Need an AU where Bruce, after a particularly nasty fight with Dick, pays a visit to Dr. Fate,
It wasn't meant to happen. There's no such thing as a good patrol, but Dami wasn't supposed to get hurt. He wasn't supposed to hold back sobbing under Alfred's stitches.
Because kids aren't made for that. Kids aren't made for pain and agony. Kids aren't made to suffer quietly.
Dami reaches for him, face shining with sweat, and Bruce reaches back, " It's okay, Damian. You'll be fine,"
"Okay?!" Dick's anger is like a knife dragged on skin. He doesn't sound angry. Bruce works well with that. He sounds like someone whose baby brother is bleeding on their hands. Distraught and wrecked. "Nothing about this is okay. And you're going to act like this is normal?"
" Dick, now's not the time, --"
" No, little wing, it is. When I met Damian, -- I swore, that I wouldn't let Gotham break him like it broke you. That I'd never fail like Bruce failed you. Because that's what you do, isn't it? You're ruin. We're in pain, and you put us here."
And there's no real argument to be made. No rebuttal, no verbal combat. Bruce's words don't matter. The shatter in his heart doesn't matter. That flood of poisoning sadness stabbing his stomach doesn't matter.
Because Dick wasn't hateful. He wasn't angry. He was simply truthful. And it's no longer fair to pretend otherwise.
He accepts it with his head lowered and a mission in mind. He pretends every hair doesn't stiffen and his skin doesn't freeze when Damian's chokes, " Baba, don't go,"
But he knows what he has to do. And he knows Dr. Fate does, too.
"Erasing you from the chapters of time would be unwise. You are balance. It's also massively selfish, but I don't need to tell you that. Legends aren't legends by belonging to themselves. The world needs Barman,"
"But not Bruce Wayne."
Dr. Fate doesn't disagree.
"From the moment they met you. All memories. Everyone you've ever known isn't allowed to know you?''
He doesn't hesitate. Not even once, " Yes.''
"Be careful what you wish for, Wayne," But Dr. Fate glows, with brilliant white and gold, and Bruce's body quivers. God, he hates magic. "One day, it might come true."
---
Clark blinked.
"Sir? Are you okay?"
He wasn't sure why he was dizzy. He wasn't sure why he was standing in the middle of a jewelry store. "Oh, yes, I'm good. Sorry, just...I'll go now. I think I walked here by mistake."
The cashier gives him an understanding look, sending him off with a congratulations on the way.
He wast sure why she was congratulating him.
Why was he holding an engagement ring?
