Work Text:
shhhhlph
Clark pulled the backing off the sensor, then carefully affixed it to the marked spot on Bruce’s chest.
They were testing the prototype of a device that would mute the sound of Bruce's heartbeat, to reinforce the illusion of Batman being ‘dead’.
Clark nodded and stepped back, careful to not catch himself on the nest of wires attached to Bruce’s chest. This was just the prototype- Bruce was already working on a way to attach the sensors to the inside of his suit.
“Everything looks good.”
Bruce blinked slowly, then tilted his head slightly and nodded. Clark looked down at the screen in front of him that was displaying Bruce’s heart rate. Everything on the screen matched what Clark could hear, so he checked the camera, and the recording software. It looked right, and he gave Bruce a thumbs up. Clark heard a slight change in Bruce’s breathing- Bruce was excited.
Clark heard Bruce take a deep breath, saw Bruce manually forcing his muscles to relax. He saw the micro adjustment Bruce’s hand made on the button that would test the system. It was a dead-mans switch, one that would deactivate the moment Bruce let go of the button
Bruce’s voice was hoarse when he spoke.
“Test one of V1, of the heartbeat silencer, starting in three, two, one.”
His hand closed on the button.
Clark heard the contact of the button click, the crackle of electricity rushing through the wires.
Bmp-…
Bruce’s heart went silent.
He could see the muscles in Bruce’s chest moving, see the tiny adjustments all humans made.
Bruce’s heart was silent.
He could smell Bruce’s breath, on it the blood pudding Alfred had made for lunch, in an attempt to get Clark to eat something other than vegetables.
Bruce’s heart was silent.
He heard Bruce’s neurons firing, the pop and squeak of his thoughts.
He couldn’t hear anything over the sound of his own blood rushing in his ears. His vision went dark.
Suddenly, a beat pounding in his ears, strong and steady, like the sound had never stopped.
Clark could hear his own icy tears hitting the ground, they sounded like gunshots with how far he had strained his hearing.
His face was smushed up against something, the smell of Bruce-Bruce-Bruce! overwhelming everything else.
There was a loud rumbling noise, mixed in with the ebb and flow of Bruce’s breathing.
Clark chest was burning. He heaved a breath, his own breathing deafeningly loud.
He was being rocked back and forth, back and forth.
His eyelids felt like lead as he pried them open.
Everything was blurry from tears, his vision half blocked by Bruce’s hand. He blinked the tears from his eyes and looked through Bruce’s chest. His heart was right there, beating steadily. A little fast, but that could be excused with the way his own heart was racing.
As his hearing recalibrated the rumbling resolved into words.
Bruce was talking, low and calming, but a little fast, a little shakey.
“It’s ok. My heart is fine, I’m fine. You can hear it, right? Just as strong as ever. Shh, your ok. I’m ok, we’re both ok.”
Clark heaved in another breath, and it came out as a pained shuddering whine.
“shh, shh, we’re ok.” Bruce took a deep breath.
Clark pulled against Bruce’s grip. Bruce held on for a moment, just a moment more, then let Clark slip from his grip.
He wobbled slightly as he pushed himself up. He felt dizzy and drained, like he’d been kept out of the sun for weeks. A headache was starting to thrum at the corners of his mind.
“wha… happ’n?” he rasped, confused. Had he been drugged again?
“When I activated the device, you had a panic attack.”
Clark jerked back, eyes wide “but-but…I…!”
“It’s my fault.” Bruce shook his head, eyes wide and wild, running a hand though his hair “I should have anticipated this.”
“n-no.” Clark’s voice was stuttery, full of pops and crackles like a broken record “Ho-w co-ul-d you k-n-now? Nev-er had on-e bef-ore.”
“I’m still sorry.” Bruce said, as he stood. He held out a hand, and Clark took it to pull himself to his feet.
“E-ith-er bot-h at fau-lt, or nei-ther.” He wobbled, knees giving out and Bruce caught him, sweeping him up bridal style before he had a chance to complain. Clark leaned into his brothers warmth, and let Bruce carry him to the elevator.
“We’ll need to find a workaround.” Bruce said, as the doors opened.
Clark nodded, as the doors closed behind them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Clark Kent first stepped through the doors of the daily planet, it was with a bright yellow hearing aid tucked behind his ear.
When Kal-El first introduced himself to the world, it was with a near-inviable com-link tucked into his ear.
When Batman put on his wings, a signal broadcast from him, heavily encrypted. A real-time telemetry of his heartbeat, the true sound silenced.