Senseless

ETA - here be some recs

ETA, March 2024 - HERE BE SOME UPDATES!

@pinkb00bsocks asked about those 4 WIPs. Here they are! The usual disclaimer - there are plenty of excellent superbat WIPs going on right now, but I've limited spoons and these are the ones I currently enjoy.

The World and All Its Hedgehogs by Ginevra_Benci [M. 8,007 word count, WIP, 4/?] To investigate illegal arms sale taking place at a tropical resort hotel, Batman goes under cover as a vacuous billionaire Brucie Wayne and Superman takes a part time job as a porter. They didn't coordinate this, they don't know each others civilian identities. Every time they talk there are at least 3 different conversations going on and it is glorious. Also, so much lust. ;)

(Also, check out Interviewing & Counceling series by the same author. Clark is having a superhero identity crisis and Bruce is there to catch Clark gently as he spirals down. It has one of the softest identity reveals in superbat fics. ETA - the series is now complete, it has 5 parts and 18k word count. Awesome ending to the softest identity reveal story)

Watching Our Stars Align by ClarkeStetler [M, 28,840 word count, WIP, 7/14] There's a dating/chatting app only for superheroes and all identities are secret. What could go wrong? Bruce and Clark get matched under their new pseuds, and same happens to Tim Drake and Conner Kent. Now fathers and sons gotta navigate complicated relationships that come with secret identities and judging your coworkers hastily while talking heart to heart to anonymous superhero. The identity porn part happens through DM, which just happens to be another favorite trope of mine. [The story is going strong, it has 10/14 chapters now and a wonderful tangle of 3 secret identities!]

(Love) Triangles Have Multiple Centers by frozenpotions [T, 27,281 word count, WIP, 4/10] This fic wastes no time getting playboy billionaire Brucie Wayne and pining-after-his-coworker journalist Clark Kent together. After that, first time uneasy partners Batman and Superman gotta solve a case and their civilian selves gotta deal with the realities of their one night stand. Complicated doesn't even cover it! [The fic is being updated and Clark and Bruce are being put through new trials, 6/10 chapters]

A Favor for a Friend by RedFive [Explicit, 18,286 word count, WIP, 4/7] Omega verse fic with alpha playboy billionaire Bruce Wayne and omega journalist Clark Kent. I'm fascinated by dominant, flirtatious, sexually ravenous alpha Brucie Wayne who moonlights as a stoic, covered in scent blockers thus unclear second gender, Batman. Meanwhile omega Clark, due to being Kryptonian, is much less ruled by his second gender. That is, until he meets Mr. Wayne. This fic has so much lust and tension between the two. Does accidental heat triggering counts as a soulmate mark? I'm gonna count it like that. [The fic has entered the finish line, only a chapter or two are left to finish this wild, explosive, life changing story of two people who were meant for each other. 8/? chapters, 44k word count] The fic is now complete!!! 9 chapters, 56,153 word count. (Also, there's this new TV show about two gay dudes, and istg, they look like Bruce and Clark from this fic. I'm not naming it here because I don't want to highjack the show tag with superbat post, but go and check the tag on tumblr)

*****

And a special shout out to two identity shenanigan WIPs that are not actively updating but are absolute must reads.

ship-to-ship combat by pomeloquat [M, 62,737 word count, WIP, 12/13] OK, so, for me personally, this is the ultimate identity p*rn fic across all fandoms I've read so far. This fic has one of the highest amount of secret identity pairs in superbat fics. There's the usual pining silently Batman/Superman, then there's Clark dating Bruce, Superman saving Bruce Wayne from peril, Clark Kent chatting with Batman. And the cherry on top is Clark writing Bruceman fanfic which is basically a RPF of his two friends, Batman and Bruce Wayne. Which leads to an internet friendship with a fellow fan, who is, you guessed, Bruce. This fic has great reflections on fandom and shipping culture. But the very beating heart of this fic is about how easy it is to lose something you wished to have but were afraid to ask for. The fic, at 12/13, is technically a WIP, but the main reveal is already done, and it is glorious. ETA - THIS IS NOT A DRILL, the fic is finished and the last chapter is a super meta cherry on a top of delicious, layered superhero identity and fandom shenanigans parfait. 13 chapters, 76,7k word count.

Day 7: FREE DAY!!! Superbat? | Superbat! | Superbat

a song came after by susiecarter [T, 4,500 word count]

It requires every ounce of will he can bring to bear to force himself to meet Clark's eyes. Clark looks shocked; the expression is undiluted by anger or dismay, though perhaps he simply hasn't had time to grasp what just happened. His eyes are wide, round, impossibly blue. Color is rising into his cheeks. His mouth is half-open, slack, with the slightest damp shine where— "That was," Bruce makes himself say, and then stops. Christ, what word can he use? What adjective is there that acknowledges his trespass fully? "Inappropriate." Inadequate, but it's the best he can do, and Clark needs to hear something, needs to know Bruce recognizes his own mistake for what it is. "I apologize. I—"

Comment - This fic starts where usually fics with a similar trope end. Bruce is out of the dream world where he lived happily with his husband Clark. For thirty years. Now he's to deal with the cold reality where Clark is not his beloved. Muscle memory is his biggest enemy.

Conflated by PamiGami [T, 31,900 word count]

“Are you sure you’re feeling quite all right, sir? I was but fairly sure the head hadn't been impacted.” “No… no, please. Listen. I’m in his body, but I’m not him. I can prove it.” Ill at ease, Clark rubbed at the back of his head, not stopping to think about the weird sensation of feeling not his own curls, but somebody else’s hair. The man continued to stare at him with piercing and scolding eyes. “I believe you.” He nodded. “Mister Wayne doesn’t say please this early in the morning.”

Comment - Somehow, Batman and Superman have switched their bodies, their apartments and their day jobs. Clark and Bruce are left to figure out what to do and why they're sharing a body with some random civilian. Identity shenanigans, full throttle.

Just a Formality by FabulaRasa [E, 4,600 word count]

Bruce and Clark get married, for reasons. And then they fall in love. Nope, it's not Victorian time travel! I am straight up about this.

Comment - Clark didn't know that some things on this earth could be as painful as kryptonite. Things like fake marriage.

Saudade by liodain [T, 20,400 word count]

It's midsummer, 2006. In the wake of his son's death, Bruce Wayne tries to outrun his grief on a cross-country road trip. When his car breaks down on a dusty road in the heart of Kansas, a friendly stranger stops to lend a hand.

Comment - A soft, melancholy start to a beautiful long distance friendship between a grieving father and a Kansas youth with a heart of gold. Also known as a fic where Bruce and Clark meet before the events of Man of Steel and it changes everything.

ship-to-ship combat by pomeloquat [M, 76,800 word count]

"Clark. What the hell is this," Lois asks, staring at Clark's Bruceman WIP folder. Clark's first instinct is to fly away, but that would still leave his fic on display for her to see. His second instinct is to blast a hole straight through his laptop screen with his heat vision, which isn't much better. Clark, in an attempt to make some spare cash, unintentionally stumbles into the world of superhero fanfiction, becomes a prolific writer for Gotham's OTP, and tries his best to fend off rival fans who want him to convert to superbat instead.

Comment - Triple identity shenanigans and a love letter to fandom and shippers. This fic has everything - heartbreak, heartache, unrequited feelings in double doses, self sacrifices and near misses, ship wars and RPF. And on top of that, it's the funniest fic I've read across many fandoms, hands down.

tell all the truth (but tell it slant) by susiecarter [M, 33,000 word count]

It takes a while for Batman and Superman to work things out, once Clark comes back from the dead. Pretending to date each other in order to explain why Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent are in the same place so often? Doesn't help as much as you might think.

Comment - When Batman himself is organizing and micromanaging a fake dating narrative to keep their superhero identities secret, what could go wrong? Apparently, everything. It's the worst time of Clark's life, it's the best time. It's a love story.

And last but not least, some spicy superbat fic recs!

Caught In His Gaze by DontStopHerNow [E, 1,500 word count]

This was supposed to be a stakeout to be sure Clark Kent had not lost his mind due to Kryptonite poisoning. Batman gets more of an eyeful than he expected when Clark does what people do alone in their apartments, though. He cannot look away.

What's In A Name? by frozenpotions [E, 15,000 word count]

Clark accidentally walks— or rather, flies in on Bruce enjoying a private moment. He'd probably have an easier time moving past it all if Bruce hadn't been saying Clark's name.

take a pic, strike a pose by shipyrds [E, 5,600 word count]

It’s probably a good thing Clark’s in private, because when he does check his notifications he almost cracks his phone in half. Bruce has sent him a picture. He’s in the suit, in the Batcave, and there’s probably other things happening in the picture, but Clark can’t really see any of those, because Bruce is– posing? Or maybe the camera just caught him like that; maybe he just happened to be catching his cape one-handed, setting off the sinuous curve of his bicep, the Bat logo straining across his chest. -- Bruce sends Clark a pic. Unfortunately, it goes out to some other people too.

My other superbat fic recs are here.

Happy reading!

[SUPERBAT COLLEGE AU] Underlying Truths by theendisgreen [ongoing]

Now in his second year of Journalism school, small-town boy Clark Kent starts questioning his relationship with Lois Lane. Things only get more complicated when he’s saddled with a chaotic new roommate and catches the attention of Bruce Wayne—an infuriatingly arrogant playboy who seems determined to make his life harder at every turn. Between deadlines, rivalries, and unexpected sparks, Clark begins to realize that no one, not even himself, can outrun the truth, especially when it comes to the heart.

Of Red Flowers and Secret Identities by gaysandberries

Clark Kent has spent most of his life without a soul mark. When one finally appears, he's overjoyed, but the one who holds its matching image is someone Clark thinks could not possibly be suited to him, at all. Bruce Wayne is vapid, and vain, and airheaded. At least, that's what he thinks.

running backwards (the only way forward) by soetry

Tim's expression finally eased, and he gave Clark a sympathetic slap on the back. "Don't worry, Supes. You've just gotta suck tongue with B for like, twenty minutes and then everything will be back to normal." Bruce gets hit in battle, forgets everything about being Batman, and adopts the entire personality and characteristics of his idiotic playboy persona. To get his memories back, someone has to get rather intimate with him. And really, Clark is the only one for the task.

where i come from by soetry

Bruce doesn’t have a soulmark, and Clark doesn’t have a soulmark, on an Earth where everyone has a soulmark. Somewhere in there is a simple solution. Somewhere to that solution is an overcomplicated journey. Surely two of the world’s leading superheroes will not take the overcomplicated route? Surely not?

part of the job description by soetry [explicit]

Clark attempted to flatten his hair and adjust his pants before he looked up, arching an eyebrow. "Do bodyguards usually do that?" Where Clark is working undercover as Bruce Wayne's bodyguard and Bruce reaps the benefits of it.

Shiver by elizabethgee

Bruce hates events like this— fundraising events that are more about networking than raising money. And of course, Lex Luthor takes the chance to rip into Bruce’s favorite journalist…

Marriage of Inconvenience by susiecarter [personal fav]

Swanwick gave Bruce a level, unamused look. "Mr. Wayne," he said. "Please tell me you know why you're here." Bruce shrugged. "Won the lottery, and first-place prize is the government marries me off to an alien." (Or: in a universe where Krypton took an extra thirty-odd years to implode, Kal-El was sent to Earth as an adult, in advance of the ship containing the only other surviving Kryptonians; and a quirk of Kryptonian law means negotiating refuge, potential resettlement, and an alliance with the Kryptonians in general is dependent on marriage between a Kryptonian and a human. Bruce did what it took to make sure that that human would be him, instead of some poor unprepared civilian—but his efforts to learn more about the aliens, what they want and why they're here, and how, if necessary, to kill them ... don't go the way he's expecting them to.)

5 Times Clark's Coworkers Thought He was Dating Superman and 1 Time They Found Out the Truth by appalyneinstitute1

Kent had been doing fewer interviews with the Man of Steel as of late. It was entirely possible that Clark Kent and Superman were now dating. It was the scoop of the century both for office gossip and for the paper. Unfortunately Cat had no real proof, so it was not publishable in a paper as reputable as theirs yet. She could start spreading whispers in the office though.

tell all the truth (but tell it slant) by susiecarter

It takes a while for Batman and Superman to work things out, once Clark comes back from the dead. Pretending to date each other in order to explain why Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent are in the same place so often? Doesn't help as much as you might think.

A Thousand Ways to Fall in Love (But There is Only You) by MaskoftheRay for A03reader

Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne have never been friends. They’re barely acquaintances, most days. But Bruce did bring Superman back from the dead, and Clark respects that. Furthermore, he agrees with the ideals that the Justice League was founded on, so he is attempting to move on and forgive Batman for the role he played in Clark’s death. The problem is that Clark’s brain doesn’t seem to be as on-board with that idea. Because it turns out that coming back from the dead was the easy part— now he has to live with it. So what do you do when you realize that the world isn’t perfect, and your best ally may be the very man who tried to bring you down? Clark doesn’t know, but he’s going to figure it out. The answer may be unexpected.

Modern Day Pen-pal Romance by lostinreeverie [one of my favs i love it sm, author MIGHT have a passion for crossword puzzles]

Or, Clark accidentally texts the wrong number and strikes a rather unusual friendship

so far from home (to have a stranger call you darling) by magnificentbirb

clark kent/bruce wayne

lex luthor/clark kent

superman/lex luthor

superman/batman

and gosh i have rare pair hells that i want to drag people into

guy gardner/michael holt

gq edwards/waylon jones

rick flag/floyd lawton

barry allen/arthur curry

michael carter/ted kord

bart allen/tim drake

dick grayson/kon-el

tim drake/kon-el

wally west/dick grayson

damian wayne/colin wilkes

jason todd/dick grayson

kyle rayner/jason todd

batman/joker

roy harper/jason todd

selina kyle/bruce wayne

tim drake/jason todd

diana prince/steve trevor

barry allen/cisco ramon

barry allen/iris west

barry allen/leonard snart

mick rory/caitlin snow

Woaaaah boy. I was in the Superbat tag and saw someone asking for recs and I got about 5 fics in before I realized that wouldn't fit in a reply and decided I should just make a whole post. I feel like I've read half of the Bruce/Clark tag on ao3 at this point and yet I still find more every time I look.

As a note, this post is heavily editorialized. These are all fics I've personally read and are here because I liked them and they come from my ao3 bookmarks. If you want better details about the fic, follow the links and check them out 🤷‍♀️ I'm a picky reader so the fact that it's on the list says a lot, though our tastes may vary.

Onto the recs! I'll organize them by ratings and then by length for simplicity and at the end I'll recommend some of my favorite SuperBat authors for further reading!

🦇

The series of my headcanon Clark x Battinson. I just want them to be happy. イマジナリークラブルまとめ。

--------Long Series----------------------------------------

Lost and Found

Lego-Brainwashing 1 Lego-Brainwashing 2

Hope: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Wish

The Corn Field: Part 1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part9 Part 9.5 Part 10

Reaching Out: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 3.5 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Epilogue 1 Epilogue 2

☀️↔︎🦇(Switch) : Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Extra

Here: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 (coming soon)

--------Short comics----------------------------------------

Training A Secret Date Safe Sex only Then and Now One day the Unlocked Door Portrait 1 Portrait 2 Carrots Hungry boy A lot of Cookies The Hands of the Sun Let Me Go Home Dancing tree 1 Dancing tree 2 Blow a kiss Valentine's night Superhearing texting No treat, no party Cozy bath Aurora Solar Eclipse First Fight Don't Go Take Care Hopeless City with a Hope The Hangman Happy Clark, Happy Bruce Small but Mighty Domestic supes Happy Thanksgiving Got You Sharing is loving Clark's bday 2025 Clark's bday 2025 (part 2) Missed you A good friend, Martinez Fly Together Then and Now (Clark version) This is your home Bruce, is that you? Japan trip

It's one of the last few things we can have as a society that's free. You can engage, for free. People give you things (art, stories, etc), for free.

Don't buy into the consummerism just because it's everywhere else.

You don't have to consume everything you interact with. You don't have to use things, just because they exist.

You're allowed (still, for now), to have things that are enjoyable for free.

Do you realise how insane the world is? We don't have many places where we can just be, for free anymore, but ao3 is. Did you notice we don't have ads in ao3? We don't have pop ups? Where ELSE do we not have that?

Where else can you just go and not have to wait for a commercial to be over or for ads to be on the sidelines?

I don't think the younger people understand, but the whole of internet used to be like this. YouTubers would do Youtube for free, just because. You couldn't monetise your internet presence before.

Ao3 is like a little preserved corner of the internet where the old internet used to be, and it's being attacked by people who do not understand that free things are allowed to exist without judgment.

Please don't ruin this for us.

https://annas-archive.org

https://sci-hub.se

https://z-lib.is

https://libgen.is

https://libgen.rs

https://www.pdfdrive.com

https://library.memoryoftheworld.org

https://monoskop.org/Monoskop

https://libcom.org

https://libretexts.org

http://classics.mit.edu

https://librivox.org

https://standardebooks.org

https://www.gutenberg.org

COMMENT ON THE FUCKING FIC

I SWEAR TO GOD NO ONE COMMENTS MUCH NOW WHEN THE ONLY WAY TO SHOW APPRECIATION FOR A SINGLE CHAPTER IS COMMENTING AND I AM NOT HAVING THIS BULLSHIT BE LIKE TIKTOK WHERE NO ONE EVER COMMENTS POSITIVITY

FOR FUCKS SAKE JUST COMMENT ON THE FUCKING FIC YOU DON'T NEED A MULTIPLE KUDOS BUTTON YOU NEED ACTUAL WORDS

TRUST ME ON ANY WEBSITE OR APP I POST COMMENTS AND WORDS ARE 10X BETTER THAN ANY PLAIN LIKE AND WORDLESS REBLOG IF YOU LIKE SOMETHING LEAVE WORDS

COMMENT

ON

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FUCKING

Fandom Problem #6707:

#that one fandom in Naruto that just so annoying