Chapter Ten – Justice League Universe

A/N: I don't know how I feel about the phone call with Martha. I feel like it's terribly written… I hope it's okay though. :/

Clark is sitting on Bruce's bed while Bruce stands a few feet away, watching him intently. After Ko had blocked their first kiss, neither of them tried to initiate it again. Bruce isn't really sure why Clark hadn't but he knows he himself was just too nervous. If this thing is going to happen between them — whatever this thing is — then he doesn't want to screw it up. Unfortunately for him, Bruce has the feeling he'll end up doing that in no time.

Right now Clark has his cellphone out on the bed, listening to the ring as he waits for his mother to answer. They had decided to come up to Bruce's bedroom so they could have some privacy, Ko placed in his crib for his nap. Honestly, Bruce is nervous about this phone call too. Bruce had agreed to accompany Clark during it when Clark had asked him but he doesn't know what Clark is going to tell her. Are they together now even though they haven't even kissed yet? Does just confessing their love for one another make them a couple? Bruce gains little reassurance at Clark looking just as nervous as he feels. Maybe they should have discussed this before making the phone call.

The ringing stops on its fifth time and an older woman's sweet voice answers the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey Ma, it's me Clark."

"Clark! Oh, honey, how nice it is to hear your voice. It's been quite the long time since you've been to the farm." Bruce can hear the love in her voice and he feels a little envious of Clark. "How are you sweetheart?"

"I'm fine Ma, um, I'm sorry for not stopping by recently. It's been… kind of hectic here."

"Has it? I haven't heard much significant news of Superman in the past week. I know you had that apartment building fire in Chicago and then that Earthquake in Japan but that's about it."

"Oh? So you… uh… haven't heard any news about Clark Kent?" Clark is biting the bottom of his lip. "Or, at least seen a Clark Kent photo in the news?"

There's a pause as Martha tries to understand what her son is asking her. "No, I haven't been paying much attention to other news besides anything to do with Superman. You know it's fair season and I get so behind on news that don't make front page here in Smallville or breaking news on the TV around this time of year." Another long pause where no one says anything. "Why do ask honey?"

"I… might have made the news, sort of, a few weeks ago as Clark Kent," Clark says then hastily adds, "They didn't know it was me though. I was labelled the mystery man."

"Mystery man? Clark you make it sound like you're having some kind of love affair with a famous person." There's a very, very long stretch of silence. When Martha comes to her conclusion within that gap, it's practically palpable through the phone. "Clark Joseph Kent," Bruce has to stifle a snort at Clark's grimace, "if you don't start explaining things to me in precise, clear detail, I will pack my bags and march right down there to get to the bottom of this myself."

"It's… very complicated."

"Well then I guess you're lucky I just took a pie out of the oven before answering this call and so now I have all the time in the world." Clark is looking frightened by his own mother and so — while trying not to laugh — Bruce walks over to him and starts to massage the back of his neck. "You better start now Clark, times-a-ticking."

With a very deep sigh that actually lowers the room temperature a few degrees, Clark begins to explain matters and Martha, to her credit, listens in silence. Bruce notes how Clark skips over anything to do with both their feelings for each other, just mentioning the whole marriage for convenience thing briefly. "And so now, Bruce and I have kind of… uh…"

"Spit it out Clark."

"We've… um… uh… adopted a child together." Clark's whole face is red and Bruce has, by now, sat on the bed beside him. He's not massaging Clark's neck anymore and is instead holding Clark's hand. Not that he had much of choice but to hold Clark's hand as Clark is the one who initiated it and is now holding Bruce's hand in a vice grip that is just border lining on painful.

"You adopted a child with Bruce Wayne because you two got faked married?"

"No, we got faked married because we wanted to adopt a child together."

"This is very confusing, honey, and I'm afraid I really don't understand."

With another huge sigh — at this rate, Bruce will need to put on a sweater — Clark starts to clarify things a bit better. After he asks, "Is that clearer?"

"Okay, so let me make sure I understand this correctly," Martha says. "The Justice League went to another universe where there were evil versions of yourself. One of them, Bruce, was pregnant with the other you's baby because of something called alpha, beta, and omega castes, which I really don't understand still."

"It's okay, Ma, that's not the important part."

"Okay, so the other Bruce turned in the other Clark, gave birth on this Earth, and then left his child behind because it was too dangerous to take him with him. You and this Earth's Bruce both wanted to adopt him but in order to do that you needed to be together and so you two got married. After, you adopted the baby." Martha pauses briefly to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. "Is that about it?"

"Yeah pretty much."

"But you don't have feelings towards Bruce and he doesn't have any towards you, right?"

"That's… where it gets even more complicated." Clark's eyes flicker up to his but they don't stay there, instead falling back down to the phone. "Today Bruce and I actually confessed to having feelings for each other."

Silence and then, "I didn't know you liked men Clark, why didn't you tell me?"

Clark looks to his lap ashamedly. "I thought you wouldn't accept me."

"Oh Clark," Martha's voice is dripping with unconcealed love. Bruce wishes he could hear his own mother talk to him like that. "I could never not accept you. You're my little boy and I love you no matter what. Nothing could ever make me stop loving you."

"So you don't think it's… wrong?"

"Of course, not Clark! I don't care who you love as long as you're happy."

The relief that shines on Clark's face lights up Bruce's chest with happiness. "Thank you Ma."

"So does this mean the marriage is legit now?"

"I don't really know." Clark eyes meet his again but this time they stay locked together. "We kind of did it backwards."

"Oh no matter, as long as you two love each other it doesn't matter what direction you did this whole relationship thing in. Plus, this also means I not only get a cute little grandson to see but I also get to have a very nice son-in-law."

"You think Bruce is nice?"

"Well, I've only met him a few times but, yeah, he seems nice and, luckily, nothing like what the media portrays him as. Besides, anyone who puts that much dedication to his city, in and out of costume, must be a nice guy."

Clark is smiling at him proudly and Bruce has to look away for fear of having a blush appear. "Um, Ma, there's actually another thing I called you about. This is actually very important."

"What is it sweetheart?"

"Um, the baby Bruce and I adopted. Well, he's half Kryptonian and he's already starting to show powers when he's only just four months old. I was wondering – and I know you found me when I was approximately six months old but – Bruce and I were wondering when I started to develop my powers."

"Well, let's see," Martha starts. "I can't really recall you having any powers when you were just a baby. The first power you ever showed was your super strength and that was when you were nine and you broke my dining room table." Clark looks to Bruce with a frown. "What kind of powers is he showing?"

"First it was super strength like me but then he developed heat vision and recently it's been flight."

"Oh dear," Martha sighs on the other line. "Well those other two powers you should remember when you got them. You had hit puberty when heat vision came along and then flight was when you were an adult… what was it? Eighteen, nineteen years old?"

"Twenty-one, I was still in college."

"Oh that's right. You called me up all excited like, exclaiming to me and your father how fun it was to be able to fly up in the clouds, wave at some birds." Bruce raises an eyebrow at the bird thing and Clark's cheeks tint red. "I think that power is the one you got the most excited about getting. Definitely made your visits to Smallville more frequent which was appreciated." Martha chuckles and so does Clark. Bruce makes sure to stay silent. "I'm sorry I wasn't that much help in this matter, Clark."

"It's okay Ma."

Martha sighs again, sounding a bit regretful this time. "I suppose I gotta go now. Still got two more pies I need to bake for tomorrows fair. They're selling like hot cakes." Clark smiles at this, obviously proud of his mother. "Oh, before I go, you haven't even told me the name of my grandson"

"The other Bruce named him Clark." Martha doesn't say anything to this, probably wondering why the other Bruce would name his son after the bad guy. "I then came up with the Kryptonian name of Ko-El for him. Ko is what we call him the most. It means peace, reflection, and calmness."

"That's very beautiful Clark. I hope I get to meet him soon."

"Well," Clark says, looking at Bruce intently and with a small smile playing at his lips. "If it's okay with Bruce, I can bring him to the farm for a visit this weekend. Maybe I'll even convince Bruce to come along."

"Oh, that would just be so wonderful Clark. I would love to see my little grandson and son-in-law this weekend."

"I'll make double the effort to convince him then." Clark is smiling full force at now, ignoring Bruce's glare. Clark is really, really lucky Bruce loves him. "I better go now Ma. I can feel a Bat-glare from all the way downstairs and I have to find out what caused it."

Martha is chuckling. "Alright Clark, I'll see you this weekend." Said as if it's already set in stone.

"By Ma." With that, Clark hangs up the phone.

"You sneaky little bastard. You made that invitation on the phone on purpose just so you can guilt me into going," Bruce says as soon as the phone is put off to the side.

Clark chuckles lowly. "Did it work? Will you come?"

"Like I would let you bring Ko there without me."

Clark chuckles again and scoots a little closer to him. "You know, that elephant that is in the room, the one about our relationship and what kind it is, was kind of answered by my mother."

"Oh, and what was her answer?"

"That we are in a relationship." Clark leans closer to him, getting his face closer to Bruce's. "Of course, it's still if you want. I know I want to be but you… I know you."

"Apparently," Bruce says softly. "You still don't know me well enough because despite being… despite being…" Bruce swallows. He wants to say despite being scared he still want to have a relationship with Clark but Bruce has never been very good at expressing his feelings. "It's just that… I want… too." It's the best he can do and he hopes Clark understands.

Clark studies his eyes, leans even closer so their mouths are almost touching. Just another inch and he will feel the press of Clark's lips on his. Clark smiles warmly and lifts a hand to Bruce's cheek. "Yes, I know, I'm scared too but I want to give it a try Bruce, I want to just… damn it I love you so much that if we don't just try…"

Bruce clears his throat, swallows, and steels himself the best he can. "Then let's try."

Clark's lips press to his then and they are warm and not as hard as Bruce had pictured. They are yielding against Bruce's and soon, maybe too soon Bruce isn't sure anymore, they open up to his and then both their tongues are dancing together. Bruce finds himself moving closer to Clark, grabbing a hold of the back of his neck with one hand and the other grasping his hip. Both of Clark's hands grab a hold of Bruce's hips, pulling him closer with a little whimper. It doesn't take long for Bruce to become hard, in fact it's ridiculous with how fast it occurs. But Clark seems to be in the same predicament so Bruce shouldn't complain.

Bruce's hand travels down to Clark's groin and he rubs Clark's length through his jeans, dragging a long moan out of the Kryptonian's mouth. Clark brings his hand to Bruce's shoulders and pushes him away. "Wait… we shouldn't… too fast, Bruce. We should slow things down."

Bruce raises a critical eye. "Do you really want to do that Clark?"

Clark looks at him and after a few seconds another whimper comes out of his mouth. "No, no I don't." Then Clark is kissing him again, clawing at Bruce's shirt. Bruce climbs on top of Bruce's lap, straddling his thighs and rubbing their erections together by grinding against him. Clark's hand, giving up on the shirt buttons, dive under the shirt instead in order to touch bare skin.

Bruce is just about to do the same thing to Clark when suddenly his bedroom door is flung open. "Bruce! Clark!" Bruce and Clark stop immediately, Bruce sliding off of Clark's lap unsteadily and hurriedly. He tries to flatten his shirt out, hoping Tim can't see his erection too much and Clark stays sitting on the bed, face flushed in embarrassment as he turns his torso around to look at the kid. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

"Tim," Bruce says, squeezing the bridge of his nose. "What have I told you about knocking first."

Tim seems to think this over briefly before responding. "Oh yeah! Sorry Bruce, I forgot in my rush." Bruce groans in annoyance. "So are, like, you two a couple now? Can I tell Dick? Can I tell Jason?"

"Tim," Bruce says, still squeezing the bridge of his nose.

"Please tell me I can tell Jason. I can't wait to see his face."

"Tim."

"He'll be so pissed that it took you two so long." Tim laughs. "But we all knew you'd get there eventually."

"Tim."

"What?"

"Why did you come and get us?"

"Oh!" Tim's eyes widen with the reminder. "You two have to come see this."

He then turns and starts running down the hall. With a sigh, Bruce starts to follow and Clark follows behind Bruce, his face still a bright red and erection prominently tenting his jeans. Clark quickly puts his hands in front of it. "This is embarrassing," he mutters from behind Bruce.

They follow Tim into the main lounge that has the TV. Dick, Jason, and Alfred are also in the room. "Okay, Dick, play it," Tim says as soon as the three of them enter the room.

Dick presses play on the remote and the news station continues to play on the TV. Dick had played it at the very end of a news announcement so Bruce waits that out impatiently. This had better be good for Tim to "forget" to knock and interrupt him and Clark. As soon as he sees what comes next in the news report, however, he knows Tim made the right choice.

"Bruce Wayne has been spotted with his new, mysterious husband by a wandering drone the other day," the news person begins. A video of Clark, Bruce, and Ko pops up on the screen, the three of them being filmed when they had their little picnic. "The couple were having lunch out in Wayne gardens with a mysterious baby with them. Reports have come in of the mystery man being one Clark Kent from the Daily Planet in Metropolis, also the newspaper company that Bruce Wayne owns." Now a picture of Clark pops onto the screen, a picture that was taken for the newspaper itself when Clark won a Pulitzer.

"Oh," Bruce looks behind him to see Clark covering his face with his hands.

Bruce looks back to the TV screen, stunned. "Sources have not said how Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent had met but one can speculate that it was through Wayne's ownership of the Daily Planet. Now their relationship has begun being questioned from the general public and, the word is, by the board of directors themselves. How long this relationship has been going on is still a mystery as neither Wayne or Kent have come out directly to make a statement." Clark groans again in dismay, taking a few steps back and falling into a chair. His hands are still covering his face. "There is still no word of who the baby is that was seen with them. This is-"

Dick turns the TV off then, cutting the news person off. Bruce shakes his head. "How did they get that video? Why didn't my security pick it up?"

"Maybe because it was in the air," Dick suggests.

"No, as soon as those things were made I modified my security to pick them up." Bruce rubs his face. "Besides, the security has always been able to pick up helicopters and planes… and Clark." Another, long and agonizing groan from Clark, muffled by his hands.

"I can look into if you want Bruce!" Tim offers, jumping up excitedly from the couch.

"Have Dick or Jason help you."

Jason groans next and Tim glares at him. "I would rather have Dick help me than Jason."

Bruce sighs, really getting tired of those two and their rivalry. He's about to tell them to quite it when something suddenly occurs to Bruce. He runs his hand through his hair and he says, "They could have seen Ko flying." Clark looks up worriedly at this. "That's the day Ko started flying and whoever took this video could have seen that."

"Shit, that's right," Dick says. "That's means we're-"

"We're going to have to find the original video and who took it," Bruce says, finishing for Dick.

"And if they did see Ko flying?" Clark asks.

"Then we are going to have a lot bigger problems than just the media finding out about our relationship and the baby," Bruce answers.

Clark groans and places his head in his hands again. "This day has just been complete shit." Despite the situation, one of Alfred's eyebrows raises with disapproval at the swear, both Dick's eyebrows raise in surprise at Clark swearing, Jason smirks in satisfaction that the almighty Superman had just sworn, and Tim has no reaction at all as if he hears Clark swear all the time. Clark ignores all of this and peeks at Bruce from the corner of his eyes playfully. "Well, one good thing did come out of today."

Bruce, unfortunately, has to crush that playful look with his next statement. Bruce frowns. "We also have to worry about someone recognizing you as Superman."

Clark's smile disappears. "No, I'll worry about and handle that. You find that original video. If anyone will be able to do it, then you can." Bruce nods.

A/N: There you go. Hope you all liked it. :)