Chapter Four:
When they beam down from the Watchtower to Earth in Metropolis, the first thing Clark does after changing into his civilian clothes, is go to a store to buy kid stuff. He has to work off of a journalist salary that was never saved up for children, but he should be fine. He also has to carry a very tired Bruce instead of having him walk but he doesn't really mind that. The kid is almost fully asleep when he reaches the store and has to wake up the poor child again in order to place and buckle him into the cart seat. He then makes a beeline towards the kid's clothes first.
He picks up two pairs of jeans, five pairs of t-shirts, a sweater just in case even though it is summer, and some socks and underwear. If two of the five shirts have the Batman symbol and the other the Superman symbol on it, well that's just coincidence.
He's looking at pajamas when a sleepy voice says, "I want that one."
Clark looks to where the boy is pointing and sees a pair of Superman pajamas. "You sure?"
Bruce nods. "Yeah because Superman is awesome!" Clark smiles, feeling his heart swell. Did adult Bruce have this much admiration towards him? Clark doubts it and chalks it up to a four year old mind, but it's a nice thought nonetheless. "Can I also have the Batman one? Please?"
Clark picks it up and ruffles Bruce's hair. "Sure, why not?" Bruce smiles wide. After picking up a pair of sneakers, Clark heads to the toys, figuring he should get him something at least. He puts some coloring books and crayons in the cart and then continues down the aisle. "See anything you like?"
As expected, Bruce scowls and shies away from the toy guns. Clark is glad about that since he wouldn't want child Bruce to play with such things anyways. It's not until they reach the stuffed animal aisle that Bruce finally speaks up. "That, I want that!"
Clark looks and can't hold back his smile. Bruce is pointing and leaning over the side of the cart to try and reach a stuffed bat. The face has yellow eyes and stitched on fangs.
"You want a bat?" Clark confirms and when Bruce nods his head enthusiastically, he chuckles and puts it in the cart. "Anything else? Last chance."
"Um..." Bruce rubs at his chin as he looks around. Then his eyes light up. "Can I get that too?" He's pointing at a small Superman plushie. "And maybe that one too." Next, he points to a Batman plushie. "Because you can't have Superman without Batman!" Bruce's smile is wide when Clark places the two in the cart, right next to the bat. "Thank you Clark."
Clark chuckles again. "You're going to have an awful lot of Batman and Superman stuff."
"That's because both are so awesome." Bruce looks up to him as he pushes the cart in the direction of the food. He's going to have to get more if he's going to be feeding two people. Not that Clark really needs to eat but he believes it'll help Bruce adjust better plus, he just really likes the taste of food. "But I like Superman better."
"Awe, now you're just trying to flatter me," Clark says.
"No," Bruce laughs. "I'm telling the truth. Superman is so much better than Batman. He can fly and he has a colorful suit and he's super nice. He even saves cats from trees. I like cats." Clark shakes his head in amusement at the cliché of Superman saving cats. "I actually like pretty much all animals but cats and dogs and bats are pretty cool."
"See," Clark grabs a box of cereal. "You should like Batman better then."
Bruce shrugs. "Batman is smart and mysterious and-and, well I don't know the word, it's like being pulled to the person."
"Alluring, maybe?" Clark fills in absentmindedly.
"What does that mean?" Bruce asks.
Clark blushes. "Attractive or tempting."
"Yeah that," Bruce agrees. "So is Superman but since Batman is so dark it makes him even more alluring. They're both super awesome."
"But what makes you like Superman more than Batman?" Clark asks, stopping in the bread aisle. Is the bread I have still good or is it past it's date? Ah, better to just get another one just in case.
Bruce shrugs again. "I don't know, it's just a feeling." Clark puts a loaf of bread into the cart. "Maybe it's because I've met you and haven't met Batman?"
"Maybe." Clark still wonders, however, why a four year old Bruce would like Superman so much more than his adult self's Batman. Shouldn't he have some kind of subconscious connection to Batman? Surely Bruce doesn't think so little of himself and so highly of Superman? "I think this is about it," he says once he puts the last of the food in the cart. Tonight he'll be making spaghetti since it's quick and easy. When he's all checked out, he reaches a dilemma. He forgot that he had to either carry Bruce or have him walk beside him while holding his hand and now he has too many bags to carry to do either. Bruce is carrying the bag with his stuffed toys in it but Clark is carrying the rest which is, quite honestly, a lot. It should also be pretty heavy for any other person, probably too heavy to even carry, but not for Clark. "Bruce?" The boy looks up at him from peering inside the bag. "I need you to stick close to me okay? Don't go wondering off or anything like that; stay where I can see you."
"Okay." He smiles and then they're off. Clark keeps an eye open for any people that would want to try and kidnap the child but he's more worried about something catching the eye of the four year old and the boy running off or worse, into the road. He tells Bruce where to turn and to stop when they need to cross the road and even has to turn down a woman who offers her help in holding Bruce's hand. With magicians trying to get them, he really doesn't want to take the chance of anyone being one of them. "This your house?" Bruce tilts his head up at the apartment building, in awe at how tall it is.
Clark laughs. "Not exactly. My house is inside this building. It's called an apartment and you pay someone else in order to live in it."
"You have a house inside this building?" He seems to be in even more awe which is funny to Clark since Bruce is the one who owns the building.
Walking into the building and to the elevator, Clark answers, "Well, it's single floor with a bedroom, bathroom, and the kitchen and dining room and the living room are all connected in one big room. The kitchen is separated by some counter tops that have stools so you can eat there or you can eat at the dining room table which is just off to the side of the living room. Really, Bruce, it's nothing much. It certainly isn't like your ho-" Clark stops himself abruptly.
"My what?" Bruce questions and Clark has to think of something to say. He opens the door to his apartment and is relieved when the child is distracted from what Clark said. Bruce looks around the room. They walk right into the big room that houses his kitchen, dining room, and living room. Going to the counter, Clark places the bags down. "This is the counter you were talking about?"
"Yep." Clark leans down and lifts Bruce so he can sit on one of the stools in order to watch him put things away. When he moves onto the clothes, he guides Bruce into his bedroom. "You'll be sleeping on that bed." Bruce tries to get up on top of it but fails miserably. Clark helps him up. "I'll be sleeping on the couch out in the living room," he says as he places Bruce's clothes in a now empty drawer. He moves his clothes that used to be in that drawer to his closet, up on a shelf.
"Out in the living room?" Bruce confirms.
"Yeah." Clark turns and sits on the bed next to him. Bruce has set out his Superman, Batman, and bat stuffed toys on one of the pillows. "It's not too far away, just out that door and down the hall a little."
Bruce looks around the room. "And I'll be in here alone?"
Clark studies his worried look. "You don't need to worry. I'll never let anything get to you or hurt you."
Bruce lunges and hugs him, pressing close and burying his face in Clark's chest. "I know."
Clark hugs him back then gets up. "Why don't you get comfortable while I make supper. This is going to be your home for awhile now so I want you to feel safe here." Clark then leaves, leaving the kid on the bed to his own devises. He quickly places the crayons and coloring books on the coffee table before going to the kitchen to start boiling water. By the time he's done making the spaghetti, tomato sauce and Parmesan grated cheese included, Bruce hasn't left the room. "Bruce?" Clark calls out, a little worried. Maybe he shouldn't have left the kid by himself and out of his sight. That thought quickly leaves his head when he walks into the bedroom, however.
There, lying on top of the covers and holding all three of his stuffed toys tightly, is a sleeping Bruce. He looks like he's been sleeping for awhile so Clark guesses he must have fallen asleep just after Clark left the room. Gently and carefully, Clark picks Bruce up in order to tuck him in under the covers. He then leans down and pecks the top of his head, saying a quiet goodnight. Clark leaves the door open when he leaves, mostly so if Bruce wakes up he's not frightened. After a few days he'll try closing the door halfway until eventually he can just leave it open a crack.
Clark puts some plastic wrap on top of Bruce's spaghetti and then places it in the refrigerator. He then goes to his couch, turns the TV on and turns the volume down as to not wake the child in the other room, and begins to eat his own spaghetti. It's probably not a good idea to have Bruce skip supper but the poor kid has been pretty tired for a long time now and kept being woken up when he is asleep. This time, Clark won't do such a thing and allow Bruce to get some rest.
It's not long until Clark has cleaned his plate, shut the TV off, and went to sleep himself on the couch. He dreams of magic and fighting and Bruce saving him and him saving Bruce. This time in the fight, they're successful.
…
"Clark?" Clark slowly opens his eyes and sees blue ones in front of his face.
"Bruce? What is it?" He sits up and rubs at his eyes. "What time is it?" He looks at the clock. "It's one in the morning. What's wrong, are you okay?" His alarm level rises.
Bruce sniffles. "I had a bad dream."
That's when Clark gets a good look at Bruce. There's tears glistening down his cheeks and he's clutching onto his bat plushie for dear life. He's also in his clothes still but so is Clark. Clark silently sighs. "Okay, come on." He walks Bruce back to the room and then digs through the drawer to get him some pajamas. He decides on the Superman pajamas and not because he's being bias at all. "Here, put these on." He then takes out his own pajamas and uses his super speed to put them on. When Bruce is done getting dress, he wipes the child's face off with his hands, gets a tissue so Bruce can blow his nose, and then helps him back onto the bed. He tucks him back in again and then sits on the edge of the mattress. Clark's not really sure what you're supposed to do when a kid has a bad dream but he's pretty sure you don't just put them back to bed and then leave immediately. "What's your bat's name?"
"Ace," Bruce says lowly.
Clark should have known. "That's a nice name. How did you come up with it?"
Bruce shrugs. "I don't know. I just thought of it."
"Well I like it." Clark smiles. "Do you want to tell me what the bad dream was about?" Bruce shrugs again. "You don't have to, that's fine." He sits there for a moment longer before finally standing. "Okay, I'm going to go back to sleep now. You have to also but you don't need to worry remember? It was just a bad dream. Whatever it was can't hurt you here." Clark smiles reassuringly. "If you need anything else though or you have another bad dream you can come get me again. I won't be mad." Clark brushes Bruce hair back and then starts to walk away.
"Clark?" Clark stops and turns around. Bruce is sitting up. "I don't want to be alone."
One thing about nightmares that Clark does know about is that parents, when their child has a bad dream, will either get into the bed with them or allow the child into their own bed. Clark's not really sure if he should do that because he's not Bruce's parent, but seeing that look on Bruce's face makes up his mind. "Okay, I won't go." He walks over to the other side of the bed and then gets in. He stays sitting up and beckons the child over who crawls closer him. Bruce is staring at his little stuffed bat, Batman and Superman over on the other side of the bed, the side Bruce just left in favor of cuddling up next to Clark, pulling at the bat's ear slightly.
Clark hugs him one last time before he makes to lie down. Before he can, however, Bruce nestles into his arms and starts to talk again. "I was with these two people, except I was older than I am now and the two people I was with were like you." He looks up at Clark with sparkling blue eyes. "They were really tall even though I was older." Clark figures he's talking about his bad dream.
"And what were you doing with them?" Clark prompts, trying to get him back on track.
"We were watching a movie in this building. When we left the building the two people had us walk between these two buildings." Clark's stomach sinks and a lump forms in his throat. He knows where this going. "It was dark but one of the old people said it was a shortcut."
He can see tears already forming in Bruce's eyes. "You know what Bruce, you don't need to tell me. I can see how it's upsetting you so you don't have to think about it anymore."
"It felt real." Clark doesn't have the heart to tell him that it was real, that something like that really did happen, so he stays quiet. "Clark?" Clark looks down and Bruce is staring at him. "Where are my parents?" He certainly wasn't expecting that question and he can't think of what to say quick enough. "Are they at that place you rescued me from? And why can't I remember anything before that?"
"I-" Clark stumbles over his words. "Those... remember I told you those people took you? Well those same people really hurt you, Bruce. That's why you can't remember. The way they hurt you made you forget." Clark figures it's not a total lie.
"And my parents?" His blue eyes are hopeful.
"I... don't know if they are," Clark says, expecting disappointment to form on little Bruce's face but it doesn't.
"Can we go back and check?" He pulls away and sits with his legs underneath him. "Can we Clark? Can we go save them?"
"Bruce," he really hates himself right now. "We can't, you remember that plane ride to get back here, back to Earth? Where we were is a long way away from here. We can't just-"
Bruce cuts him off. "Why not?" Tears are starting to pool in his eyes. "I want my mommy and daddy." The tears slip out and that seems to be the trigger for Bruce to start crying whole heartedly.
Clark pulls him in again. "I know, but... I'm sorry, I don't think... I don't think your parents are around anymore." The sobbing kid in his arms only starts to cry more with those words.
A/N: Thanks for reading. Updates will be every Friday. Next update scheduled for: 11/27/15. To see a full list of dates, please go to my Tumblr, angelcamael, and go to the post under: /post/132217933841/loss-of-time