THE FIRST THING Clark did was tell his mother. All he did was call her and say, "You were right. It is easier now."

She answered, "I'm happy for you, son."

He spoke to her every day, and sometimes Bruce would hang around, teasing him and coming up with some snappy rejoinder for his mother to hear over the line. Eventually, as a joke, Bruce began to call her "Mama Martha" which to her was equally endearing and irritating, but then one day, he'd said the Mama part without the 'Martha' and she didn't correct him. After that, she always called him 'son' the same way she did to Clark, and Clark told her once that it meant the world to Bruce that she considered him family.

"He is, Clark. He brought you back to me," she said simply. Then she added, "but don't worry, you're still my favorite." Clark had laughed and then, upon Bruce's arrival home, proceeded to brag about being Martha's favorite. The teasing and jokes that ensued made her warm inside. Martha never heard her son be so free with his laughter before, and listening to him be so happy and free despite the tremendous burden he chose to carry gave her peace. Her son was back, alive, and more joyful than she'd ever seen him be.

Every day she let his new love for life pour out over her, and every day hung up with the same words:

"I love you both. Take care of each other."


SUMMER was in full swing in Gotham. Clark noticed that the people of this city had a strange sense of freedom. They would open the fire extinguishers on hot days, driving the firefighters nuts but affording a moment of fun for their children to play on the sidewalks. People stood together and socialized while they smoked cigarettes, and others just sat outside their buildings and watched the world around them. Kids played games and drew pictures on the sidewalks, people threw block parties and rooftop parties at night.

Another thing that became frequent was Bruce's trips to Metropolis or other cities for functions or galas. It was briefly a point of contention because of Bruce's tendency to go to them with famous women, starting frenzy upon frenzy of tabloid rumors, each of which made Clark furious. He'd ended up calling in a favor, and Lois got an exclusive interview with the Planet's Society section in which Bruce officially announced that he was with someone that he was very happy with. Between that and a photo shoot and interview with some magazine, and soon it was everywhere that forever single Bruce Wayne was off the market for good.

The internet promptly broke.

That was a full month before Bruce's next event, a fundraiser and silent auction for his foundation for the victims of Zod's attack on Metropolis and their families. He was going to make an appearance, of course, and they'd talked at length about going together. Bruce wanted to make sure Clark was okay with everything, and it was driving Clark nuts.

On the night of the event, Bruce rubbed his hands up and down Clark'supper arms. "You know you might end up being a celebrity by proxy now, right? I mean, are you okay with that?"

"I told you I'd handle it. I'll just... It will be fine. I promise."

"Look, if you really want, we can skip this and just—"

"Bruce."

"Alright, alright. I'm just worried, okay? I don't want this to be too much for you and then you bolt on me."

"Is that what all this is about?"

Bruce nodded, his real worry showing in his eyes and weighing on his broad shoulders. "I don't want you to have to leave me because of this."

Clark stared at him, appalled and slightly offended. "I would never, Bruce."

"You say that now, but what if you have to choose? Me or Superman, which one?"

Clark pulled him into a hug, reveling as always in the feeling of holding him. Then he pulled away and sat down. "Did I ever tell you how Lois found me?"

Bruce frowned but shook his head.

"She worked backwards from just before Zod's appearance, finding all my aliases and rescues. She followed the pattern straight to my mother's front door."

"That's actually disturbing."

"Yeah. The thing is, anyone could have done it if they knew what to look for. Hell, Luthor probably did." Clark looked up at Bruce with a half smile. "You could have, too, Mr. Dark Knight."

Bruce arched an eyebrow.

"The thing is, I can't change who I am or where I come from. I can't change what I can do. All I can do is adapt. If that means that we're going to have to play hide and go seek with the press so be it. I don't want to lose you because of who I am, any more than you want to lose me because of who you are."

Bruce nodded, sinking next to him on the couch. "I never thought of it like that, but you're right. We'll just have to play it by ear, I guess."

"And we will. I'm ready, if you are."

Bruce nodded, smiling. "I am. Shall we?"


THEY FLEW MARTHA to Gotham for that Thanksgiving, where she and Alfred had gone "mad scientist" on them before producing the meal of the century. Knowing that he had nowhere to go, Clark also invited Barry, who came in through the Bat Cave entrance looking like a nervous wreck. "I don't do dinners," he muttered, "Just like I don't do brunch, or—"

"Relax," Bruce said with a laugh, "It'll be fine." And it had been. Alfred was already used to his lack of social skills, as were Clark and Bruce, and Martha shrugged it off like she wasn't seated at a table full of superheroes. Moreover, sensing that Barry too was starved for a mother figure, Martha gave herself the task of making him feel as welcome as possible. Barry ate it up, and Bruce muttered to Clark at some point that if he wasn't sitting in Martha's lap by the end of the night while she reads him a bed time story, something was seriously wrong with the world. Clark choked on his drink, coughing to hide his laughter.

Barry had glanced between Bruce and Clark once before going "ahh" and nodding to himself, and that had been the end of the revelations of their relationship for the evening.


Clark did end up speaking to Perry at the Daily Planet, who was completely flabbergasted at first, but then managed to collect himself long enough to hear the younger man out and work out a way for him to have a job. Perry wrote him a recommendation that was so spectacular it might as well have been the crown jewels, and then he sent him overto a subsidiary of the Planet called the Gotham City Chronicle. Clark was happy with the move into Gotham, happy to stay close to Bruce and leave his story in Metropolis behind. He got an apartment in a high rise complex in the 'better' part of town and near the paper, and often biked to work just like he used to in Metropolis. Arriving home made him feel... relaxed.

He still watched over Metropolis at night, and of course, Lois.

There were rumors of him flying around again for months, but with Bruce actively shutting those rumors down and his own special attention to staying away from cameras, no one had been able to confirm or deny it. Lois had also taken the effort to secretly leak articles denying his return, for which he was grateful. They'd talked a few times at length until they were comfortable again, to Bruce's mild chagrin.

He decided that, in a rare flare of theatricality, he would make sure his return from the dead was made public just in time for Christmas. He floated above the city and waited. Sure enough, a family had somehow set their live christmas tree on fire, causing the upper six levels of their apartment building to burn. He rescued every single person and for good measure, used his breath to contain the fire for the fire fighters.

The next morning he was in Bruce's house when he saw the morning news with the headline scrolling across the bottom of the screen: BACK FROM THE DEAD! Superman saves several Metropolis families from a burning building in a Christmas miracle while footage of him flying just above, partially obscured in smoke, played over and over.

Bruce glanced at the scrolling headline and chuckled. "Merry Christmas, Clark."

"Yeah," he said. "Merry Christmas."

His phone buzzed on the counter, and a push note appeared. iMessage from Lois Lane. He quickly swiped it open. Welcome back. Thanks for making Perry wake me up at two in the morning for this story. He laughed at that. I hope you two are having a fantastic Christmas, the message ended. He quickly typed back.

You know evil never sleeps, and fires don't go on holiday vacations ;) sadly, that means that neither do you. Merry Christmas, Lo. Stay safe.

"Who was that?" Bruce asked curiously.

"It was Lois. She wished us both a happy holiday and she said thank you for the late night story. The last part was probably sarcasm."

"Merry Christmas to her too," Bruce said eventually. He still was probably more jealous than necessary where it concerned Lois, but he was learning to let go. She probably hated his guts, though—he knew he would if the situation were reversed. But as long as she was showing Clark good will, he couldn't complain. Too much.

Clark was watching him as he spoke, though and probably knew his entire thought process. Instead of saying anything, he simply wrapped his arms around him, pulling him in for a deep kiss, daring him with his body to press him against the counter. Bruce groaned and pulled back. "We are not ordering take out for our Christmas morning breakfast. Don't start things we can't finish."

Clark just shrugged, and impish smile pulling at his lips. "We have time."

Bruce let that sink into his mind. Absorbing it and processing it, all while watching Clark's blue eyes take in his expressions, probably trying to read his thought process again. Then he smiled. "Yeah," he said. "We have time."

Clark tilted his head the way he did when he was trying to figure something out. "What is it?"

"Just thinking about us." Bruce let himself get pulled back into that embrace he loved so much, doing his best to explain so that he could ease the concern in Clark's eyes. "You weren't here last Christmas. It's... kind of surreal."

"I'm here now," Clark said gently, rubbing Bruce's arm.

"Yeah, you are. There's nothing I've ever been happier about. If someone had told me that would be the case a year and a half ago, I would have been... skeptical at best." He shrugged, stepping back. "Now I think I would laugh if they'd said the opposite."

"That's a relief," Clark teased.

"Seriously," Bruce chuckled. "You're the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm a better person because of you. I love you, Clark."

Clark felt like the CD that made his brain work was skipping. "W-what?"

"I said, I love you, Clark."

Stunned, Clark was completely stuck for what could have been thirty seconds, or thirty years. Then, Clark crushed him into a tight hug, causing Bruce to cough a little as he returned the hug. "I love you, too," he whispered.


that's a wrap! thanks for sticking around. see you in the end notes.

~daisy