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A piercing whistle rang through the air: "Krypto! Come on, boy! It's time for our walk!"
One second Clark Kent, dressed as modestly as usual with his jeans and t-shirt, was patiently waiting at the door of his apartment in Metropolis, still holding Krypto's collar and leash - the next second he was already being pulled down the many stairs in his apartment complex by his collared and leashed white Labrador Retriever.
Sometimes Clark felt extremely grateful for having a dog that could physically keep up with him, including the superpowers. Although it was a pain to hide doggie treats, If your dog also had x-ray vision.
Still, Krypto was one of the only beings that shared his history with Krypton. Sure, there was also his cousin Kara but talking Krypto's ear off with wistful wishes just beat listening to teenage snark and actual comments about how Krypton was actually like.
Clark wasn't jealous that Kara actually remembered Krypton as she came to earth only recently, he really wasn't. But that didn't mean that it hurt sometimes to be reminded of what he lost.
Clearing his thoughts by shaking his head, the Kryptonian noticed that they were close to the dog park. Together Krypto and him landed softly in an alley and both quickly transformed from their superhero outfits to their civilian clothes at superspeed.
The first thing Clark noticed about Gotham was the godawful smell. He really wasn't fond of Gotham, it was dark and the sun never seemed to shine here as brightly as in Metropolis. Clark could almost feel his powers shrinking, despite knowing that it was impossible - it was not like his powers left at night either.
They were almost never in Gotham and If they visited, they visited strictly only in their civilian identities. Never in their hero ones.
At the beginning of his superhero work, that was even before Krypto had arrived on Earth, Clark had made this mistake: He came to Gotham to stop a bank robbery. Only to be immediately apprehended by the local dark and brooding vigilante, Batman.
His 'naive' hopes of finding an ally in the bat were swiftly dwindled when Batman chased him out of the city with a gruff bark: "Stay out of Gotham!" Apparently Batman has a strict 'No metas in Gotham!'-rule which he hadn't known about.
And Clark had respected this wish. Until Lois had dragged him to Gotham in his civilian identity in order to cover some galas and scandals because Cat just had to be sick when some billionare was throwing a party.
Said case was awful. He had been completely out of his element and entirely uncomfortable in a city he wasn't even welcome in, just to catch a glimpse of this rich guy that didn't even show up to his own event.
At least, Batman didn't kill him for trespassing. And well, this was how he got this idea of visiting Gotham as a civilian.
Although he only acted up on that idea when Krypto came along of course. Clark was only here for Krypto, after all, not to see If Batman only came out at night or also partrolled the city at day. Strictly professionell pet business here.
And to be fair, this dog park was the best one they had visited so far and Krypto and him have been all over the world. No other park had a field of this size to run in or as many trees or were even as diligently kept as this one. Weeks ago he heard that the park was heavily funded by someone and boy, it really showed. Gotham definitely became a brighter place in his mind just because of the daily hours spent in this park.
Krypto seemed to like it too. Normally he was way too strong and even occasionally rough to play with normal pets but the animals in Gotham always appeared to be more resilient than in other cities. While this was certainly reason to be concerned, Clark was also glad for the opportunity of Krypto having playmates that were able to keep up with him.
Speaking of Krypto, the white Labrador was running laps around three other dogs, one German Sheppard, another Labrador but black this time and a border collie, loudly barking and playfully nipping at their hind legs. He then bowed down to the other dogs and froze. So did the other dogs. Until the German Sheppard finally acted and raced after Krypto who had started running away.
Clark was interrupted from continuing to watch this play game between the dogs when a deep chuckle distracted him.
On the bench he had collapsed earlier onto after he had given up trying to match Krypto's energy, sat a man and therefor sat directly beside him. How he hadn't heard this man sit down or even breath right next to him showed that Clark must have been more exhausted than he had thought prior.
Said man was dressed in similiar style to Clark himself, although the casual careless look suited the stranger way better than it ever did Clark. Eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses, the man had a book perched on his lap that he had been obviously reading before he had been distracted by the play fight that was still going on currently.
He briefly wondered how this man could even read with sunglasses, when the stranger turned his head and their eyes, well Clark's eyes met the man's sunglasses, met and for a moment, he had entirely forgotten how the breathing process worked.
This stranger was goodlooking, he could have been a model and Clark wouldn't have bet an eye. In fact, he seemed almost too handsome to be sitting in an ordinary dog park like this one, just to read a book.
Suspicion. The Kryptonian suspicious and not at all thinking about how handsome this stranger was. Definitely not. He was here for Krypto, not to flirt. Goddamnit.
The man smiled, showing off his perfect white teeth and nodded at the dogs: "One of yours?"
It took a moment for Clark to realize what the stranger asked him and after forcefully ripping himself out of the thoughts he had been having, he looked over. At last the dogs had tired each other out, play fight long over as only Krypto and the German Sheppard laid blissfully under a tree, cuddling and clinging to each other almost in a human way, napping while peacefully snoring.
Clark would have never been able to fight the fond smile that found its way on his face, nor did he want to: "Yeah. The White Labrador, his name is Krypto."
The stranger studied him for a moment intently. Then he took of his sunglasses and held out his hand for a handshake.
"My name's Bruce. That's Ace."
Dark-haired, tall and pretty eyes hidden behind sunglasses, this guy was definitely his type and boy, was he a goner.
Clark took his hand: "Clark Kent.", making sure his strength was as ordinary as of any human.
After letting go, the Kryptonian immediately reached up to adjust his glasses, although he was certain there was nothing to fix. Nervous habits were hard to break.
He glanced over to Bruce and his eyes latched onto the book still draped over his lap. One quick use of x-ray vision made him blurt out: "Pride and Prejudice? I didn't peg you for a Jane Austen fan?"
Bruce cleared his throat and neatly closed the book before answering: "I'm currently re-reading it, my youngest is an avid reader and the books he likes most are those by Jane Austen."
"You have kids?" Clark couldn't really hide how disappointed his voice sounded. Here was one time when an attractive stranger might actually be interested and of course, he's married.
"Two sons, Dick and Jason. Dick is already grown and has already left the nest and Jason likes to learn. Spends almost all of his time in the library." Bruce adopted a fond smile while talking about his sons, If Clark had had any doubt before that Bruce loved his children, it would have been gone now.
After a moment, Bruce added: "But I'm single, If you're asking.", even adding a wink to complete the question.
The redness of his face have matched the colour of his alter ego, Clark stammered: "Huh? I-I mean, yes! Sure! ...Yes?"
Bruce chuckled again, not unlike the first one that had started this conversation to begin with and Clark was suddenly hit by the realization that he would do anything to hear this rich, dark voice chuckle again. Maybe even laugh. Maybe even more.
His bank companion stood, making the Kryptonian also stand before he could stop himself and from one second to the next, Bruce held out a business card for the taking.
"I look forward to your call, Clark." Another wink.
Bruce whistled. The German Sheppard came running. Bruce waved at him. They left.
And Clark stood their like an idiot, still staring at the business card in his hand like it was out of this world.
Only when Krypto slowly trotted over, silently asking If it's time to go home now, Clark finally moved. He petted Krypto's head: "Oh boy, you won't believe what just happened."
With one last glance at the business card, he traced the name that was neatly embroidered into the card. Letter by letter, vowel by vowel.
Bruce Wayne
"Come on, boy. Time to go home."