Chapter Five – Justice League Universe
A/N: Alfred ships SuperBat. So does Dick.
Also, FYI, I have no idea how adoption works.
Clark opens his eyes slowly, having to remind himself where he is. He packed up as much as he could from his apartment — which wasn't much as he doesn't really have much to bring — yesterday and brought it over to the Manor. Alfred had told him to leave all the boxes downstairs for now and showed him where his room was. He hadn't seen Bruce for the rest of the night, or well, in person at least. Clark did hear Bruce come in from patrol at four in the morning and Clark had lain in bed, watching him through the walls. As soon as Bruce entered his bathroom that is conjoined to his bedroom, however, Clark immediately shut off his x-ray vision, blushing and feeling embarrassed. After that, Clark had tried to get some more sleep.
It was strange sleeping in an unfamiliar place. He's slept over at the Manor before but never in this wing of the house, in the permanent resident section. Whenever he would sleepover, as rare as that was, it would always be in the West wing section where the guest bedrooms are. But Alfred had set Clark up in a room that is diagonal to Bruce's and right across from Ko's. That way if something were to happen, both Clark and Bruce would be able to get to Ko as fast as possible. Of course, Clark had learned that Alfred had switched his own room as well.
Alfred now sleeps on the other side of Ko's room, the side that isn't occupied by Bruce's master bedroom. This is so when Ko cries in the night Alfred can get to him without the baby having to cry for too long. Clark learned this the hard way when, that night, Ko had started crying. This was long before Bruce had returned from patrol and Clark decided to start stepping up as Ko's other father and take care of him. As he made his way out of the bed, Clark was proud that his super hearing was already attuned enough to Ko in order to wake him from his sleep. However, as soon as he opened the door, there stood Alfred, already entering Ko's room.
"Alfred?" Clark had asked, stepping out into the hall. "Alfred, I can take care of him, you go back to bed."
Alfred had turned to him, still looking as posh as ever even in his pajamas. "Nonsense Master Clark. I can take care of Master Ko while you go back to sleep."
"But Alfred-" Clark had tried but Alfred had given him a look that looked awfully familiar except a hundred times scarier coming from the butler than it ever did coming from Bruce. Clark looked down in submission. "Very well Alfred." He then turned and walked back into his new room and went back to sleep only for his super hearing to wake him again a few hours later when Bruce came home.
Now he's waking up from his sleep naturally and when he looks at the clock, it reads that it is only seven o'clock in the morning. Yawning, Clark gets up and stretches. His clothes are still downstairs in boxes but when he's just resigning himself of having to face the family in his blue checkered pj's, he sees some casual clothes slung over the back of the desk chair. He assumes Alfred had put them there and blushes when he notices Alfred had laid out his Batman boxer briefs, the black and yellow symbol prominent on the back end.
Picking up his clothes, he carries them into the bathroom that is also conjoined to his room. There's another door on the other side that walks into another bedroom so it's not totally his, but he also knows no one sleeps in that other room. Tim sleeps in a room farther down the hall and whenever Dick stays over, he sleeps in the room next to Tim. Feeling comforted by the fact that no one will be barging in on him while he showers — except maybe Alfred — he starts the shower up and steps into the warm spray. Clark has to admit; he's always loved the water pressure in this house. The water pressure in his apartment has always been poor and no matter how much he bothered the landlord, he just wouldn't try and fix it.
Clark pours some shampoo into his left hand and his wedding ring glimmers in the light, catching his eyes. He forgot he was even wearing it but he could never forget that he was now married to Bruce. The thought hadn't left his mind all night. Clark stares at the ring, his hand cupped slightly to keep the shampoo from dripping away. It's simple, Alfred no doubt knowing Bruce wouldn't want anything too extravagant, but not bland either as it is two toned. Still, it must have cost a fortune, much more than something Clark could ever possibly hope to afford, or well, at least before he was married to a billionaire.
Clark yanks his eyes away from the ring and starts to scrub the shampoo into his hair but he's now hyper aware of the ring placed snuggly on his finger. Lowering his hand again, he carefully slips the ring off, making sure not to drop it with his soapy fingers. He inspects the gold and platinum band, using his superior vision to see that it is 18K. Clark sucks in a breath, his initial suspicions of the wedding band being expensive pretty much being confirmed.
As he inspects the ring more, something on the inner ring catches his eyes. Clark turns the ring so he can see it better and gasps with shock, almost dropping the ring. Alfred had the rings engraved and the message makes his heart pound. My partner. My Love. My best friend. Clark knows Bruce hadn't decided the message but it still causes Clark's heart to flutter and his stomach to flip with nerves. It must be on Bruce's as well because why would Alfred only have it engraved into one of the rings? Unless he knows that Bruce would never wear the ring with such a message on it.
Clark wipes at his face and blinks the suds that don't hurt him out of his eyes, looking at the message again. He licks his lips and wills his heart to slow down but he's not Batman and so he's not that successful. Instead, with shaking hands, he puts the ring back on and finishes his shower. When he goes to get dressed, he tries to ignore the feeling of the ring on his finger and the blush that forms again as he slips the Batman undies on. He quickly puts his t-shirt on and then his jeans, socks, and shoes.
After, he makes his way downstairs and to one of the many living spaces. There he finds Bruce sitting on the couch and peering down at a bunch of papers that are strewn across the coffee table. Ko is off to the side in a play pen, lying on his back. "Hey," he greets Bruce and the man looks up at him with wide eyes. Bruce quickly sets his face back to neutral and Clark wonders what caused such a reaction out of him. "You're up early. Don't you normally sleep until, like, noon?"
"Three if I don't have to go to work," Bruce answers, looking back down at the papers. "Did you sleep okay?"
Clark thinks back to the two times he woke up and decides to not mention them to Bruce. "Yeah, fine. So how come you're up so early then? It's Saturday."
Bruce shrugs. "Couldn't sleep."
Clark watches the man study the papers. "What are you doing?" Bruce opens his mouth to answer but before he can say anything, Ko starts to cry. Bruce makes to get up but Clark holds up a hand and approaches the baby himself. Ko's face is already beat red from crying and tears are streaking down his cheeks. "Hey little buddy." Clark reaches down into the play pen and lifts Ko up. The baby's eyes grow wide at seeing him, ceasing his crying, and flails his arms and legs. He makes a loud pitched noise of delight as Clark gathers him up against his chest. "Daddy's here." Clark kisses the top of Ko's head causing the baby to squeal again, his legs bouncing. Clark chuckles and turns around only to see Bruce staring at him. "Um… Bruce?"
Bruce blinks and quickly looks back down at the papers, clearing his throat. "I've been in contact with my lawyer and she e-mailed me the papers you and I will need to sign in order to gain custody of Ko. That's what I'm looking over now. I haven't signed anything but…" he trails off, slight tint of pink coloring his cheeks. "I thought I would just read them over."
Clark sits down in the chair opposite of Bruce, sitting Ko in his lap so he can face Bruce as well. Ko makes a happy sound at seeing Bruce too, gurgling and flapping his arms. It catches Bruce's attention and he looks up through his eyelashes at the baby, a tiny, fond smile forming on his lips. Clark loves seeing Bruce like this. After all, Bruce has always been a sucker for raising kids and being a dad. "Can I read them too?" Bruce gathers the papers that he has already read and hands them to Clark. Clark uses his super speed to read through them and then places them back on the table. "You should read the rest out loud that way we can just go over them together."
"Alright." Bruce then starts to read the papers and as boring as it is, Clark can't help but love listening to him. He's always loved Bruce's voice, especially his real voice. The voice that is in between Brucie and Batman. It's heavenly if Clark says so himself. Ko seems to like it as well as he stares at Bruce and flaps his arms and legs, making small, pleased noises. It doesn't really surprise Clark that Ko likes Bruce's voice. The alternate Bruce sounded exactly like this universe's Bruce and so that's the voice Ko heard the most for seven months in the womb and then two and half more months in the Watchtower's medical bay. "We're going to have to put down that his name is Clark because we obviously can't put it down as Ko." Clark nods in agreement. "Do you want to keep his last name as Kent-Wayne?"
That's right, when he and Bruce got married, neither of them took the other's last name and didn't even hyphenate. They just kept their last names the way they are. However, the alternate Bruce had said the last name of Kent-Wayne. Clark forgot about that. He clears his throat. "Yeah, that's fine."
"Okay then, I think we're ready to fill out the information then." He hands the papers over to Clark. "You can do it faster than I can. I'll look it over once you're done."
Clark hands Ko over to Bruce, the baby immediately starting to cry. Bruce gets up and starts to walk around the room, holding Ko close to his chest and rubbing his back. Bruce makes small shushing sounds to calm him and it soon works, Ko resting his head on Bruce's shoulder. Ko's little hands dig into Bruce's shirt and fists them.
Clark smiles at the scene in front of him and to hide it, he looks down to fill out the papers with his super speed. Once done, he holds them up to Bruce. "Here you go, all done. I've also signed it already."
Bruce gestures for Clark to place the papers back down on the coffee table and Clark does. "I'll look it over and sign later." He continues to walk around the room.
"Um Bruce?" Clark starts. "How come we don't need a witness or the lawyer to be here when we do this?"
Bruce stops his pacing and faces Clark, staring at him. He then says as if it's the most obvious answer in the world, "Because I'm Bruce Wayne."
"Right." Clark stands. "Meaning you paid them off." Bruce shoots him a triumph smile and Ko slaps him in the mouth. Clark laughs. "See, even our child doesn't like you doing such a devious thing." Bruce glares down playfully at the baby and said baby only smiles back at him, cooing.
"Is that him?" Clark turns to the new voice in the room. "Is that my new baby brother?" There's a huge smile on Dick's face as he walks up to Bruce. "He's so cute!" Dick reaches out for Ko with wiggly fingers. "Hey little guy." Ko is watching him with wide, curious eyes.
Clark watches in amusement as Bruce hands Ko over hesitantly and is even more amused when he hears a small, muffled, "Be careful," coming from Bruce.
Dick, supporting Ko's head, lifts him up so he's eye level and Clark tries to hold back his smile at Bruce's distressed look. He can see Bruce twitching with the need to reach out and take Ko back. "Hey." Ko coos in response, going back to bouncing his legs. "Aren't you just the cutest thing. He even has dark hair." Dick rolls his eyes. "Of course, he has dark hair. You're biologically related to these two love birds." He eyes Bruce and Clark. "Well, sort of." He then looks back to Ko and starts making silly faces at him.
Bruce rolls his eyes, steps a tiny bit closer, raises his arms the smallest little bit, then lowers them back to his sides. Clark covers his mouth with his hand to hide his smile. "Stop being silly."
"Awe come on Bruce, he loves it." Dick puffs out his cheeks and Ko laughs. "See?"
Bruce takes another step. "Maybe… maybe you should just give him back to me."
"I'm not going to drop him." Dick turns away and walks away from Bruce, pulling Ko to his chest. Bruce's eyes grow slightly wide in alarm. "Sheesh." He looks down at the baby in his arms. "I think we've got ourselves a little over protective dad here." Ko gurgles in agreement and Clark snorts.
Bruce shoots Clark a glare. "Fine," Bruce says, crossing his arms and sitting down on the couch stubbornly. He continues to shoot Dick worried looks though and Clark decides to sit next to him to try and calm him. Bruce stiffens immediately.
"Hey," Clark begins, placing a hand on his shoulder. Bruce becomes stalk still. "Dick won't let anything happen to him."
"No way! This time, this little brother, just like I promised with Tim, is one I won't fail to protect." Determination flashes in the young man's eyes. "I won't – ow!" All eyes turn to Dick who is now holding Ko out away from his body again. Bruce is up and off the couch immediately. "That hurt."
"What happened?" Bruce asks, motioning for Clark to take Ko. Clark does.
Dick eyes Ko suspiciously. "I don't know, I mean Ko was just, you know, wiggling in my arms, flailing his arms a little, and when his fist hit me it hurt." Bruce grabs a hold of Dick's shirt and pulls the collar down to show Dick's chest. "Hey!"
There, forming on the pale skin, is a deep black and blue. Bruce releases the shirt and turns to look at Ko. "Do you think-"
"Super strength?" Clark finishes for him. "I don't know; I didn't start showing any kind of strength until I was at least one."
"But you weren't born under the yellow sun. Ko was plus maybe he could have absorbed some of the radiation in the womb. We don't know how often Bruce went out into the sun," Bruce says.
Ko decides that's the perfect time to hit Clark on the chest as well. Clark looks down at the baby. "That was a little strong."
"That's not a little strong," Dick says, pointing down to his chest. "That's a lot strong."
Bruce's lips thin. "You might want to contact your mother and ask her how she handled you when you started showing super strength. I know you were one and not…"
"What?" Both Dick and him ask at the same time.
Bruce extracts his eyes from Ko to Clark's. "I never explained his age to you."
Clark shrugs. "It's easy, he's about two and half months now."
"Yes but since he's a premature baby, you need to take into account his adjusted age." When Dick asks what that means, Bruce continues. "Since his birth, he is technically two and half months. But developmentally, you have to calculate his adjusted age, meaning the age he would be now if he had not been born prematurely and instead carried full term."
"Okay, and how old would he be then?" Clark asks.
"Well since he was born at twenty-five weeks and then Bruce left when he was about thirty-five weeks, and it's only been a week since we've had him, he's technically negative four weeks old."
Clark baulks and Dick just blinks at Bruce. After half a minute, Dick's voice cuts through the silence. "Well that certainly makes things interesting doesn't it?" Both Bruce and Clark shoot him a glare and Dick hold up his hands, palms out. "Okay, okay." He points behind him. "I'm going to go see what Alfred is making for breakfast and maybe sneak in a bowl of cereal. I'll uh… let you two handle this situation." With that he is gone.
Clark looks at Bruce and Bruce looks at him. With a small, hesitant smile, Clark asks, "So now what?"
Clark dodges the couch pillow that is thrown at him.
A/N: If you want to see what I was thinking Bruce and Clark's wedding ring would like, go here: (h) (t) (t) (p) (:) (/) (/) (w) (w) (w).jared.(c) (o) (m) (/) en/jaredstore/engagement-wedding/18k-yellow-gold-and-platinum-wedding-band-for-him/100222/100222.100223.100227
Note: Take parentheses and spaces out and replace the word dot with an actual period.
