Quality Times I
The window Clark always leaves open and uses for an easy exit when he is in his suit is not big enough for both of them entering the same time. Clark doesn’t think it’s safe to have Wayne climbs in there neither. He touches down on the rooftop of his apartment building and speed changes to normal cloth. Clark is back with Wayne in a blink of eye and guides Wayne down the stairs and leads the way to his unit.
It’s about one in the afternoon. Clark is glad most of his neighbors are either working or at school. Only a grandma lives downstairs has the TV on. The building is eerily quiet in broad daylight.
Wayne doesn’t protest to enter a stranger’s home. Once he steps in the room, gets off his shoes, he wanders in the living room like he owns the place, checking everything out with an undecipherable look.
Clark doesn’t know what Wayne is looking for and he finds himself not practically worried about an airhead billionaire finds out his secret identity. He is going to keep Wayne in here for a few days until they can actually communicate for the future plan. There is no way Clark could hide all the materials connected Clark Kent to Superman away. Wayne could easily knock at the next door down the alley and ask who is living in this apartment, and boom, he finds out he is living with Clark Kent, a report from Daily Planet when Superman is obviously making home the same place. Bruce Wayne is not a smart guy but Clark won’t think he is that stupid to not connect all the dots.
There is always a risk about exposing his civilian identity to Wayne. Clark needs to call Lois and ask her to take care of Jon the meantime until Clark reaches some neutral agreement with Wayne.
You should always be aware of who you trust. The dark knight’s voices his comment (or concerns) in Clark’s imagination. You trust too easily and forgive too quickly. It’s going to be the death of you.
But it’s also going to be impossible to hide the secret from Wayne if he is going to take care of him and, fortunately or unfortunately, his baby if Wayne decides to keep and share custody with him.
Clark grimaces.
What a mess.
Yeah, he definitely is going to contact Batman after he settles Wayne down. There is a lot they need to talk about, not limited to Wayne and his future trespass of turf for visiting and parenting his child.
Clark gets the injection and other medical tools Jor prepares for him and ready to grab Wayne before he decides to take a tour in bedroom.
Think about it, Clark feels he need to do a bit sweep and put some very personal items away before he let Wayne become super comfortable in his place. If Wayne digs out his dirty underwear, or socks, anywhere other than in laundry bucket Clark may not survive from the sheer embarrassment. He does so before he gets back to Wayne.
Clark makes Wayne sit down on the couch and explains how the injection works and why he needs to take it like right now. The earlier encounter in back street clearly shows that Wayne is capable of rational thinking and would very much reject any unfavorable action, even in a dissociated condition. Actually, Wayne is holding him together much better than Clark thinks when Jor explains everything to him.
Somehow, Wayne still avoids Clark after everything he says.
“Please, Mr. Wayne, this is important to your health.” Clark pleads, “or I won’t be able to know what you need if you never speak to me. I hate to tell you that this pregnancy is highly risky and it’s very important for us to keep the communication open. Like for now. I don’t even know if you’re feeling alright or safe or there is anyone you would like to talk to. It won’t hurt you. This is also important for the baby too.”
Wayne impetuously clutches his belly with his left hand. A gesture for protection. It melts Clark’s heart.
Oh, that’s it. He fears the drug will harm the unborn child.
“I swear whatever I do, I will never harm the baby. The injection is formulated in special to keep both of you safe and healthy.”
After the promise, Clark tries again and this time Wayne doesn’t pull himself away from Clark. He watches Clark rolls his sleeves up and administrate the injection.
“There we go.” Clark says, giving him his best assuring smile. “It’s going to take a while to take effect and I need to draw your blood later tonight to see how good it works. The next injection will depends on how well this one goes. Hopefully in couple weeks you’re good as new.”
Clark starts to clean the medical tools away. He prepares a small bowl of fruit salad with a glass of milk for Wayne. The man digs in immediately when the plate sets in front of him. Clark gets the water boiling for spaghetti on the stove. He will make something quick for lunch for both of them.
-x-
The injection he gives to Wayne contains a bit of sedative, mainly to ease the process of flushing the poison blocks his ability to think and act straight in his system.
After the lunch, Wayne visibly grows sleepy. Clark gently nudges and guides him to his bed. Wayne doesn’t resist. Clark digs out an old pair of pajamas for Wayne and leaves him alone in the bedroom to change. The injection is probably going to knock him out for a solid few hours. Clark hopes he could sleep through the entire afternoon.
Making sure Wayne is comfortable at his apartment, Clark flies back to work.
Going back to work may not be the smartest move Clark ever makes, but there is not a lot he could do right now. He is working on autopilot the rest of the day, keeping his hearing open on his apartment so if anything rises he would know immediately.
If Lois notices something, she doesn't speak up. The gesture is very appreciated.
It's Clark's turn to pick Jon up after work and he does so and treat the boy with favorite pizza for dinner. Lois is catching a lead for her next story and won't be back until she has everything she demands. Clark helps Jon with homework and waits for her at her house.
Jon has not yet shown any superpower and there is no sign indicating if he is going to develop any. Truth be told that Clark doesn't mind if Jon doesn't inherit any powers from him.
It actually feels... safe.
There are lots of dangers in a perfect normal human life, but there are ten-ford more for being a superhero. Too much danger. Too much sacrifice. Too much pain and hurts and too many lies. Like right now, it's so hard to explain to Jon why Clark couldn't take him back to his apartment like usual so they can enjoy shows and snacks. Jon always enjoys his time in Clark’s place with abundance of sweets and pampering.
"You can still have all you want at here." Clark fidgets all sorts of half eaten ice cream buckets in the fridge. Gosh, Lois must have a bad time for this story to have so many buckets of ice cream stock in her freezer. "I don't see it's necessary to walk a half hour for some sweets, and you know Mom is gonna be back any minutes from now. She will be very disappointed if she cannot see you the very moment she steps into the house, you know?"
"But Mom doesn't allow me to eat her ice cream. She will know even I take one little tiny bite." Jon whines and hugs Clark's waist, putting up his best puppy eye. Clark doesn't know where he learns to do it. Definite not from him. "Please, Daddy."
He is so adorable like this and Clark won't trade the world with it. It's a crime Clark must commit to refuse him.
"I'm sure it's not a little tiny bit you bite." Clark signs, "how about I re-stock everything you eat so Mom won't know?"
It's a tough battle but Clark wins but cost him a good bucket of chocolate chips and cookie dough ice cream bucket. Lois is going to talk his ear off about spoiling Jon. At least Jon will be happy.
When Lois comes back it's almost 10. Clark has tucked Jon in. He is trying to catch up with some work on his laptop when Lois walks through the door.
"A tough day, huh?" Lois says in lieu of greeting and hangs up her coat.
Clark smiles and replies, "the same to you." He gets up and walks toward kitchen.
"Would you like to have something to eat? Jon and I had pizza for dinner and there is some leftover in fridge, but I can make you a chicken sandwich really quick if you want something light."
"Anything is fine. Just grab me a beer." Lois sinks on the couch and lifts her feet on the coffee table. She lets out a satisfying sign, then changes her mind, "actually, two beers."
“Aye, captain.”
Using heating vision to heat up couple slides of pizza in few seconds and Clark obediently follows Lois's order by placing the plate on Lois's knee with the other two bottles of beer, only to have the second bottle put back into his hand by Lois.
"Come and sit." Lois pats the seat beside her, giving him a long meaningful look. "Clark, we're going to talk."
"Okay." Clark sits next to her and cracks open the beer.
Lois is right he is going to need a beer to muster the courage to talk about everything occupied his mind these days. Alcohol is useless on Kryptonian but works a wonder on Clark’s mind.
The fresh and sweet lavender scents of Omega soothes Clark’s nerves and sends a warm and fuzzy feeling down his spine, loosen him up. He doesn't even realize he is so anxious until now.
After a long sip of beer, Clark starts to talk. He tells Lois everything, starting with the encounter with the Ghost-Maker, but also including the weird dreams he had in the past few months about Wayne. He tells her about the potential baby coming on its way with guilty weighing heavily in his guts.
"That's a lot happened under 24 hours." Lois puts her hand on Clark's arm and looks direct into his eyes, "even a lot for Superman to take in."
"Yeah, thanks Lo."
"No, I mean it." Lois shifts, leaving the empty greasy plate by her side and giving Clark a firm squeeze on his bicep. "Wake up in the middle of night and find out you're going to have a baby? With Bruce Wayne? Resulted from some crazy illegal experiment? Holy crap. I don't know if I should say 'congratulation' or 'I'm sorry'."
"Well." Clark says dryly. "Just don't say anything. It's fine."
“It’s not your fault. What happens. All these mess. None of these is you fault.”
“Well.” Clark wishes he could be as confident as Lois, because deep down in his heart, he knows that’s all his fault. He won’t have all kinds of lewd dreams about Wayne if he never lay a finger on him. It’s way beyond some stupid celebrity crash. But it’s always nice to hear Lois saying it.
"It's going to be a good headline though. Superman impregnated Gotham's favorite son." Lois grins, "it's going to sell a ton. Perry would love it."
Clark whines, "Lo." He doesn't want to know how pathetic he sounds.
"To be honest, I don't think you can hide this forever, considering there are too many people knows Bruce Wayne is carrying Superman's baby. You, this Ghost-Maker, Batman, Red Hood, and whoever puts the baby inside him. Not really in a superhero community I guess. Think about it."
Clark mutters, "I know." The list could run long, if anyone feels kind to share with the class. Privacy is damned and paparazzi is going to be a nightmare.
There is more than one reason that Superman never announces he has a son to the public. Jon himself doesn't even know his Krypton heritage and Clark would like to keep it that until the boy either mature enough to understand the importance of this piece of knowledge or develop some signature power of Superman so there is no way and no use to hide it anymore.
"What does Batman say?"
"What?"
"His billionaire. His responsibility. I don't think he would let that part go easily. Doesn't matter if it's your baby involved." Lois comments, after a moment of silent she points out, "you guys didn't talk."
"He never calls." Clark sheepishly replies.
"I know you guys are not in the best terms nowadays, but come on Smallvile," Lois urges, "you need to talk."
"I leave him a message." Clark supplies, mostly to make Lois happy. "He doesn't bother to reply neither."
"Go to Gotham then. Talk to him face to face. Have a heart to heart conversation."
"You have no idea how hard to seek him out." In Ghost-Maker's base, it's the closest chance Clark has got in past few months of catching up the Bats.
Lois shoots him an irritated look. Clearly tonight's personal crisis consulting service has approached its end.
"I don't care. Go figure out. You're Superman." Lois finishes her beer in one go and gets up to take the dirty plate to kitchen, leaving Clark grudgingly nursing his drink.
Moments later, Lois comes back to living room with a hand on her waist. "Any idea for name?"
"Huh?" Clark confuses.
"The baby." Lois rolls her eyes.
"No?"
"You better start thinking." Lois hums. "Is it a girl or boy?"
"Why do you want to know that?" Clark squeaks.
"For the baby-shower! Off course I need to know. Somebody needs to keep tab on these things."
"Isn't that too early to think about it?"
"Yeah, it's not like you are going to remember to have one after the baby is born."
“I don’t know if he wants to keep the baby or not, you know.” Clark grimaces, “It’s alien.”
Contrary to what people may believe, thank you very much Lex Luthor, Clark is very well aware of he is an alien except living on earth almost his entire life and makes there home.
Lois looks at him like he is delirious. “He has adopted three boys. Three. He won’t do that if he doesn’t want more.”
-x-
It only takes ten minutes for Clark gets back to his apartment.
Clark doesn’t know when Wayne wakes up, but when he opens the door, the other man has already crouched on the couch with a blanket covers him from head to toe, quiet and small. The position he chooses is perfect to watch over all the exits of this small apartment. Wayne spots him walking in dead on.
The pair of pale blue eyes locks on him immediately, like a bird of pry.
“Huh, hey. How are you doing, Mr. Wayne?”
No response.
Clark feels a little disappointment, but God knows how long Wayne has been poisoned by his own baby nestling comfortably in his womb. It’s going to take a while to fix.
There is an empty dirty plate in front of Wayne. Wayne finishes the leftover pasta Clark left untouched on the kitchen’s counter since he doesn’t have much appetite at noon to eat his portion. This instantly makes Clark feels more guiltier than ever.
At least he should provide warm and nutritious meals to his... ugh, there is no right word Clark could use to describe the relationship between him and Wayne.
They barely know each other despite the names.
Oh names. Clark never properly introduce himself, doesn’t he? Rude. He can hear Ma chides him inside his head, which makes Clark grimaces.
But he smells like his, smells like he is carrying his child. A sweet and alluring scents drifting from the man and lights up fireworks on Clark’s minds.
Despite all the complications, this makes Clark happy. There is no other news better than knowing you’re expecting a child.
“How do you feel about some soup? It’s a bit late in the night and I don’t want to mess up your sleep cycle too much, considering you’ve slept a lot in the afternoon. But I bet some warm soup will be nice. There is a receipt Ma taught me it’s delicious. Everybody likes it...”
Clark is practically talking to himself. He murmurs random things when he cooks. Wayne doesn’t seem to mind so he keeps talk until the soup is done. He lets the soup cool down a bit when he prepares some crackers and dips.
Wayne quietly sits behind the bar table in the open kitchen, which is also the usual place to serve food in this apartment, since most the time it’s only Clark eating here after Jon is born.
Omegas like to keep their pups close and in the nests, making them feeling safe and better, and Clark doesn’t mind having a little walk back and forth from her place and his.
Clark doesn’t notice when he slips in the open kitchen, like how he doesn’t notice Wayne is up and moves into the living room in the afternoon or evening. After all stealth seems like Gothamite’s gifts.
Clark sets the plates and drinks in front of the waiting man, “here you go. Hope you enjoy it. Or you can tell me how you like your food be prepared next time. You have a butler or sort, don’t you?”
Wayne gives him a peculiar look, which is an improvement compared to what he is in the morning. Clark still doesn’t know how to decipher it, but he gets a feeling he is chiding him being ridiculous.
Clark never image how Bruce Wayne could be hard to understand, without words or what.
Not exactly wearing his heart on his sleeve type, but he doesn’t look very much like what people describes him in papers or gossips, hollow, superficial, only chasing sensory pleasures. He isn’t picky about cloth or food. He wears Clark’s two size bigger white and blue strip pajamas, having a worn out brown blanket hazardous wraps around his shoulders, accepting all the food Clark is kindly providing no matter it’s cold leftover spaghetti or chicken noodles soup. He could be passed by as an ordinary guy if he doesn’t eat with a grace only the old money could manage.
He doesn’t seem to dislike Clark, very different from the local bald rich man.
He doesn’t immediately fall in love with Superman neither. He has a aloof attitude like a black cat when he is quiet, impressed by nothing.
“I’m Clark Kent, by the way, Daily Planet. We met a few times back in the day. No interviews. I just asked for quotes like hundreds of other reporters did on these big events. Yeah, you probably aren’t going to remember me, but there I am.”
It comes easier than Clark thinks. He talks and Wayne listens. No pressure. No hassle. Almost like good old friends.
There’s a familiarity haunting Clark but he couldn’t place his finger on. Not like it’s important for now.
He shrugs it off and smiles.
“I’m also Superman.”
First since they met last night, Wayne acknowledges him with a quiet hum, like he knows all alone.