stands_for_hope | for knightbynight: For now and hereafter...

Entry tags:

for knightbynight: For now and hereafter...

[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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...there went the Superman arms. That was not the answer he was hoping for.

"Bruce, if we're not planning this..." a glance at him, "much, then there can't be drugs in your system. Honestly, your heartbeat itself is fine. I never, at any point, reacted violently to you having an accelerated heartrate. It's... it's unnecessary. And if we're going to test my limits, get me better, it's especially unnecessary."

"If I go out and get shot, get stabbed, someone sets a bomb off, and my heart-rate increases and you know I am in danger, what are you going to do, Clark?"

No judgement, just a question.

"The same thing I do every time that happens, Bruce," and God but he's tired, "which is start listening to the surrounding area, get a look at the situation from the sky, and assess whether or not you actually need assistance. Given my current situation, I would ping you on the communicator unless you happen to be unconscious, at which point I would step in to pull you out with a minimum of contact with anyone else."

Bruce was pretty tired, too, and he wanted to accept that - he really, really did. He didn't, really. He trusted Clark with himself, but trusting Clark not to lose his shit and kill someone who was attacking him and make this whole thing worse? He....

He just didn't, to tell the truth.

"Are you willing to let Dick handle any actual extraction? Drop him in, let him handle the situation and get me home?"

So he doesn't trust me. Well, that's fair. I don't trust me.

"As long as it doesn't involve radiation, toxic chemicals, or a gaping pit of fire," which he thought was pretty reasonable, "yes. I'm assuming you'll be asking him to stick around for a few days?"

Bruce wanted to trust Clark with this, but - well, Clark not being prepared to be Superman made it clear that being Superman to save Bruce's ass was a bad idea.

"If that will make you feel better, I will."

Would Dick even do it? Maybe. Who knew. He'd try.

"Maybe just for the first few days. He came here to help, after all."

And he made no bones about having listened in. Clark usually tried to keep his ears closed to other random conversations, but right now, anything around Bruce is going to get heard.

Of course Clark had listened in. Clark was listening to his heart all the time. "Then we'll try it, but if something goes awry, I'm going back to the drugs."

He wasn't making any bones bout that, either. If Clark did something it was going to set Clark back and that wasn't acceptable. It would also amount to him having committed murder by Superman and that was also not okay

He nodded, but--

"Honestly, Bruce, you know how careful I've been about everything. And I certainly haven't been thrilled at pushing my limits. I can handle this one. I handled you being out with Jason all night without so much as a broken pencil."

He'd never put a death on Bruce's conscience. He'd sooner sling some green kryptonite around his neck than do that.

"I know."

And he knew he should trust it. He also knew he wasn't... Look, it was more worry about Clark than himself.

He shut up there, the mental buts, and shut down his worries and concerns by leaning in and kissing Clark, suddenly and hard.

He leaned into the kiss, drank it in and gave as good as he got until Bruce needed to breathe and he let their foreheads rest against one another then, staying close.

He couldn't imagine how hard this was for Bruce. Bruce who was bending at every turn, putting every portion of his life on hold for him. Bruce who was putting himself in such danger, all the while the one he usually looked to for backup was the very mess he was trying to fix. He didn't know how well he'd handle such a thing, he really didn't. And he knew, tactically, what a nightmare this must be giving Bruce: Superman was an unstable element, which despite his logical consideration, was usually not at all the case.

"You have to know I'd be lost without you," he said quietly. "Thank you."

Bruce was having a far harder time with the bending and putting elements of his life on hold than the danger. He did, however, miss the stability that Clark usually provided.

In the end, though, in the very final analysis, it didn't matter that it was difficult. It mattered that he help stabilize Clark. It mattered that the world have Superman, too, but that was secondary in his priorities.

He had decided he was going to help Clark and he was going to help Clark.

He responded to the thank you in typical fashion. He leaned forward, kissed softly again for a moment, then growled and bit him.

He grinned into the bite and drew him closer to give him a quick, firm squeeze.

"Let's get back, make the arrangements with Dick, and we'll deal with the rest of it when we get to it."

"I do not need to go back to make arrangements with Dick." He's... weirdly irritated on that one point. "I'll handle it. "

"You're handling everything," he pointed out, and it definitely doesn't sound like he's upset about it. But he does want Bruce to know he's aware of it.

He's not sure if it's for everyone else's safety or for his.

That was... true enough.

"...Do you want to handle talking to Dick?" He should probably loosen up that death grip.

He didn't want to.

It's not so much the decision that takes him half a second as the phrasing.

"It'll probably be best if you do handle it."

Bruce needs control. He can't give him much right now, but he can let him have control. It rankles, to some degree. Part of the frustration, after all, is his own lack of control. But as long as the lines are clear, as long as he's handing that control to Bruce instead of having it taken away because he's incompetent or insane...

Bruce doesn't miss the phrasing he used or that Clark replied with, either.

"There's no reason you can't. In fact, Dick might even be more willing to believe it if you do." Otherwise it just amounted to Bruce asking for backup and was there any point in that.

Look at him, he's giving up control.

"Believe what? That we're making contingency plans?" he sighed just a little and gave Bruce a wry smile as he shook his head.

"Need to keep that 0 for 0 record for asking for assistance, eh?"

He knows very well that's not it. He knows Bruce knows that's not it. But it's a good thing to say, considering.

"In a sense," he admits. "If I go ask him to provide back-up he'll look for an ulterior motive. If you ask him to provide it for me, he won't." He ... is also not stalling leaving, exactly, he just hasn't gotten around to it, yet.

They're having an important discussion. Speaking of: "I don't want to take away your ability to have input in this Clark. I'm trying not to turn into a steam roller who is 'managing' you."

"We both know you wouldn't," he pointed out mildly, because he really wouldn't. Bruce, for all that people might call him a control freak, actually does not do well when people don't challenge him. Left to his own devices is not a good look on him, whatever he says.

"And we both know I wouldn't let you," he added. He gestured to where they were. "This was me speaking up." He gestured between them. "Going off the damn drugs was me speaking up."

He ran a hand through his hair.

"But whatever input I had while he was younger, that's still... Dick is still your boy. I'm going to defer to you when it comes to the boys, Bruce. And that has nothing to do with this situation."

Clark was right - left to his own devices was not a good look on Bruce. Bruce didn't care enough about himself for that, and he didn't even really have the desire to do anything about it. Which was unfortunate since he was a force to be reckoned with when he decided to care - at all.

At least it kept him busy, even if it was mostly other people who kept him....

Whatever it was he was.

He shrugged. "All right, then I'll talk to him when we go back." He was starting to get... whiplashy from trying so hard to be agreeable. Or maybe he was just getting cranky. "Though I think his relative opinion of each of us probably matters more to whether you think of him as mine or not."

Only sort of. Bruce was... well, he loved Dick.

He leaned over and kissed Bruce one more time.

"He's yours."

Then he leaned to one side, just a little.

"And a tiny bit mine." His smile got just that much wider.

"I'm still so proud he took the name Nightwing."

Bruce had many complicated and sometimes conflicted feelings about Nightwing, but it isn't something that he's going to get into now. Because feelings and also because he was being good, dammit.

...he was starting to think the sedatives might actually have been good for him. Maybe he'd take up drinking. (No, no he wouldn't, but he had the thought).

He returned Clark's kiss and snorted softly, settling back into the sofa. "We live together and share children. This almost sounds normal, Clark." Ie: Stop. Or not, but he was mocking the idea rather than embracing it.

Clark leaned over just a little and nudged Bruce's leg from his spot on the sofa.

"It sounds like something, all right."

And he's not calling it normal. Because it's better than normal. It's special. It's this... wonderful thing where regardless of where he is, how crazy things might have gotten, how terrified he is in general of the future, he at least knows one thing and that's that Bruce isn't going to leave him behind.

Possibly even if he should.

for knightbynight: For now and hereafter...

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject