bc the thing about superbat for me is they do not have a "happy" ending together. this thing they've got going on doesn't last. like their dynamic is built on this very intimate understanding of each other, imo a very key piece of their dynamic is knowing each other's secret identities; they know when the other is performing and who they are behind that front. they know each other better than anyone, and that mutual trust is what makes them work so well as a team. they always protect the other in a fight and will go to great lengths to rescue the other or keep the other safe. i think in some ways they're the other's most important person. you could call it being in love. but it doesn't really matter in the end. because bruce wayne is a strange and maladjusted man who doesn't manage a normal relationship with anyone in his life. in #myopinion, batman is kind of miserable and lonely until like, the end of time because he prioritizes his mission over any of his personal desires or relationships. so yes he values clark very deeply, but at the very end of the day he's married to his work and his city, and that's non-negotiable. a normal relationship would like, give him a reason to come home at the end of the night and he doesn't think he can afford to value himself like that, so he doesn't. he just kind of lurks on the edges of clark's life, and never steps in any further than their work together because any vestige of a "normal" life is incompatible with what he's made of himself. and clark loves batman, but he needs the kind of groundedness in his relationships that bruce is never going to have. and he has this healthy well-adjusted relationship with lois that provides that, so clark is always going to.. move on, in a way. and in the end this thing between them doesn't have words and they're both a little haunted by it, but still it's the two of them against whatever stands in their way. if that includes the actual entire world, then so be it, they'll take it on together. they need each other, and they love each other, and they're always reaching out to save each other. and that has to be enough.
