “Big three”- Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman, never seemed scared of anything. They seemed untouchable, immortal. Flash still had trouble believing that Batman was dead.
“Flash… I’m scared. Did you know that since Kal-El’s… scream, the global suicide rate has gone up by ten percent? I’m scared that Kal-El is going to do… something that can never be taken back.”
Flash’s eyes went wide “What? You mean…?” He dragged a thumb across his throat.
Diana nodded, tears glimmering in the corners of her eyes.
Flash tapped his foot and leaned the chair back enough that front feet were off the ground. “This is when I would normally offer to hug you, but… you know.” He smiled awkwardly and gestured at the paper bandages that were holding Diana’s body together.
“Thank you, Flash. It is the thought that counts.” Diana smiled, even as her shoulders shook, and her glass tears fell with a sound like dropped beads, tick- tick-ticking away into the corners of the room.
Flash didn’t know what to do.
“I’m just… I’m so tired Flash…”
Flash felt his heart break at Diana’s pathetic attempt to hug herself with one arm in a sling. He wanted to hug her, to provide comfort… but doing so would only cause pain.
“I thought… I thought I’d have longer.” She took a deep breath, trying to stem her tears, running a knuckle over her eyes and knocking free tears with a sound like tiny bells. “I had to tell the man who raised him that he was dead.”
“I’m sorry…” Flash was close to tears himself, Diana’s emotions were overwhelming him, making him feel like he wanted to run and never stop, or dig himself into the deepest darkest hole where nothing could find him.
“I knew I would outlive him… but I had hoped he would outlive the one who raised him. ‘A parent should never have to burry their child.’” Diana looked exhausted, like every year of her incomprehensively long life was etched into the shapes of her face. She looked like a work of the old masters- a tragic story in clay and glaze, broken apart by the ravages of time. Unearthed and put back together, but not whole, never whole again.
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Clark sat in a grand chair, hidden deep in the lowest layers of Home.
The weapon vault had been locked off when he had reached Home. The AI caretaker had forcefully sedated him to treat his injuries, when he couldn’t care less what happened to him. He couldn’t use the kryptonite that was at his parent’s home- he… couldn’t do that to them.
He knew Bruce kept his kryptonite under the cave, but it was a rabbit-warren of tunnels, with enough pockets of lead in the karst that he wouldn’t be able to find it before the hatchlings found him. Diana’s could be anywhere in the world. He could search the entire world for it… but he was so, so tired.
He drifted in trance-like state, where provided there was air, sunlight and enough humidity, he could remain indefinitely- Clark and Bruce had tested it once. Clark had gotten to two weeks when Bruce decided to call it.
It had scared their teachers a time or two, when they realized during meditation Clark hadn’t taken a breath for over half an hour.
He just wanted to stay like this, drift deeper and deeper, until he wouldn’t be able to wake again.
Then, he heard it-
Th-thump, th-thump, th-thump
He knew that sound, a heartbeat etched so deeply into his mind that he could never forget it.
Clark’s eyes snapped open, shattering a layer of ice that had formed over them.
If this was a ruse, the person behind it would pay with their life.
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The Watchtower had been destroyed when Darkseid attacked. The Justice League was forced to move back to the Hall of Justice, which was no-where near large enough to hold the expanded roster of the league without people literally and metaphorically stepping on each others toes.
The Justice League was trying to have a meeting, but it had devolved into a shouting match. Without Kal-El keeping them on task and Diana being mostly out of commission, struggling to even stay awake, everything had devolved into chaos.
The shouting was cut off by a sound like a crystal bell shattering.
Space tore open over the table in the center of the meeting room. Everything stopped as the assembled heroes tensed, waiting to see what horror would fall through this tear in reality.
There was a sound like a projectile tearing though the air, growing louder and louder, then a bedraggled looking corpse was spat out onto the table.
It lay still, until someone screamed.
The corpse’s head snapped up at an unnatural angle. A terrifying growl ripped out of its throat, and it rolled off the table, moving like a demented marionette. It swayed, as if it could barely stand, hands in a ready stance, as if it expected to be attacked.
It was wearing a pirate hat and a frock coat, a loose shirt and pantaloons, a bandolier of knives strapped across it’s chest. It had black hair, tied in a rough ponytail and tanned, wind-burned skin. A piece of black cloth had been roughly torn into a mask and tied over it’s face.
Impossibly, the corpse had Batman’s clawed hands and feet.
“BRUCE?!” Diana yelled in alarm, surging to her feet- if not for Flash’s quick reflexes, she would have fallen and cracked open her almost healed wounds!
He didn’t seem to understand her, wordlessly growling.
Flash supported her as she took a step towards Batman, her hands open and visible “It’s me, Diana. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Batman stumbled backward, snarling, baring human looking teeth.
Diana reached out towards him, still muttering soothing nonsense. Despite his bedraggled appearance, his claws were still blindingly sharp. His warning strike didn’t connect, but it was enough to make Wonder Woman back off.
“Can you hear that?” Aquaman asked the other heroes, looking around for the source of the strange sound he was hearing.
“Hear what?” Arrow asked, bow drawn, unwilling to take his eyes off the staring contest between Batman’s corpse and Wonder Woman.
“That whistling noise?” Manhunter asked, also looking around for the source of the sound.
The sound was intimately familiar to Wonder Woman the moment she heard it.
“DUCK!” she commanded, dropping to her knees (carefully) and guarding her head.
The super-ultra-triple reinforced skylight above them shattered inward, pelting the heroes in a shower of safety glass.
Superman floated above the conference table; eyes still closed from smashing though the glass.
His eyes opened slowly, leaking red light. He looked like an avenging angel, ready to tear someone limb from limb.
The Justice League was frozen as superman met Batman’s eyes.
Superman’s fury melted like ice on a summer’s day, anger replaced with joy and relief, his tense shoulders dropping.
Batman straited up to his full height and opened his arms invitingly.
“Bruce!” Superman tackle hugged batman, nearly knocking the other hero over, as Batman hugged him back- wrapping an arm tightly around his middle and covering the back of his head with the other. The two heroes were so tightly intertwined that you could hardly tell where one started and the other ended. Superman’s natural glow brightened, from starlight dim, to warm summer’s day bright- unable to contain his relief and joy.
“Bruce… I’m sorry. I couldn’t fulfill my promise…” Superman’s voice was muffled by Batman’s shoulder. Batman hummed, running his claws though Superman’s hair.
“I’m just so glad your alive…” Superman said.
Batman rumbled contentedly, giving Superman one more squeeze and trying to push his way out of the hug- Superman was having none of it.
Batman sighed and nuzzled at Superman’s neck “Home?”
Wonder Woman cleared her throat to get their attention “Batman should be checked over by the medic first…”
Superman hissed, eyes glowing bright red.
“Or perhaps not!” she put her hands up in surrender and took a step back.
Batman’s head bobbled disconcertingly, like Superman’s hold was the only thing keeping him up.
“Batman?” Superman sounded terrified, something that the other heroes did not like hearing.
“Away- Gotham- too long, tired…” Batman mumbled, leaning further into superman’s embrace.
Superman freed one arm and tapped at his com.
“Oracle; wide-band. All Units return to base, Priority: Red. I repeat, return to base, Priority: Red. Superman out.”
“Diana, I will debrief you latter, once Batman has gotten his strength back” Superman was shutting down again, becoming the formal, serious hero they were used to seeing when Batman wasn’t around to weaken his shell. His glow dimmed back to normal, like a fire being banked.
Superman shifted his grip to something more supportive, then flew back out the destroyed skylight.
The other heroes just sat in silence, staring at each other for a few seconds. Flash was the first to break the silence.
“Somehow, I always thought that Batman would be blonde.”
Hawkwoman’s wings flapped “Did you see how blue his eyes were?”
“Yes,” Martian Manhunter agreed “they almost put Superman’s to shame!”
Green arrow had a hand to his chin in thought “Wait… If you strip away the tan, and cut his hair, he looks just like superman!”
Aquaman was freaking out “Did Superman base his appearance on Batman? Or did Batman base his appearance on Superman?”
The assembled heroes looked to Wonder Woman.
She shrugged “It’s not my story to tell, you’ll have to ask them latter.”
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“Protity Red” was the second highest priority in the Flock’s system, one step below “I don’t care if you are literally pulling civilians out of a burning building, get here, now”.
It meant that by the time Superman had flown from the Hall of Justice to the Cave, almost everyone was already there.
Robin was hiding among the stalactites, Crow sitting at the bat-computer, Blue Jay yawning furiously, but making a mighty effort to stay awake, as he leaned against Alfred. Alfred had a ring that made people’s eyes slide off his face and forget his features. Selina was mostly human, wearing a domino mask and one of Bruce’s shirts as a nightgown, tail lashing anxiously.
Oracle was on the way; Clark could hear the signal from her com approaching the cave.
Superman descend though the entrance, into the light and a chorus of gasps rang out.
He landed, helping Bruce to unsteady feet.
Alfred was the first to move. Stepping forward carefully, like Bruce was a ghost that might startle and disappear if he moved to fast. His footsteps echoed in the silence.
“Bruce…” he breathed, barely above a whisper, “is it.. really you?”
Alfred shakily reached out to touch his cheek. His hand made contact with warm skin and Alfred gasped in surprise, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes as Bruce leaned into the touch.
Bruce’s voice was hoarse, like he’d been screaming for days. “My favorite tea is a rooibos with raspberry, that you say ‘isn’t real tea’. I still sleep with a teddy-bear. My favorite colour is yellow. I once talked to a cat for an hour, thinking it was Selina. The first time I used my grapple hook, I landed on a hot dog cart and broke three ribs. I’m-…” Bruce trailed off coughing, like that was the most words he’d strung together in months.
Alfred was crying, when Bruce opened his eyes. Alfred pulled Bruce into a tight hug, not even objecting when Bruce leaned most of his weight on him.
“You’re alive. You’re alive! H-how?” Alfred stuttered out.
“DAD!” Blue-Jay tackled Bruce and Alfred, knocking them over.
“Omph. Careful my boy, I’m not as young as I used to be.” Alfred mumbled, rubbing at his shoulder as he sat up. Bruce grumbled something and Alfred turned to look at him. Blue Jay was hugging Bruce’s head, very effectively muffling whatever he was trying to say. Alfred bit off a slightly hysterical laugh as he went to pull Blue-Jay off of Bruce’s face “Blue-jay, stop suffocating your father, we just got him back!”
Just as Alfred managed to detach Blue-Jay enough for Bruce to sit up, Bruce was tackled from behind by Robin, knocking him over onto his front, squishing Blue-Jay, causing angry squawks. Bruce decided that this was his life now, as Robin chirped and whistled a million miles a minute, glued to his back. He rolled himself and the attached birds onto his side so that he could breathe, only to see a familiar pair of iridescent blue-black boots enter his field of vision.
Crow cock-a-doodle-dooed, the flock version of ‘I told you so!’, “I told you that he was just adrift in time!” he said smugly, hands on hips.
Alfred huffed a laugh “Yes, you were right. I am sorry that I did not believe you, Crow.” Alfred managed to free himself from the hatchlings and stand up, straightening his tie as he did so. Bruce smiled broadly, just so glad to be home, to be able to listen to his family bicker again.
Selina’s feet, in the silly off brand Batman slippers that Mrs. Kent bought her, came into view. Selina is much stronger than she looks, and Bruce was reminded of that when she reached down and pulled him to his feet, despite Robin and Jay still clinging to him.
She slapped him in the face.
“I deserve that.” Bruce said, nodding, then he was pulled into a desperate kiss. His boys made gagging noises and let go of him, dropping to the ground.
Selina broke the kiss and rubbed her face against his chin. Bruce pulled her into an embrace, taking a moment to enjoy the feeling of her in his arms.
“I thought that you had left me a widow, before we were even married!” Selina weakly hit him in the chest with a fist, her tears starting to dampen his shirt.
“I’m sorry Selina…” Bruce gently rocked her side to side, “you knew the risks when you decided to marry me… Are we…do you still…?”
“Well, I’m still here, aren’t I?” Selina’s grip on the shirt he was wearing tightened and he heard the pop of her claws puncturing the fabric. “I love you. Just don’t pull that self-sacrificing bullshit again, alright?”
“hn.” Bruce nuzzled her hair, playfully nipping at her ear.
A wave of exhaustion hit him like a sledgehammer, and he swayed, blinking away the fuzziness in his vison.
“Bruce?” Selina asked, a note of panic creeping into her voice.
“Tir’d. V’y tir’ed. ‘nd stinky. ‘nd scurvy. Mos’ly tir’d.” Bruce mumbled, leaning further onto Selina.
“Clark?”
“He’s telling the truth, no injures that require immediate treatment.”
“Alright, lets get you to bed…” Selina threw Bruce’s arm over her shoulder and helped him towards the elevator, despite his mumbled protests that he could make it there just fine on his own.
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Selina insisted that Bruce shower before he fell into their shared bed, which involved using a shower chair and Selina talking to him throughout, so he wouldn’t fall asleep and crack his head open.
Bruce luxuriated in the feeling of his comfortable cotton pjs, as he finished brushing and flossing his teeth.
Apparently, showering had taken him longer than he had realized, as everyone was in their pjs, waiting for him on the bed.
Bruce grunted and made a move toward the couch, only to get grabbed (gently) by Barbra.
“Bruce, we thought you were dead! You are not getting out of the cuddle-puddle that easily!” Barbra pulled him toward the bed, and he sighed and let himself get dragged into this.
He was pushed into the middle of the of the bed. “Dibs!” Selina called, and immediately kola-ed onto his back. Jason curled up against his chest, Dick wrapped around Jason. Tim somehow managed to wriggle in between Selina and Bruce, apparently just fine with being a bit squished. Barbra tucked in next to Selina, one arm thrown over her and Tim, so that she could be in contact with Bruce. Bruce wiggled a little, getting comfy, and threw an arm over Dick and Jay.
He startled when he felt someone grab his hand and raised his head just enough to see.
Alfred did not join the family cuddle-puddles often, but this time he did. Alfred was laying on his back, in his immaculate silk pajamas, dressing gown, night-cravat, night cap and sleep socks, hand tightly clinging to Bruce’s. Bruce smiled and was out like a light.
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While the Bat-family was turning down, Superman was called away.
Luckily, the emergency hadn’t taken long, and there were no casualties, so he didn’t feel bad leaving clean-up to emergency services and hurrying back to Bruce.
By the time he had gotten back, everyone was in their pjs, cuddling.
Clark picked up the neglected blanket from the foot of the bed and carefully made sure everyone’s feet were covered. He grabbed an extra blanket from the blanket-chest at the foot of the bed and draped it over Alfred, knowing that Alfred always complained of stiff joints if he got too cold at night.
…He should leave.
But the bed looked so comfortable, and he didn’t really want to leave Bruce just yet… he could lie down for just a few minutes, right?
Clark tapped his crest, causing his cape to disappear and curled up on the foot of the bed, where he’d be able to get up again quickly without waking anyone.
Clark must have been more tired than he realized, because when Bruce woke up a few hours later, he woke up with something heavy and slightly cold on top of his foot. Bruce expertly wiggled out of his family’s grip and sat up halfway. Clark had fallen asleep draped across the foot of the bed, on top of Bruce’s foot. A smile twitched at the corner of Bruce’s mouth.