for knightbynight: For now and hereafter...

[stands_for_hope]

[some time after the events here]

Superman and Batman were partners in more than a work sense. Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent were an adorable (if mildly ridiculous) couple. Kal-El of Krypton and a man who defied any definition outside of the single letter 'B' made time on weekends, worked around world crises and teenage tempers, and occasionally fell into bed together when the stars aligned. Thankfully, they aligned relatively often.

Wayne Manor received a delivery of organic produce and baked goods once a week from a small, independent farm in the heartland. Lois Lane was a little less likely to agree with snide comments about the uselessness of Bruce Wayne, especially after seeing the utter madness that was Clark's desk after a few weeks. The texting habits of a certain blond teenager in Kansas rose sharply... and in parallel to that of a certain former street punk in Gotham.

Life was... well, it was good, even if it was also Life. Until it wasn't. Until everything changed.

They all had enemies, of course. But the problem with Superman's enemies was that they were coherent enough to decide to team up. And crazy enough to use the kind of weaponry that could make whole cars just vaporize into nothing.

Crazy enough to point that weapon at a somewhat-pinned Batman and a Wonder Woman who was digging him out from the rock. Crazy enough to point that weapon at Batman.

Bruce.

B.

Clark didn't even make the choice. His heart made it for him. The beam shot out of the Toyman's mechanical monstrosity and Clark flew, the pain of the beam itself nothing on the fact that he was leaving Bruce behind. That his vision of them as old men together would never happen. That he was leaving behind a world that needed him.

The guilt that, if it meant saving them, saving him, he didn't regret a thing.

Comments

[stands_for_hope]

Clark, unable to quite help himself, used the opportunity presented by Bruce reaching for the phone to nibble at his shoulder.

[knightbynight]

Bruce grunted at Clark, but it was an appreciative sounding caveman grunt. Even while he draped over the guy and kept checking his texts, voice mail, and emil from the phone.

[stands_for_hope]

Since he hadn't been discouraged, there was a bit more nibbling, a kiss or two, finally a nip. And his hand may have reached over to settle at Bruce's hip.

[knightbynight]

Bruce wasn't quite oblivious to the nibbling and kissing. In fact he rather enjoyed it and reacted largely by petting Clark's hair with one hand while he worked through his inbox(es) with the other.

He yawned once or twice, stretched, but mostly he just caught up on what he needed caught up on. Then he dropped his phone back to the nightstand and flopped down on top of Clark.

"Wake me back up in an hour or when you hear Jason stirring." Whichever happened first.

[stands_for_hope]

Clark nodded before leaning up to press a kiss against Bruce's temple.

"Can do. Get some sleep."

Clark let his head drop back against the pillows and looped his arms loosely around Bruce before letting his own eyes close. He wasn't asleep, but he was exceptionally relaxed, the familiar weight on top of him yet another sign that he was home.

[knightbynight]

Bruce was exceptionally relaxed, too, largely by virtue of very quickly being asleep. The weight of Clark's arm was nice, the bed was warm, he could hear Clark's heart beating and he was tired enough that he was actually taking that extra hour.

Taking it and making the most of it. Clark under him was undeniably present and alive and home, and that let him sleep better than anything else in the world possibly could have.

[stands_for_hope]

He'd wake up to a hand in his hair and another running lazily up and down his back, which Clark figured was a better alarm clock than the annoying noise.

"Come on," and the voice was probably as much vibration as sound for Bruce, given where he was, "we've got video games to play."

And hopefully Jason would join them.

[knightbynight]

Bruce yawned against Clark's chest, and like the mature adult he was ended the yawn by biting down on Clark at the end. Of course he also arched and stretched like a cat. He was much easier to get up this time around, at least.

Clark's method didn't hurt anything, either.

"Jason had better appreciate you."

[stands_for_hope]

The bite got a shift from him, his hand in Bruce's hair tightening just a little before releasing to let Bruce stretch and arch.

"I don't think anyone appreciates me quite as much as you do."

[knightbynight]

Bruce sat up on the edge of the bed and rubbed his eyes. "That depends on what you mean by you." He was still moving a little slowly but rapidly getting his body and brain in gear. That moment on the bed was what he gave himself before he was getting up to grab a fresh shirt.

[stands_for_hope]

"I'm actually not being specific right now," he admitted as he pushed himself up from the bed and reached up to stretch towards the ceiling. Then he was slumping back down and rolling his head around to crack his neck.

[knightbynight]

He slipped his arms into the sleeves and then turned back to face Clark while he buttoned up and fastened the cuffs. "Then maybe, and maybe not. You as a whole, likely. You as Clark Kent, maybe. You as Superman - No." Because dammit, he was just waking up, but he was precise.

[stands_for_hope]

Clark flickered for a moment before he was tugging on his own clothes, a button up shirt in a deep blue and a pair of slacks. His cuffs were rolled up to bare his forearms, but he did tuck his shirt in neatly before he rubbed at his cheeks. He still looked scruffy, yet a glance at Bruce's mirror said it wasn't a bad look on him.

"Ahh, I see. You're a Wonder Woman man. Prefer getting saved by beautiful Amazonian royalty," Clark teased as he ran a hand through his hair to neaten it up.

[knightbynight]

Shirt on, and buttoned, he pulled on a pair of slacks himself. Light grey, wool, and he really did look like he was going more for a business meeting than to play video games. He even added a nice leather belt.

"I don't particularly like Superman. Being saved by him is... patronizing." There was a twitch at one corner of his mouth, though, because he did like Superman. Just not for being saved by.

[stands_for_hope]

Clark couldn't look at Bruce with a straight face as he answered, so he took the time to pull on his socks.

"Now me, can't say anyone else is quite like Green Lantern. Second only to Green Arrow."

[knightbynight]

"I don't like Oliver, personal, but Alan can bend me over anything he wants, any time he wants." He didn't even miss a beat, just went to grab both his socks and his shoes, before finding a seat to use for putting them on.

[stands_for_hope]

That just had Clark laughing, leaning back on the bed until both socks were on. Then he dropped back with a huff and a grin over at Bruce.

"I can't think of Alan like that. He's like my uncle. He's like everyone's uncle."

[knightbynight]

"I have daddy issues," Bruce said, with an extremely dry tone, "and no reference for actual familial relationships."

That was sometimes helpful.

He got one shoe tied and then the other sock on.

[stands_for_hope]

"Or you just have a preference for blondes," he pointed out as he turned on the bed to watch Bruce from there.

[knightbynight]

"...Can you name a single blonde I've slept with more than once?"

[stands_for_hope]

"I can name two:" he said with a snort, "namely Silver St. Cloud and Vicky Vale."

He let his head tilt back and forth.

"Can't think of any men you've been with who are blond, though. Mostly because I wasn't sure if you actually... if it was part of the act."

Back before they'd gotten together. What felt like eons ago.

[knightbynight]

"Vicky doesn't count." For reasons he wasn't going into. Silver was an entirely different story and one that still made him slightly cranky - though.

He blinked at Clark in utter confusion. "You can read my heartbeat and smell my hormonal state and you thought that was an act. I can't decide if I should be flattered or call you a moron."

[stands_for_hope]

"And," Clark continued the sentence from Bruce's. The one that didn't end in him being a moron, "my friend deserved to have his privacy on that score respected even if the act included making time with men. Just because someone sleeps with a certain type of people doesn't necessarily mean that's what they prefer or how they identify."

Then he tossed a pillow at him.

"Mister Biofeedback."

[knightbynight]

Bruce caught the pillow and shoved it behind his back, while he finally got around to tying his other shoes.

"I don't identify." Like... at all, which much of anything. His identity issues ran deep. "It's what I do that defines me." And yeah, that was a quote. From an old, good, friend. Even that didn't cover it, though, because again - the act. Where did it stop?

Long story short: "I still couldn't tell you any of those things."

[stands_for_hope]

"So it's a good thing that I never made any assumptions, then, isn't it?" Clark pointed out before squirming a little to settle on the bed

"So, since you hadn't told me that I could bend you over anything I wanted any time I wanted, I wasn't going to assume the answer to the important question there."