Doodles and Ramblings

It's been a good... ... ... week? Two weeks? since I shamelessly shilled my own fics so I here I am... Shamelessly shilling my own fic.

A fluffy superbat fic that started from some Bruce whump and turned into a 3+1 trust the process kind of thing.

It is one of my favorites. I just want to hug Bruce.

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Fly Me To The Moon

Summary: The three times Bruce made coffee for his family and Clark and the one time he made one for himself. With a twist.

Relationship: Bruce Wayne / Clark Kent

Tags: Fluff and Angst ; Getting Together ; Identity Reveal ; but by accident ; Coffee ; Not Beta Read ; Bruce Wayne Needs a Hug ; 3+1 ; Protective Clark Kent ; Oh. OH. | Italicized Oh Moment ; Out of Character ; Because I think all my fics are

Rating: Teen and Up

Chapters: 4/4

Bruce fell first and he'd been falling for so long, his heart was as scarred as his skin from all the times it had shattered.

It broke the first time he confessed his feelings and was rejected. It broke when Clark married Lois and it broke when they divorced and Clark hadn't been interested in relationships anymore. It broke when people found out about his little crush and lightly teased him about it and it broke when the one time Clark showed interest in him was revealed to have been due to a shard of pink kryptonite lodged in the heel of his boot.

And still he falls but he learned to live with the fact that the end would never be in sight. That he had to learn to navigate the world with a stitched up heart.

Clark fell harder.

Clark fell harder and it felt like he'd been suddenly struck out of the sky and into the depths of the Mariana trench. He's still not up yet. His heart is still reeling from a world of feelings threatening to burst it open. He hadn't been breathing for a while now. Minutes bleeding into eons and compressing into seconds. He hadn't been breathing because between one breath and another Bruce transformed into incandescent moonlight, luminous inside and out and Clark suddenly cannot figure out how to take another breath without him in his arms. Without him cradled into his soul.

So....

So.

Not the biggest ABO fan but this works either in that setting or in the aftermath of Bruce being turned into a cat and temporarily retaining some of its mannerisms.

One of the best things that people find about this whole situation is just how much more expressive Bruce is (mostly involuntarily).

And the JL are so flattered because Bruce purrs in their presence and everybody knows cats purr when they are happy, right?

Except, one time, Clark looks at him. Really looks at Bruce - all of him. Listens to his purrs.

And swiftly whisks and flies him away despite his protests.

Because Clark grew up among lots of cats on the farm. He knows exactly how cats really behave and he knows that cats also purr to self sooth. They purr when they are injured, stressed and overwhelmed and all the curse and people crowding Bruce and assuming things about him overwhelm him to no end and that is him actually being really distressed. The fact that he can't hide his distress as usual only makes things worse. Cue spiral.

Bruce is curious by nature and basically a sponge for knowledge. Hal is barely on Earth and basically a treasure trove of intergalactic lore.

I can imagine Hal spending so much time in space that Bruce's billionaire playboy persona does not have the same effect on him. (tapping the famous "Who the hell is Bruce Wayne" quote).

Works especially well if Bruce is not that outgoing with the team, or is on more of a part time status. The rest are actually a bit confused by the difference between him an his Brucie persona. ~

Batman would be analyzing something or another on a tablet in the common room, keeping to himself and in strolls Hal, loud and rambunctious. His eyes fall on Bats and he makes a beeline for him. "Spooky! I bring enrichment!" He proclaims and drops a data disc in front of Bruce before dropping in the seat next to him. "It's a collection of Quadrant Four literature. Most common languages." He grins, ear to ear. "A thank you for that hint on that political snafu."

To everyone's surprise, Bruce picks up the disc and turns it on all sides. "You don't need a translator, do you?" Hal asks and Bruce just hums, putting the disc in one of his pouches. "I wanted to clear one from Oa but the ambassador mentioned a lot of the languages have Dircheian as a basis. That's the one you wanted to practice, no?"

Bruce humms again and nods. "We're up to 40%"

Hal raises his eyebrows and lets out a surprised whistle. "Man, I was hoping to get some rest, not jump into lantern business as soon as I make it home."

"Technically it's Gotham business." Batman tilts his head and Hal clicks his tongue.

"It was Gotham business 39 percents ago!"

"I'm not going to have a glowstick ruin three months of stakeout." "I can be subtle!"

The two exit the watchtower common room while bickering and a week or so after, news comes of and alien weapons smuggling ring being dismantled in Gotham.

~

Another would be Bruce again working on something and Hal just yapping away about some missions, with Bruce just humming every now and again. At one point Hal produces a construct that looks like a tablet with an inscription and Clark recognizes the writing as Kryptonian. What he doesn't expect is for Bruce to look over it and go "Ah, I see what you mean. It would be easy for a therian to interpret that as 'stealing'" and he does a double take because since when does Batman know Kryptonian?

....

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The sky over every city, town, village, camp around the world flickers into static before an image fades in.

"Good tidings, Earthlings!" A booming voice calls and it is immediately apparent that everyone around the globe can understand the words.

"It is time for THE TEST!" The voice continues and the image focuses on some kind of sparkling dome. Inside it, tens of people in colored outfits.

"On your behalf, this world's mightiest heroes!"

And sure enough familiar faces are being spotted in the dome. Superman, Wonder Woman and a Green Lantern immediately take flight and try to shatter the dome but to no avail. On the ground, other heroes try to do the same. A few magic users try and dismantle the barrier but to no avail. It is too complicated and has a frustratingly fluid rigidity, a woman with black hair, tuxedo and fishnet stockings says. A few more magic users agree. Not impossible to break just very time consuming if one would brute force their way through.

It is made apparent that the voice belongs to some kind of interdimensional warlock, who cast and incredibly complex spell. The warlock has a giant guard by his side. A mutated creature with several pairs of arms and spiky bone like armor and weapons.

They are to pass a series of challenges until a countdown reaches zero or their world will be destroyed and the magic harvested and absorbed by the warlock.

A military team tries to engage but is swiftly done in, leaving the heroes with no choice but to agree to the trials.

Inside the dome, heroes look at one another. Some are more famous, some not. The ones that form the Justice League are the most eye catching but others are there as well.

The internet goes crazy for one obvious reason.

"See? I told you he doesn't exist." Green Lantern nudges the Flash. Superman looks vaguely dejected.

Online, debates rise. The hashtag #BatmanDoesntExist starts to trend. Gothamites are surprisingly tame in the debate. The attention shifts towards the trials.

Each hero goes through a unique, personal trial. They are gruesome. Horrible. Most heroes pass them. Other pass out. Still, it becomes glaringly obvious why all of them are Earth's finest heroes. They are all insanely strong and capable.

Towards the end of the trials, the world starts to breathe a little easier. The countdown is almost over. The warlock begins to laugh maniacally.

"The preliminaries are over. Now onto to round two. Deathmatches!" the warlock cackles. "You have until the timer reaches zero to agree or you lose by default."

The internet goes crazy once more. The heroes condemn the unfairness. They say it is cheating but the warlock just cackles. The timer slowly counts down the last ten minutes. The heroes begin to debate a strategy. It is clear they need to accept but what then? They can't simply kill each other, yet they must save the Earth. A suggestion is passed thorough everyone. In the end, one hero will have to remain to protect Earth. It's the only way. The heroes are ... surprisingly calm. Like sacrifice was expected in their line of duty. They are just angry that they can't do more. The world is angry that they can't help them.

Around the one minute mark, the dome begins the shimmer. It fades in and out until it bursts into sparks and disappears. The countdown suddenly stops. The gathered heroes look towards the place where the warlock was. The guard is unconscious, in a heap of broken bones. Around him, a very thin steel like cable with some kind stylized hook at one end keeps him hog tied. Close by, the warlock is just as unconscious, his limbs tied with zip ties.

The woman picks up a grimoire and snatches a post-it stuck to it. Reads it out loud. "Brush up on your algebraic topology and functional analysis, Z"

"You fucker! Bet you wouldn't have said that to my father's face!" She yells towards the sky but grins. "Just wait until we next meet, B-Boy! I'll turn you into a frog!"

The image in the sky begins to fade but not until people see Superman turning the giant guard and seeing something. He dislodges it from a bone. It's some kind of throwing blade shaped like a stylized bat. The image in the sky fades out entirely. The skies around the world return to normal.

The internet goes crazy once more. The hashtag #BatmanIsReal starts trending. Gothamites online are unbearably smug.

Away from the scene, Batman rolls his shoulder to alleviate some of the pain. Alfred will definitely bench him for days. He's not entirely sure what's broken and what's just sprained and bruised. He slinks into the batmobile.

The thing is, Batman never considered himself a hero of the world. He never considered himself a hero at all. He never even entertained the thought of standing on the world stage with all the true heroes. The metas and the aliens and the gods and demi-gods. He's just a little broken kid who grew up wanting to help other kids not feel the pain he felt. He's just a guy trying to keep the streets of Gotham safe.

WIP of a distraught teenage Bruce Wayne from Wistiria's fic, kick rocks

It's a first meetings, first impressions, pre-relationship, academic rivalry (sort of) fic taking place in Smallville, as both Clark and Bruce are attending high-school there.

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Most of the JL is at the Kent's farm for one of those rare get-togethers. A late summer barbeque in this case. Bruce and some of the batkids are also there, in civies, mainly for Damian to see the farm animals again and because the Kents insisted he brought them along as their guests. Bruce gets along surprisingly well with them, especially since, during one of the first get-togethers Bruce spent most of the time with pa Kent helping him fix a harvester because he had heard they were preparing for the harvest and the town mechanic was sick. The Kents had contacted him afterwards and eventually a bond was formed without even Clark knowing. It's not that they kept it from him but the Kents just figured Bruce is their guest/friend and it's not like they tell Clark about every single things their friends do. And Bruce is ... well... Bruce.

Back to the present, the group is reminiscing about the early days, when batman had just joined, they did not know his identity but they did find out Bruce Wayne was their sponsor. One of them mentioned what a clusterfuck Bruce's first official visit was and that they thought initially that while he was a bit of a ditz, you could tell he was rich because he was used to getting people to do things for him and did not seem to have a lot of common sense. Also, how different Batman/Bruce ended up being from Brucie.

Bruce doesn't say anything, not exactly paying attention and playing with one of the barn kitties that climbed in his lap and was torn between making biscuits with untrained claws on his pants, clawing at his finger and rubbing its head on Bruce's hand. The league tries to remember what exactly it was that gave them that idea and they remember Bruce had a bead bracelet and, due to some accident, it tore and some of the beads ended up in one of the evac chutes and were spaced. Bruce asked them to help retrieve the beads because they were important to him but the league brushed it off and told him that even if he has that much money, he can't have outrageous demands and that they were just beads. Some things are more important and he should learn to value other people's time and effort.

"Oh, so that's what happened?" Dick pipes up.

"If that happened to me I would have rioted." Another kid jumps in.

"I would have probably cried." Another adds.

"Oh, I was inconsolable for weeks." Dick nods. "I barely ate anything. Just cried most of the time. Can you imagine? Losing both one of Bruce's mom's pearls and the beads from my mom's bracelet?"

"Luckily Bruce ended up retrieving them."

The league looks at Bruce who continues to play with the cat before looking up at Dick. "I'm just sorry it took so long, chum."

To the league, he turns and tells them that he had to write a program that tracked the initial position and simulated their position in orbit taking into account outside forces and the spin of the watchtower in orbit over time. It was the base of the tracking software they use currently when one of the Javelins ends up lost in space and they need to project the possible courses. He also needed to upgrade the batwing and one of his suits to be space worthy.

The JL kind of blink at him, shocked. He just shrugs. Says the bracelet was irreplaceable.

The kids say that his bracelet changed in the meanwhile. Initially it was a matching one with Dick, that Dick had made when he was just starting out as Robin. They each had one pearl from Bruce's mother necklace and beads from a bracelet that used to belong to Mary Grayson (one of the few things Dick still had from her). Eventually, when the new kids were adopted or ended up under Bruce's wing, they found out about the bracelets and they wanted in. They each got a pearl and it was up to them what the rest would be. Most of them chose very specific charms and beads in the color of their choosing. One on their bracelet and one on Bruce's. They since changed the wire and closing link to something incredibly durable and they always wear them when not dressed in their vigilante costumes. To make a point, they brandish their wrists and sure enough, each of them is sporting a beaded bracelet in various colors with one pearl and a charm.

Clark realizes that the kitty was actually playing with one of the many charms on Bruce's bracelet.

So I was thinking of these situations.. prompts.. things. Might turn them into WIPs eventually... Or not. If anyone wants to have a go at them or expand on them, be my guest. More cake for everyone.

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Jon was flying over Gotham on his way to the Kent farm when something happened to gradually cause his powers to fade and he tumbles into a dumpster. Lois is on an assignment over several days in another city and Clark is on an off planet mission. The phone his parents gave him is cracked and his powers are gone. But at least he knows someone. Well, his dad knows someone. So he makes his way towards the tallest building in Gotham, whose sign he can see - Wayne Tower.

He gets there after about an hour and asks the lady at the reception if he could see Bruce Wayne. If he is there. The receptionist gives his dirty clothes a look but also notices the blue eyes and black hair so she calls.

Bruce (surprised af) comes down immediately and takes Jon to his office. He realizes the kid has scraped knees and elbows and no powers. He patches him up while Jon is a bit shy but opens up really fast. This is the first time he's spoken so much to Bruce. Bruce calls Clark and Lois on coms to let them know about Jon and asks if they are ok with him taking him to the cave for some investigations because there is no way he can use the fortress (he is not close enough to Clark by that point) and the watchtower does not have the tech, especially the experimental one that was not yet deployed (he had started working on kryptonian friendly medical instruments and machines ever since Jon was born because he considered kryptonite was not an option for a small kid. Clark and Lois agree and Bruce sends a plane for Lois.

Back at the cave, Bruce examines Jon but distracts him from everything by talking to him. They still talk as Lois gets there and watches the two talk about stars, dinosaurs, pigeons and other random things that caught Jon's interest.

Jon and Lois stay at the mansion for a few days, while Bruce figures out what is wrong with Jon and he gradually gets his powers back. Jon soon bumps Bruce up there among his favorite grown-ups after his family and Kon. this is also the time Jon starts to grow really close to Dami.

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Jon finds out Bruce likes facts. That he likes to know things so whenever they meet, Jon will trot to him and tell him random obscure facts he found out. "Hey, Bruce! Did you know snails have teeth?" "Bruce! Did you know oranges used to be green?"

He will begin looking up things specifically to be able to tell Bruce when he will see him next.

It's like little presents and he smiles widely because Bruce will raise his eyebrows and smile and ask for details.

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One day Jon and Dami are running around the manor while playing and Jon accidentally knocks over and breaks a vase. He feels bad and despite the fact that Bruce told them it was fine and what mattered was that they were not hurt, he can't let it go. He knows he can't afford to buy a new one (Bruce carefully does not tell him it was an antique) but maybe he can still make amends. And he heard that personalized and signed works are valuable.

At school, during a crafts assignment, he makes a vase. It was one of those where they make it, paint it and all of them are gathered and sent to a workshop to be fired before they are given back to the kids. It's a bit janky, it's uneven but it is blue and black and has a blob on it which Jon swears is a bat. Bruce loves it and has it displayed on the pedestal where the old vase was.

The batkids get a bit jealous and competitive. The pedestal is replaced with a glass door cabinet full of handmade ceramics that surround the vase. They are not even joke ones because one of the kids made one as a joke and felt bad seeing it next to the rest.

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Jon will ask Bruce for help with his math homework.

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Jon knows Bruce can cook because sometimes, when he comes to the manor for a sleepover with Dami, and Bruce is there on one of his rare days off or resting after an injury, he will make pizza or other snacks and cookies for them. Jon also preens because he knows the only ones to have tasted Bruce's cooking are the batkids so it feels like he's part of a big secret. Even Clark and other JL members sometimes unknowingly tasted Bruce's cooking but they thought it was Alfred's.

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Illustration for my superbat fic, Once Upon a Time.

It's intended as pre-relationship but the whole thing can be interpreted as platonic as well if one so wishes to view it so.

Please mind the tags. I don't think there is anything outside comics/fairy tales specific violence and horror... In so much as the fairy tales are of the Perrault/original Grimm flavor. It also features an enraged sentient Gotham city.

I really had a lot of fun writing Gotham gaining sentience over the years and sliding in tidbits of lore.

Summary: