Clark is usually the first choice for an off world mission among the League members. He doesn't need additional form of transportation, and as long as he's heading to a world under a yellow star, he can survive pretty much anything the universe throws at him.
So it's no surprise he's chosen along with J'onn(another frequent choice) to assist an alien civilization with their world ending problems.
Clark never minded those mission, but something changed recently.
Three months, four days, twelve hours, ten minutes and seventeen seconds ago, to be exact.
Not that Clark is counting.
He and Bruce became a couple.
They've been spending every free moment together, exploring this new relationship and feelings between them.
They've been deep in a honeymoon phase this entire time, and they both fear what a long separation would do to this fresh relationship.
They're not worried about cheating, they trust each other completely because they're just not that kind of people to betray the other like that.
But what if being away makes them realize they want something else? That maybe they're not as in love as they thought?
Their love feels precious to them, they don't want to lose it.
The goodbye is short. The team is watching so they just hug, leave little kisses on each other's cheeks, and that's it.
"Wait for me?" Clark asks - shyly, uncertain.
Bruce tries to sooth it as best as he can while his own guts are twisting with nerves.
"Always," he swears, and ignoring the teasing smiles and snickering from the others, he kisses Clark again. On the mouth this time.
Clark hesitates before he finally leaves with J'onn, already missing Bruce, while Bruce already misses him.
Bruce throws himself into a whirlwind of investigation and work, staying out of bed for as long as he can. After experiencing how it feels to share a bed with Clark, sleeping alone again is almost impossible.
Clark isn't doing any better. His distraction is obvious, and J'onn often finds him staring at the sky, well beyond the atmosphere and into the vacuum of space. Right into the direction where Earth is.
When the mission ends, Bruce gets off work earlier to be there for Clark's arrival. The whole team is there, and Bruce suspects they all came just to make fun of him and Clark.
Bruce doesn't care. He misses Clark too much to restrain himself from welcoming him back like he deserves.
He stops himself from pacing tho, and even manage to look calm and collected while waiting in the docking bay.
If he can look as such with dark circles around his bloodshot eyes, and skin paler than usual.
But he's handling himself well, Bruce thinks. At least until the security system picks up Clark's signature.
Bruce tenses immediately, walking closer to the energy field that separates them from space.
Clark flies through it first, coming to a sudden stop right before Bruce. If J'onn arrived after him, Bruce didn't even notice, having his eyes only on Clark.
Clark, who is standing in front of him in the flesh - hair a mess, soot and dirt clinging to his suit and skin. He looks and smells like he went through fire for this entire week and a half.
But he's here. Safe. Unharmed.
"Hi," Clark says breathlessly, even though he doesn't seem tired.
"Hi," Bruce says back, and just like that, the dam breaks.
They move forward at the same time, but Clark easily sweeps him off his feet and into the air, twirling them both as they press their lips together desperately.
Bruce is barely aware of wolf whistling from the ground, too lost in sensation of Clark's arms holding him safely twenty feet in the air. Or the feel of Clark's cheeks turning warmer as he cups them with his hands, claws scratching Clark's stubble he grew out during the mission.
In this moment, when they're finally together again, past doubts about falling out of love seem silly now.
As if some distance and time could ever break the bond they've been tending to ever since they first met.
As if it ever had the chance to turn their love for each other weaker.
Next time when they have to be separated, they still miss each other like crazy, buty they're not afraid to be apart anymore.