Superbat Cave

JL member: What have you planned to do to deal with this terrible event where innocent people will

Batman: Bullshit and believe

*Some pissing off Batman when he’s trying to explain a plan*

Batman: You’re not on my freakquency

*Hal saying smt dumb*

Batman: Oh hoe no

Chapter 5

6. Kara Zor-El Doesn’t Believe in Subtlety

Location: Metropolis, two days later. Status: a beautiful spring morning.

Kara lands on the balcony of Clark’s apartment with the energy of a happy meteor.

Kara: Clark! I brought food and an incredible story and— (stops) Oh.

Bruce (not Batman) is there. No mask. Coffee in hand. Looking out the window like he once lived in a small downtown apartment.

Bruce: Kara.

Kara: Bruce.

They look at each other. Kara smiles. Big. Too big.

Kara: You’re not usually here.

Bruce takes a breath to answer.

Bruce: No. I don’t usually come here.

Kara blinks. Then looks at Clark. Then looks back at Bruce.

Kara: It’s morning.

Bruce: Yes.

Kara cares far less than Dick about looking unhinged: zero.

Kara: There’s a lot of sun.

Clark clears his throat.

Clark: Kara.

Kara: No, no, relax. I’m not judging. I’m just… —she makes a wide gesture— observing.

She sits on the couch, still watching them.

Kara: You’re more relaxed —to Bruce—. And you —to Clark— are way too attentive.

Clark turns red. Bruce frowns.

Bruce: What you’re implying—

Kara raises a hand.

Kara: I don’t care. Nothing matters to me as long as it works.

Bruce looks at her, unreadable.

Bruce: Is that all?

Kara: Bruce, my civilization disappeared. I learned not to complicate things and to value what matters.

Bruce rolls his eyes and Clark tilts his head, possibly moved by her words, so Kara doesn’t let him speak.

Kara: Are you calm because you feel safe here?

Bruce swallows. He can’t lie.

Bruce: Yes.

Kara nods and turns to her cousin.

Kara: And you’re watching him because he’s calm and you’re afraid something will happen to him and that never ever again in the entire universe and in every reality will he be able to be calm.

Clark: No, but—

Kara: No but yes?

Clark: Partially.

Kara smiles, genuine.

Kara: Then it’s fine.

She jumps to her feet.

Kara: Great. Now, who wants to hear how I almost broke a satellite by accident and then it did break because Krypto peed on it?

Bruce Wayne

Big tits, huge ass. A perfect man specimen.

so imagine clark and bruce meet as their non hero personas and its such a meet-cute and love at first sight and then they start dating rlly early in their lives when they are in theyre early 20s, they are so healthy and compliment eo so well BUT they are still heros and their hero personas also like eo a lot since theyre a great team and so on but since bruce and clark dont know eo hero identitys they feel like cheating on eo and it just gets messy

ok that was such a messy explanination but yea smth like that

does anyone have recs?

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!

🦇

and maybe they try to say it's for contingencies, oh they have to know because what if something goes wrong what if they get hurt or kidnapped or kidnapped AND cloned! and maybe the rest it the JL is like hey so that actually has nothing to do with the fact that you knew exactly when Bruce was going to sneeze because you smelled the slightest amount of pollen in the room and heard him inhale beforehand.

just need more fics where they're absolutely enthralled with each other on a completely fucking freaky level that they either don't think is insane and actually think they're completely normal or they both know they're insane but they know it's mutual so they're just perfect for each other.

one day clark kent is delivered to his waiting room by his colleague jimmy olsen, who explains they were in gotham covering a gala, and clark suddenly started slurring and wobbling on his feet. bruce quickly welcomes them in, setting to work on examining clark and trying to land on a diagnosis.

…except, bruce is stumped. bruce is never stumped. he runs more tests with a furrowed brow and doesn’t stop even as mr. kent starts to get better as the night drags on. he reluctantly lets the man leave after many hours go by with nothing to show for it and a completely healthy mr. kent practically begging to be sent home. bruce makes him promise to come back or visit his family doctor if his condition worsens again, and then that’s that.

but it nags at bruce. it’s been years since he’s encountered a problem he couldn’t at least start to understand within a few hours. (and he’s spent hours.) every spare moment he has between patients and paperwork and prison escapes is spent researching mr. kent’s symptoms and trying to discern any type of familiar pattern. he looks back at mr. kent’s bloodwork, and decides to put it under a microscope in the cave—and what he finds is something he’s never seen. ever. he cross-references his physical examination to the scans and the blood, his disbelief expanding as he finally settles on an answer.

his conclusion? mr. kent must be gravely ill with a disease that’s never been documented before. and bruce desperately needs to let him know.

he uses the cave computer to do a little snooping, finds that mr. kent is a reporter for the daily planet, and his business number is on their website. he gives mr. kent a call, and the moment he introduces himself, he's hung up on.

bruce doesn't let that deter him. mr. kent must be embarrassed about the way he'd flirted with bruce while woozy from his fainting episode, but alerting him of the sickness bruce has found is far more important than protecting his feelings. bruce tries again. mr. kent ignores his calls, and each time he tries from a new phone, mr. kent hangs up again.

bruce has no choice but to go to metropolis himself.

the daily planet is a chaotic mass of reporters and loose paper. it reminds bruce of the hospital. mr. white is kind enough to show bruce to mr. kent's desk when he shows up, and bruce dutifully ignores how the room seems to quiet as everybody's eyes follow him towards mr. kent.

the man himself nearly falls out of his chair when he sees bruce, and a blush races across his face when bruce asks to speak in private.

mr. kent looks like he's trying not to laugh when bruce explains his theory. bruce has to remind himself that everyone reacts to illness differently, and pulls out the files he definitely shouldn't have smuggled from the hospital to show to mr. kent.

"i'd like you to come back to the hospital for more testing," bruce says. "thomas wayne memorial is outfitted with the most advanced medical equipment in the country, and it will help us determine methods of treatment."

"...wow," mr. kent says, his face pale as he reads through bruce's extensive notes. "thank you for going to the trouble, dr. wayne, but i've made it this far in life without weekly appointments, and there's no way i could pay for all this on a reporter's salary even if i wanted to."

"cost is not an issue," bruce insists. "anything not covered by your insurance or wayne foundation grants will be handled by my personal funds."

"that's incredibly generous," mr. kent says, his eyes wide with disbelief. "i can't accept."

"mr. kent," bruce starts. "i couldn't drain all the cash from my bank accounts if i tried for the rest of my life. money is nothing to me. human life is everything. please consider this treatment."

mr. kent sighs. "my folks took me to the doctor when i was a kid. i can't remember all of the medical jargon now, but the doctor said i'd be dealing with dizziness from time to time for the rest of my life. not deadly or impactful enough to be treatable."

bruce frowns. that doesn't make any sense. he hadn't seen a mass on the image of mr. kent's brain to explain the disorientation or slurred speech, and there was no reported head injury, from the past or recently. "i mean no disrespect to your doctor or your parents, but i truly believe there is something worth investigating. the results of your tests are nothing like i've seen before."

mr. kent grimaces, handing back the file. bruce knows he's losing.

"would you at least give me the name of your doctor?" bruce tries. "i'd like to compare notes, if you're amenable to sharing your old files."

"doc macintyre passed away a few years ago," mr. kent says. "sorry."

bruce ends up leaving metropolis with nothing to show for it, unease building in his chest. mr. kent had gotten cagy the more bruce pushed, and ultimately said he wouldn't be seeking treatment.

bruce tries his hardest to forget about it, but some part of his mind is always turning the problem over, searching for a new angle. he seals the files and all of mr. kent's results per his request and dives into his other work—which isn't exactly hard when superman arrives in gotham seeking help with blood spilling from his gut.

batman drives like hell back to the cave, where he hauls superman up onto a cot and begins the agonizing process of removing tiny shards of kryptonite from his wound while simultaneously handling blood loss and managing superman's pain. when he finishes, he puts a vial of blood into a machine in the cave that will tell him if the kryptonite is out of kal's bloodstream or still needs to be flushed. superman sleeps as bruce cleans up, his face smooth and unburdened with rest.

the computer pings. bruce moves over to it with a frown, eyes widening with disbelief when the computer tells him it's found a match logged in the system. with mounting suspicion, bruce checks the database, pulling up the identical bloodwork and the name attached to it.

Alternatively