Chapter Seven – Justice League Universe
A/N: I'm sorry, I just can't let go of Jason with a baby yet. I think it's the cutest thing!
Clark walks into Ko's nursery and is surprised to see Jason sitting in the wooden rocking chair with Ko against his chest. "Jason?"
"Shh, he's sleeping."
Clark approaches him and decides to sit in the air in front of him, legs crossed. "I can see that. I was just surprised to see you."
"I came earlier."
"Does… um does Bruce know your still here?"
"Nope."
"Okay," Clark says and silence settles into the room. Ko looks peaceful in Jason's arms with Jason rocking slightly. "Wait, were you… humming when I came in?"
Jason glares at him. "So what if I was?"
Clark holds up his hands in surrender. "No reason I just thought it was-" Clark decides to not finish that sentence when Jason glares at him harder. Instead, he says, "You seem to be good with him."
"Like I told Bruce, I know how to take care of a baby. I'm not an imbecile."
"You don't have to be an imbecile to not know how to take care of a baby. I'm pretty sure Dick wouldn't know what to do and he's pretty smart."
Jason snorts. "Sure." Ko squirms and Jason pats his back, making small shushing sounds. This calms Ko and he brings his little thumb into his mouth, his other hand grabbing a hold of Jason's shirt. There's drool on Jason's shoulder. "You know," Jason starts, looking Clark dead in the eyes. "You're pretty hot."
"What?"
"What? You're hot. It's as simple as that."
Clark's face feels like it's on fire. "Jason-"
Jason smirks at him. "There's no need to deny it. Everyone thinks you're hot. Why else do you think Dick and I, as soon as we hit puberty, formed a crush on you? You are kind, caring, strong, and good looking. Bruce sees it too, you know, except his goes a little further than thinking you're hot and wanting fuck you." Clark is sure he's the color of a tomato right now. "His goes way beyond that because the old man loves you."
Clark clears his throat. "Jason, Bruce… Bruce doesn't love me."
"Seriously," Jason says, clearly irritated. It wakes Ko up who starts to cry. Jason starts to rock again, shushing him. Ko settles back down but doesn't go back to sleep. "You too? Look, I don't know why you two are so hell bent on not seeing what is right in front of your damn eyes, but everyone else can see it. Dick has said something, I'm sure Tim has said something, and now I've said something. Don't you think that means something if three people have pointed it out?"
"You're the only one who has ever suggested something like that to me."
"Well it's been suggested to Bruce by all three of us. For crying out loud Clark, you two got married."
Clark places his feet back onto the ground and stands. "We got married so I could get custody of Ko. Once a few weeks go by, we'll be getting a divorce." Jason looks confused at this. "And if you and Dick and Tim have told Bruce that I love him, which I don't by the way," Jason rolls his eyes, "then him not saying anything to me or confronting me about it, proves that he doesn't love me back… not that I love him."
"He won't confront you because he doesn't believe any of us," Jason says, exasperated.
"Jason," Clark starts, walking to the nursery door to leave. "Bruce doesn't love me and I don't love him. Please just leave it be."
Jason huffs and looks away from him. He looks dejected but Clark has never really seen Jason look anything but smug and angry — at least since he was resurrected — so he's not really sure how to interpret the way he's looking right now. "You two are hopeless." The tone Jason uses lets Clark know that he is done with the conversation.
Clark begins to leave again but he's feeling guilty all of a sudden. He doesn't know if it's because of the lie he just told Jason about not loving Bruce — because he does, he really, truly does love the man — or if it's because he made Jason look like that. Clark turns back around to address the kid. "Do you want to feed him?" Jason looks up warily. "I mean, I don't know if he's hungry since he never seems to cry for food and he certainly hasn't… um… gone to the bathroom yet, but he normally does eat if you put a bottle up to his mouth."
It's a while for Jason to respond as he eyes Clark with suspicion. He and Clark don't exactly talk all that much to one another and spend time with each other even less. In fact, Clark has spent more time with Dick and Tim combined than he has with Jason. Clark really should fix that if he's going to be a part of this family. But you're not going to be a part of the family. Not after the divorce. You'll only be a part of Ko's life, Clark thinks.
"Clark?" Clark is snapped out of his thoughts when Jason says his name. He's now standing in front of Clark, holding Ko in his arms. Ko is looking at him with big, blue eyes that are wide open, hand shoved in his mouth. "I said I would like to."
"Oh… okay." Clark turns. "This way then." He leads Jason out to the kitchen where Tim has finally gone to in order to have a late breakfast. "Morning Tim."
"M'ning," Tim says, mouth full of toast. Jason rolls his eyes and sits down at the table across from Tim. "What's he doing here and why is he holding Ko?"
Clark starts to prepare a bottle as Jason comments, "Why does everyone think I can't take care of a baby?" He turns to Clark. "I might kill people but I'm not a monster." Clark says nothing to this and heats up the bottle with his heat vision. He hands the bottle over to Jason after checking the temperature.
"Doesn't killing people make you a monster though?" Tim asks, taking a sip of his coffee. Clark doesn't know how he feels about a thirteen-year-old drinking so much caffeine into his system but if Bruce allows it — and more importantly, if Alfred allows it — then he guesses he can't say anything.
Clark sits down at the table next, Tim to his left and Jason to his right. Jason is now glaring at Tim who is just smiling smugly back. "Do you know I don't like you?" Jason asks Tim.
Tim takes another bite of toast. "And I don't like you."
A low growl escapes from Jason's throat but then Ko makes a squeaking sound which catches Jason's attention. Ko is reaching up for the bottle and a small smile tugs at Jason's lips. "I like you," he tells Ko as he brings the bottle to Ko's lips. Ko latches on immediately and starts to drink the baby formula.
"Wait, why do you like him but not me?" Tim asks.
Without looking up and without the smile disappearing, Jason answers, "Because he didn't replace me."
Tim scoffs. "Are you still bitter about that?"
Still, Jason watches Ko. "Shut up Replacement."
This time the growl comes from Tim and Clark can feel the tension thicken in the room. Is it always like this between the two? Clark thinks. Just then Bruce walks into the room, coming up behind Tim. "Stop fighting."
Tim jumps halfway out of his seat and spins around to eye Bruce. "Awe, but you weren't even in the room to know we were fighting."
"Tt- you have a lot to learn kid." Jason finally looks up at Tim with a smug smile.
Tim growls again and Bruce places a hand on Tim's shoulder. "Finish eating. Stop fighting." Bruce looks at Clark and stares at him.
Clark clears his throat and fidgets. "What?"
Bruce stares for another second before his eyes slide over to Jason. "Jason, what are you still doing here?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?"
"It looks like your feeding my kid."
Clark holds up his hands, wanting to stop a fight from happening. Something must have put Bruce in a bad a mood since the last time he saw him. "He was in Ko's nursery rocking him to sleep. He is good with Ko so I thought I would ask him if he wanted to feed him. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, right Bruce?"
Bruce's eyes go to him again and they don't look happy. Finally, Bruce walks by him. "Come with me." Clark, looking to Tim and then to Jason who both shrug, gets up and follows Bruce. Bruce leads him to the study. "Close the door." Clark does as he is told and as soon as the door is latched, Bruce turns on him. "Was this your idea?" He holds up his wedding ring.
"My… idea?" Clark asks, confused. "I thought it was Alfred's."
"Not the rings themselves, you idiot." Bruce huffs. "The engraving. The stupid, sappy engraving that wasn't necessary since we're not really together."
Clark, once again, holds up his hands to placate the situation. "Whoa, okay calm down. First off, there's no need for name calling." Bruce rolls his eyes at this and turns away. "Second off, how can it be my idea when I didn't even know about the rings?" Bruce doesn't say anything and he doesn't turn around, so Clark approaches him and places a hand on his shoulder. "Bruce, what's going on?"
Bruce flinches away from the touch which surprises Clark. "Don't touch me."
"Okay." Clark takes a step back. "Bruce, you've been in a foul mood all day. First this morning at breakfast, you were okay down in the cave, but now, you're right back to being in a bad mood. I know you have mood swings at a drop of a hat and your default mood normally is grumpy," Clark can feel the eye roll even though he can't see it, "but… this is… to get angry over a little engraving because Alfred was having a little fun teasing us, is a little over the top even for you." Bruce stays silent and it frustrates Clark. Clark sighs. "Look Bruce-"
Bruce interrupts him. "Your feelings Clark, what are your feelings?"
"About what?"
"About… about…" Bruce swallows thickly. "About Ko," he finally says, sounding almost disappointed in himself.
"About… Ko?" Bruce nods. "Um… I love him, why?"
"Never mind."
"Bruce?"
Bruce turns around but won't meet Clark's eyes. "Just forget it Clark."
Bruce tries to walk by him but Clark catches a hold of his arm, stopping him from leaving. "Wait, Bruce, talk to me."
Bruce looks up at Clark and he tries to read the emotions that are in his perfect blue eyes, but they're complex emotions and Clark can't distinguish what they are. Bruce opens his mouth, hesitates, shuts his mouth and bites his bottom lip, and then opens his mouth again. Before Bruce can say anything, however, they hear Jason yelling from the kitchen. "Bruce! Clark! Get in – Fuck! – Get in here!"
Alarm forms in Bruce's eyes, the one emotion that Clark can clearly read, and the two of them are running to the kitchen without a word. When they get there, it's complete chaos. The wall is on fire, the ceiling is on fire, the drapes are on fire, and there is Ko, crying on the table, with heat vision coming out of his eyes. Jason and Tim are on the floor, Tim under the table and Jason trying to sooth Ko with his voice.
"What the hell is going on?" Bruce asks at the same time he shoves an unsuspecting — the only reason why Clark even moved — Clark into the kitchen to retrieve the baby.
Jason yells over the ruckus, "I-I don't know! Ko wanted to be held by Tim I think since he was reaching for him, but someone didn't want to hold him-"
"Don't blame me, asshole!"
"And Ko got angry, started crying, then all of a sudden fucking heat vision is coming out of his eyes!"
"Clark put the fire out," Bruce calls to him just as he frantically places a hand over Ko's eyes. Clark takes a deep breath and blows the cool air where the fire is in order to put it out. Everything is black and charred. Alfred is not going to be happy.
He can still feel the heat on his palm, indicating Ko hasn't stopped. "I don't think he knows how to stop."
Bruce comes up beside him. "I…" he blinks a few times and looks a bit distressed, "have no idea how to handle this." He shakes his head. "I don't… don't know. I don't have a plan for babies with super powers, Clark."
"Okay," Clark says in a soothing voice, trying to calm Bruce down since he knows how much of a control freak he can be. This must be very distressing to the man. "I'll call my mom, I promise, okay?" Bruce is still looking a bit stunned but at least he nods in affirmation. "Okay, now let's just focus on calming down Ko so the heat vision will stop." Bruce nods again and Clark picks the baby up, careful to keep a hand over his eyes. He sways back and forth, trying to calm him and eventually it works enough that Clark can finally remove his hand. "There, all better," he says to Ko. Jason is looking at Ko with wide eyes, Tim's mouth is open in astonishment, and Bruce is rubbing at his forehead. "Bruce are you okay?"
Bruce closes his eyes and holds up a hand. "Don't."
"Bruce, it's okay, we'll figure this out," Clark says, trying to reassure him.
With his eyes still shut, Bruce says angrily, "Just call your mother." He then walks out of the room.
Silence fills the room for a good minute before Jason speaks up. "So… who is going to tell Alfred?"
As if in answer, there's a clattering sound and when everyone turns to look, there stands Alfred who had just dropped a tray. "What in the world happened to my kitchen?" Both Jason and Tim turn their eyes to Clark which then prompts Alfred to do the same.
Clark sighs.
A/N: Thanks for reading. :)
