Chapter Text
Clark had remembered how the young boy had clicked his tongue at him when they first met.
The Justice League had been officially formed for about 3 years, but Batman had only been consistently showing up for about a year and a half. Which was fine- Clark understood- the whole concept kinda went against his whole ‘dark brooding loner’ persona.
Which is why they were all tense as they limped into the Cave.
They weren’t supposed to be in Gotham- heck- they weren’t supposed to be this injured.
But after some broken zeta tubes and a not yet finished Watchtower (which was apparently being funded by the Bruce Wayne), as well as some broken bones and kryptonite shards, Batman begrudgingly agreed to let them use his hideout.
And what a hideout it was. Clark’s mind was buzzing from where he was draped over Diana’s shoulder, the shard of kryptonite still lodged in his stomach which he gently cradled with his free hand.
The man went all out with his theme, an actual cave that had been decked out with the biggest monitors that Clark had seen outside of Metropolis. The cave had several sections, different levels dedicated to cars, planes, and even a boat. There was an area with items behind glass cases and with hazy eyes he could make out a t-rex standing guard over them.
What?
He blinked slowly, trying to get the static out from behind his eyes and…yeah that was a giant t-rex.
It seems he wasn’t the only one to notice it as Hal decided to try and break the tense atmosphere, “Hey, uh Spooky? What’s with the t-rex? And the,” Clark could practically hear the squint even if he couldn’t see it, "giant penny?”
Clark lifted his head (when had it dropped?) to see that, yes, there was a giant penny near the dinosaur.
Batman paused at an entrance deeper into the cave, “its his allowance,”
“Wait- Bats, did you just make a joke?” Hal scoffed as he jogged to catch up to the man.
Diana shifted Clark so she was taking most of his weight and he let her, wow he was tired.
He blinked and before he knew it they had entered a training room. There were mats along the floor with training dummies and treadmills and any gym equipment anyone could ever want.
And a child.
Clark shook his head, a what? Quietly he whispered to Diana, “is that…?”
The question hung in the air unanswered. Although he had spoken quietly, the others had clearly noticed the child at the same time as him, causing his quiet question to echo through the silence.
“Ulama,”
The child stopped what he was doing- which Clark can now see was slicing his sword through training bots, quickly turning to Batman. He sheathed his sword, taking a step forward, “Father.”
Clark felt his brain short circuit. Father?
Clark felt his head pound- and not just from the kryptonite. He had been flirting with a married man. A presumably married man. A widower? Whichever- Clark had been flirting with a father- who he didn’t even know was a father.
Bruce took a moment to respond, “We are-”
“Injured. Yes, I saw the footage, father. The med bay is up to date as of this morning so there should be no issue dealing with…this.” Clark could hear the disgust in the kid’s voice.
“Hey! What do you mean by that,” Hal shifted, crossing his arms as he glared at the kid.
“I mean that the team was incompetent in battle and thus due to various failures from each of you. You all have sustained injuries,” the child spoke slowly as if he was the one speaking to a child, “I took the liberty of checking over the supplies in stock.”
“Ulama, I had already checked that over after patrol last-” Batman cut himself off with a huff. He nodded over to the neatly made beds and Clark felt Diana begin to coax him to stumble over.
They mostly made it.
At least Clark thinks so, he vaguely remembers being set on the bed (if Diana wasn’t there he definitely would’ve collapsed, thank Rao the taller woman could carry his weight) and people buzzing around him. He could feel…gloves? Rough kevlar gloves plucking the shard of kryptonite from his stomach, cleaning the wound- taking care of it.
Taking care of him.
Clark had to stop himself from thinking about that too hard- Batman had a child. Heck- there’s a possibility that Batman could have adopted the kid! But considering the familiar smirk that appeared on the boy’s face, Clark highly doubted it. Which means that he might have a wife- at very least that meant that he liked women. While Clark knew that that didn’t rule out the idea that he liked men as well, heck he knew all about that, it just showed that he didn’t know anything about Batman.
With that realization he realized that he wasn’t sitting in silence, but instead he could hear two voices arguing. Blinking awake he tried to shift to see the commotion, he was stopped by an arm- Batman.
Batman didn’t say anything as he shifted the pillows and guided Clark to a sitting position, lips pressed into a tight line as he listened into the arguing.
They watched in silence as Hal picked a fight with a child. It would’ve been funny if it wasn’t so sad- the kid was clearly winning.
But at least Clark could now study the kid- he was short, just about as tall as Hal’s waist. He was dressed in a costume similar to Batman, a cape tight around his shoulders and a cowl pulled over his head. He had tall boots and a high collar on his tunic. It was in shades of black and grey, only broken up by the red of accent pieces.
And of course his sword that he had attached to his belt.
Even without seeing his face, Clark could see the similarities between him and Batman, even when what little skin showed was shades darker than his father.
He watched the kid hiss something in return to Hal before turning on his heel, facing Batman, “Father, are you sure that this,” he sucked air through his teeth, “group is up to our standard?”
Our?
Batman sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, and Clark wondered how none of them had connected that he was a father with the tired dad expression he was making.
“Ulama,” his head tracked the boy as he started for an area of the cave.
The boy hummed in response, still making his way to what seemed to be an exit.
“You cannot talk like-”
Hal interrupted Batman, “Brat- you can’t just walk away when-”
The boy quickly turned and grabbed something from his utility belt, throwing it at Green Lantern. Besides him Clark could feel Batman tense.
In a split second Hal used his ring to create a shield around him and-
The attack landed anyway?
But Hal was…fine?
Barry had sped over to his friend, checking him over and realized that there was no damage. He lent down and picked up…a stress ball?
It was yellow with a smiley face design on one side- from where Barry lightly squeezed it Clark could see shallow tears in it- seemingly from nails on a small hand (from Ulama?).
“Ulama,” Batman snapped.
The boy let out a sharp ‘tt’ sound before facing his father, “There was no harm, father. It is simply to point out how ineffective the ring’s power is,” He turned to Hal, “Seriously, anything yellow?”
The boy grinned, a cruel and teasing thing that stayed on his face until he turned back to his father. Slowly it faded, and a familiar frown formed on his face at seeing his father’s unimpressed look.
“Ulama. Just,” Batman cut himself off with a sigh, “Go to your room. We will be discussing this later.”
The boy scoffed.
Batman took a step towards his son, pointing at the boy from a distance, “No training, no patrol, straight to your room,”
The boy tensed at the tone that his father was using, shoulders going up to his ears and his face formed a snarl. Ulama’s head tilted slightly before rigidly turning on his heel and stalking away. Batman waited until the footsteps faded to turn to Hal, “I apologize for my son. He’s,” he didn’t finish the statement- teeth worrying his lip before abruptly stopping. Batman was almost never at a loss for words but it seems that two things can do it- emotions and his son.
Hal scoffed, “Gods Batsy, at least I don’t have to worry about where the brat got his attitude,”
Batman’s posture stiffened, and they could all feel the glare he sent towards Hal, “He takes after his mother,”
Clark heard a faint ‘tt’ sound from where the boy had wandered off to. Strange…normally he would have been able to hear that someone was spying-
As he thought that he heard a door quietly creak open, confirming that the boy had actually left this time.
Batman turned his back to the door, taking in the state of the rest of the League. He gave a sigh before turning back to his monitors, only replying to the others when they asked him direct questions- and even then it was normally in hums or grunts.