The House of the Earth Part 2 (8/8): Too Bright for Our Infirm Delight
Title: Chapter Eight: Too Bright for Our Infirm Delight
Pairing/Characters: Kal-El, Bruce Wayne, Kara Zor-El
Notes: " The House of the Earth" is an AU in which a few thousand Kryptonians escaped the destruction of Krypton to flee to Earth and enslave its people.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2400
Summary: Kal studies obliqueness, is given an unwelcome ultimatum, and embarks on something of a road trip.
"What do you think, Brucie? The scarlet or the navy?" Kara held up two swatches of cloth as the Kryptonian tailor hovered around her, fussing with her measurements. Kal sat in an armchair in the corner, trying not to look too frantically frustrated. Kara had invited them over for tea, but the tailor had been taking too long with her adjustments and the three of them were trapped in their public personas.
"The scarlet makes your complexion glow, mistress," Bruce said with a smile.
Kara beamed at him a bit condescendingly. "You have such good taste, my dear."
"I always appreciate quality when I see it, mistress. And I worship at the feet of beauty." Bruce knelt briefly, the obeisance liquid and lithe, and pressed a kiss on Kara's floating bare foot.
Kara giggled slightly. "Oh, you flatterer. Sometimes I regret giving you to my cousin. Is it too late to snatch you back?"
Bruce leapt to his feet and paced over to where Kal slouched in his chair. "I'm afraid so, mistress." He lowered himself to the floor like a cascade of grace and twined his arms around Kal's leg. "I'm all his now, and I don't think he'd be willing to relinquish me." He gazed up at Kal, eyelashes fluttering, adoration etched on his features. "Would you, master?"
Kal ruffled hair so soft it made his fingers ache and tried to look relaxed and smug instead of wretched. "You please me far too much, pretty one."
Kara's eyes narrowed, watching the two of them closely. Then she turned to the tailor. "Thera, my mother has a bolt of new fabric from Imsk that I was hoping you could make into a cloak. Would you be a dear and go get it from her?" She gestured, and Bruce rose and bowed. "Is it all right if I send Bruce to show her to Mother's quarters, Kal?"
Kal nodded, and Bruce escorted the tailor from Kara's quarters.
As the door slid shut behind them, Kara crossed her arms, her face going businesslike. "Kal. What's going on?"
Kal squirmed a bit in his seat. He contemplated claiming he had no idea what his cousin meant, but Kara's eyes were narrowed and steely, and he knew there was no getting past her. "I feel...very uncomfortable...when Bruce does, you know...that."
"The flirting?"
Kal nodded, miserable. "It's--I don't like him mocking me like that."
Kara's eyebrows disappeared into her hair. "Mocking you?"
Kal looked down at his knees. "He doesn't have to be so theatrical about it all. He could just sit at my feet. He doesn't have to...be so affectionate when I know he doesn't--he can't--"
There was a light touch on his shoulder. He looked up to see Kara standing in front of him, her eyes sad. "Kal, dear heart, you're misunderstanding. Bruce plays his role with relish because he trusts us. If he felt even the slightest suspicion that we would use his role against him, if he felt that we would for a moment take his feigned subservience seriously, he would never do it. He would be a dutiful servant in public, but he would never exaggerate it to tease us." She reached out and took his chin in her hand, tilting his face upward like he were a child. "He plays with me because he is free to do so. And he is free to show me honest affection to the exact extent that I would never, ever presume on our relationship." She looked at him searchingly. "Do you understand what I'm telling you, Kal?"
Kal blinked. "I...I think so."
"Good." She patted his cheek lightly and turned back to her mirror as the door re-opened and Bruce returned with the tailor, carrying a bolt of glossy blue cloth. "Thank you, Brucie dear," she said.
Bruce bowed. "It's always a pleasure to serve, mistress."
"I was just talking about Terran poetry with my cousin," Kara went on as the tailor began to fuss with the silk.
"Why would one of the Arrived waste their energy with such barbaric things?" Bruce asked.
"Oh, Kryptonians believe in preserving knowledge of all kinds, no matter how primitive," Kara said airily. "I was telling Kal about an older Terran poet. Which poem was it I was reciting, cousin?" Kal looked at her blankly, and she smiled and held up a finger. "I remember now. He doesn't really have a good memory for poetry," she said confidingly. "But even the humans captured an idea in rhyme nicely now and then." She stretched out her hand as if declaiming, evoking a murmur of annoyance from the tailor, and recited:
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant-
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise.
"It has a certain charm, does it not?" Kara finished.
Bruce tilted his head, looking at her. "It's rather pretty, but not as pretty as you, mistress." He turned and went over to Kal, but rather than sitting at his feet curled up in his lap like a large cat. "But then, I have no need of poetry when I have my brave master, my strong master, who is poetry incarnate."
Kal stared at him and then at Kara, whose mouth was quirking slightly at the corner. Then he put his arms carefully around Bruce, holding him close, feeling his heart beating. "Oh, my dear one," he said. His voice was a little more unsteady than he would have liked. "My north star. My heart."
Bruce made a soft purring sound and snuggled against him. The tailor continued working, ignoring the silly, empty endearments. Kara watched them both. Kal felt Bruce's muscles slowly easing, his breaths becoming more even, deeper. By the time the tailor was done, the human was clearly asleep, his body relaxed and warm against Kal's chest. Kara gestured the tailor out without speaking, then stood and looked at the two of them for a few minutes. "He's been working himself too hard, keeping up with too many things," she said, pitching her voice too quietly to be heard by the sleeping man. "My news can wait until later." She turned and started to float from the room. "I'll be in the library," she said, looking back. "Stay here. Let him sleep."
Kal watched the door slip shut behind her. In his arms, Bruce twitched slightly, lost in some dream, and made a small sound. It didn't sound unhappy.
He held Bruce close, watching each slow breath rise and fall, until the dinner bell rang in the distance.
: : :
"How was your trip to Metropolis, Kal-El?" Zor-El looked at his nephew on the far side of the table. "I hope it impressed you with a sense of your responsibilities."
"Oh yes, uncle," Kal said meekly. "I'm very aware of my responsibilities." Kara shot him an almost warning glance and Bruce drummed his fingers slightly on his calf as Kal answered his uncle's questions about the caucus meeting. Kal almost couldn't help smiling, somehow.
"Speaking of responsibilities," Alura said sweetly as Kal finished explaining the decisions made, "Your uncle has something he needs to talk to you about."
"Yes, that," Zor-El said as Kal looked back at him. "It's about your...marital status."
"My..." Kal stared at his uncle. "I talked to Syra in Metropolis. She didn't seem to think the marriage plans were moving forward anytime soon."
"I'm not talking about Syra," said Zor-El. He put his glass down and regarded his nephew gravely. "Kal-El. You know that our truce with the Amazons of Themyscira has always been a...delicate one. Something of a stalemate. We could invade, could probably even conquer them, but there are so few Kryptonians, we just can't risk it."
Kal nodded, wondering where the diplomacy recap was going.
"Well, Queen Hippolyta has offered her daughter to a prominent Kryptonian family in marriage. To...smooth relations." Zor-El nodded at Kal, who was still looking at him rather blankly. "You are probably the most prominent eligible Kryptonian, Kal-El."
"I--" Kara and Bruce were still as falcons poised to strike. "You're asking me to--"
"I'm not asking you anything," Zor-El said, and for a moment his voice was cold as ice. "I am telling you that you are engaged to this princess."
"Kal-El," Alura said soothingly. "Think how helpful it would be for our race if we proved able to crossbreed with Amazons! An entire island of women, of potential mothers!"
Kara's voice was incredulous. "You really think the Amazons will allow themselves to become Kryptonian breeding stock?"
"It could be...mutually beneficial," said Zor-El. "We're working on the details. Kal-El's marriage will open very valuable channels for diplomacy."
"What's her name?"
"What?"
"What's the princess's name?" Kal heard himself asking again. Bruce's hands gripped his calf.
"I...don't know," Zor-El said. "I didn't think to ask. It doesn't really matter."
"No," said Kal numbly. "I guess it doesn't."
: : :
The collar clicked open and Kal drew it off; Bruce took a deep breath as always, a long inhalation of relief. Then his eyes went thoughtful. "A marriage with an Amazon," he said as Kal sank onto the bed. "Interesting. We don't definitely know how the Amazons feel about the Kryptonians; some say they relish the idea that human men know the anguish of slavery now. But there have been hints and signs..." He paced the room absently, lost in thought. "If you were married to a high-ranking Amazon it could be a chance to shape Themysciran policy..." He trailed off as his eyes met the Kryptonian's. "Kal," he said. "It's--"
"I know. If the worst thing I ever have to suffer for the cause is marrying someone whose name I don't even know, I'll be lucky." He took a deep breath and was surprised to find it shaking. "It's just--it's sudden. I'll get used to it."
"You'll get used to it," Bruce echoed him, his voice flat. His hands clenched into fists briefly, then relaxed again. "You'll get used to being with someone who can openly share your life and freely share your bed. To having a companion, possibly a true equal in your life, in your arms. Someone who doesn't have to lie all the time." He glared at Kal and crossed his arms, but the glare was etched with pain and his posture that of a man trying to hold himself together, like he could shatter completely if he let go.
"Bruce." Eyes like a cold sea, with riptides underneath. "If this helps to bring about the day where you can walk in freedom, then I'll do it gladly. All I want is to walk on the Earth beside my human brothers and sisters. To walk beside you as your friend."
A sudden smile, faint and lopsided, touched Bruce's mouth. "That's all you want?"
"That's...all that I can dare to dream for."
The smile faded and Bruce looked at him for a long moment. "I have far more ambitious dreams than that," he whispered.
As Kal wondered how to respond to that, the door opened and Kara came in, passing into the circle of silence with a smile. Kal welcomed her with some relief, but she was grinning at Bruce. "Got them," she said triumphantly, waving two pieces of paper and a small package.
Bruce's eyes flashed. "Yes." He took the papers and looked at them carefully, then shot a glance at Kal. "Think you can contrive a reason to be away for a couple of weeks?"
Kal knitted his brow. "Well, they'll probably expect me to do some sulking after finding out I'm engaged. I can always tell them I'm going to go visit friends offworld for a while."
"I'll tell them I've whisked you off to my Metropolis apartment while Kal is gone," Kara said to Bruce, her eyes gleeful.
"Why? What's going on?"
Bruce brandished the papers. "There's a shipping route that's used to transfer goods necessary for plantation life across the continent. Certain slaves are tasked with driving the trucks that deliver raw materials like flour, cloth, farming equipment across the system. Kara's managed to get us IDs as drivers."
"But...why?"
Bruce was turning the little package over in his hands. "In part because there's...something at the end of the route I want to show you, and I'd rather not risk someone tracing us if you fly there. In part because..." He looked up and met Kal's eyes, "...if we're going to work together in the long run, we need to know each other better, and we have a better chance of that if we get away from here, away from the cities, and have time together. So, what do you think? Are you with me?" He looked, for just a moment, slightly hesitant.
"Of course. Always."
Bruce looked away from him and cleared his throat slightly. Kara stepped into the silence, taking Kal by the shoulders. "Fortunately, you've gotten much better at walking. But your posture will never do."
"What--what's wrong with it?"
"Too straight. Too prideful. Slouch, Kal." She tugged at his shoulders and he let them sag, rounding them. "And don't meet my eyes. Meet a Kryptonian's gaze like that and you're done for."
Kal dropped his eyes, trying to look submissive and cowed. A hand disarranged his hair, making it fall almost over his eyes, and he looked up to find Bruce frowning at him, arranging his bangs. "And the final touch," said Bruce, opening the package.
In his hands were a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles. He put them on Kal, settling them on his nose. Kal blinked at him owlishly, adjusting his sight for the distorting glass. "Can I really pass for human?"
Bruce snorted. "No good Kryptonian would be caught dead walking on the ground. And no perfect Kryptonian would allow themselves to be seen with glasses." A brief, grim smile. "You make a fairly decent human."
"Thank you," Kal said wryly.
"Don't let it go to your head," Bruce shot back.
Kara thumped him on the back and Bruce handed him a piece of paper. "Of course, you need a human identity. You're going to be posing as the long-lost son of two of our operatives who live on our route; you'll meet them later if all goes well. We gave you a human name that sounds a bit similar to your real one."
He reached out and closed Kal's fingers around his papers, clasping his hand briefly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Clark."
Pairing/Characters: Kal-El, Bruce Wayne, Kara Zor-El
Notes: " The House of the Earth" is an AU in which a few thousand Kryptonians escaped the destruction of Krypton to flee to Earth and enslave its people.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2400
Summary: Kal studies obliqueness, is given an unwelcome ultimatum, and embarks on something of a road trip.
"What do you think, Brucie? The scarlet or the navy?" Kara held up two swatches of cloth as the Kryptonian tailor hovered around her, fussing with her measurements. Kal sat in an armchair in the corner, trying not to look too frantically frustrated. Kara had invited them over for tea, but the tailor had been taking too long with her adjustments and the three of them were trapped in their public personas.
"The scarlet makes your complexion glow, mistress," Bruce said with a smile.
Kara beamed at him a bit condescendingly. "You have such good taste, my dear."
"I always appreciate quality when I see it, mistress. And I worship at the feet of beauty." Bruce knelt briefly, the obeisance liquid and lithe, and pressed a kiss on Kara's floating bare foot.
Kara giggled slightly. "Oh, you flatterer. Sometimes I regret giving you to my cousin. Is it too late to snatch you back?"
Bruce leapt to his feet and paced over to where Kal slouched in his chair. "I'm afraid so, mistress." He lowered himself to the floor like a cascade of grace and twined his arms around Kal's leg. "I'm all his now, and I don't think he'd be willing to relinquish me." He gazed up at Kal, eyelashes fluttering, adoration etched on his features. "Would you, master?"
Kal ruffled hair so soft it made his fingers ache and tried to look relaxed and smug instead of wretched. "You please me far too much, pretty one."
Kara's eyes narrowed, watching the two of them closely. Then she turned to the tailor. "Thera, my mother has a bolt of new fabric from Imsk that I was hoping you could make into a cloak. Would you be a dear and go get it from her?" She gestured, and Bruce rose and bowed. "Is it all right if I send Bruce to show her to Mother's quarters, Kal?"
Kal nodded, and Bruce escorted the tailor from Kara's quarters.
As the door slid shut behind them, Kara crossed her arms, her face going businesslike. "Kal. What's going on?"
Kal squirmed a bit in his seat. He contemplated claiming he had no idea what his cousin meant, but Kara's eyes were narrowed and steely, and he knew there was no getting past her. "I feel...very uncomfortable...when Bruce does, you know...that."
"The flirting?"
Kal nodded, miserable. "It's--I don't like him mocking me like that."
Kara's eyebrows disappeared into her hair. "Mocking you?"
Kal looked down at his knees. "He doesn't have to be so theatrical about it all. He could just sit at my feet. He doesn't have to...be so affectionate when I know he doesn't--he can't--"
There was a light touch on his shoulder. He looked up to see Kara standing in front of him, her eyes sad. "Kal, dear heart, you're misunderstanding. Bruce plays his role with relish because he trusts us. If he felt even the slightest suspicion that we would use his role against him, if he felt that we would for a moment take his feigned subservience seriously, he would never do it. He would be a dutiful servant in public, but he would never exaggerate it to tease us." She reached out and took his chin in her hand, tilting his face upward like he were a child. "He plays with me because he is free to do so. And he is free to show me honest affection to the exact extent that I would never, ever presume on our relationship." She looked at him searchingly. "Do you understand what I'm telling you, Kal?"
Kal blinked. "I...I think so."
"Good." She patted his cheek lightly and turned back to her mirror as the door re-opened and Bruce returned with the tailor, carrying a bolt of glossy blue cloth. "Thank you, Brucie dear," she said.
Bruce bowed. "It's always a pleasure to serve, mistress."
"I was just talking about Terran poetry with my cousin," Kara went on as the tailor began to fuss with the silk.
"Why would one of the Arrived waste their energy with such barbaric things?" Bruce asked.
"Oh, Kryptonians believe in preserving knowledge of all kinds, no matter how primitive," Kara said airily. "I was telling Kal about an older Terran poet. Which poem was it I was reciting, cousin?" Kal looked at her blankly, and she smiled and held up a finger. "I remember now. He doesn't really have a good memory for poetry," she said confidingly. "But even the humans captured an idea in rhyme nicely now and then." She stretched out her hand as if declaiming, evoking a murmur of annoyance from the tailor, and recited:
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant-
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise.
"It has a certain charm, does it not?" Kara finished.
Bruce tilted his head, looking at her. "It's rather pretty, but not as pretty as you, mistress." He turned and went over to Kal, but rather than sitting at his feet curled up in his lap like a large cat. "But then, I have no need of poetry when I have my brave master, my strong master, who is poetry incarnate."
Kal stared at him and then at Kara, whose mouth was quirking slightly at the corner. Then he put his arms carefully around Bruce, holding him close, feeling his heart beating. "Oh, my dear one," he said. His voice was a little more unsteady than he would have liked. "My north star. My heart."
Bruce made a soft purring sound and snuggled against him. The tailor continued working, ignoring the silly, empty endearments. Kara watched them both. Kal felt Bruce's muscles slowly easing, his breaths becoming more even, deeper. By the time the tailor was done, the human was clearly asleep, his body relaxed and warm against Kal's chest. Kara gestured the tailor out without speaking, then stood and looked at the two of them for a few minutes. "He's been working himself too hard, keeping up with too many things," she said, pitching her voice too quietly to be heard by the sleeping man. "My news can wait until later." She turned and started to float from the room. "I'll be in the library," she said, looking back. "Stay here. Let him sleep."
Kal watched the door slip shut behind her. In his arms, Bruce twitched slightly, lost in some dream, and made a small sound. It didn't sound unhappy.
He held Bruce close, watching each slow breath rise and fall, until the dinner bell rang in the distance.
: : :
"How was your trip to Metropolis, Kal-El?" Zor-El looked at his nephew on the far side of the table. "I hope it impressed you with a sense of your responsibilities."
"Oh yes, uncle," Kal said meekly. "I'm very aware of my responsibilities." Kara shot him an almost warning glance and Bruce drummed his fingers slightly on his calf as Kal answered his uncle's questions about the caucus meeting. Kal almost couldn't help smiling, somehow.
"Speaking of responsibilities," Alura said sweetly as Kal finished explaining the decisions made, "Your uncle has something he needs to talk to you about."
"Yes, that," Zor-El said as Kal looked back at him. "It's about your...marital status."
"My..." Kal stared at his uncle. "I talked to Syra in Metropolis. She didn't seem to think the marriage plans were moving forward anytime soon."
"I'm not talking about Syra," said Zor-El. He put his glass down and regarded his nephew gravely. "Kal-El. You know that our truce with the Amazons of Themyscira has always been a...delicate one. Something of a stalemate. We could invade, could probably even conquer them, but there are so few Kryptonians, we just can't risk it."
Kal nodded, wondering where the diplomacy recap was going.
"Well, Queen Hippolyta has offered her daughter to a prominent Kryptonian family in marriage. To...smooth relations." Zor-El nodded at Kal, who was still looking at him rather blankly. "You are probably the most prominent eligible Kryptonian, Kal-El."
"I--" Kara and Bruce were still as falcons poised to strike. "You're asking me to--"
"I'm not asking you anything," Zor-El said, and for a moment his voice was cold as ice. "I am telling you that you are engaged to this princess."
"Kal-El," Alura said soothingly. "Think how helpful it would be for our race if we proved able to crossbreed with Amazons! An entire island of women, of potential mothers!"
Kara's voice was incredulous. "You really think the Amazons will allow themselves to become Kryptonian breeding stock?"
"It could be...mutually beneficial," said Zor-El. "We're working on the details. Kal-El's marriage will open very valuable channels for diplomacy."
"What's her name?"
"What?"
"What's the princess's name?" Kal heard himself asking again. Bruce's hands gripped his calf.
"I...don't know," Zor-El said. "I didn't think to ask. It doesn't really matter."
"No," said Kal numbly. "I guess it doesn't."
: : :
The collar clicked open and Kal drew it off; Bruce took a deep breath as always, a long inhalation of relief. Then his eyes went thoughtful. "A marriage with an Amazon," he said as Kal sank onto the bed. "Interesting. We don't definitely know how the Amazons feel about the Kryptonians; some say they relish the idea that human men know the anguish of slavery now. But there have been hints and signs..." He paced the room absently, lost in thought. "If you were married to a high-ranking Amazon it could be a chance to shape Themysciran policy..." He trailed off as his eyes met the Kryptonian's. "Kal," he said. "It's--"
"I know. If the worst thing I ever have to suffer for the cause is marrying someone whose name I don't even know, I'll be lucky." He took a deep breath and was surprised to find it shaking. "It's just--it's sudden. I'll get used to it."
"You'll get used to it," Bruce echoed him, his voice flat. His hands clenched into fists briefly, then relaxed again. "You'll get used to being with someone who can openly share your life and freely share your bed. To having a companion, possibly a true equal in your life, in your arms. Someone who doesn't have to lie all the time." He glared at Kal and crossed his arms, but the glare was etched with pain and his posture that of a man trying to hold himself together, like he could shatter completely if he let go.
"Bruce." Eyes like a cold sea, with riptides underneath. "If this helps to bring about the day where you can walk in freedom, then I'll do it gladly. All I want is to walk on the Earth beside my human brothers and sisters. To walk beside you as your friend."
A sudden smile, faint and lopsided, touched Bruce's mouth. "That's all you want?"
"That's...all that I can dare to dream for."
The smile faded and Bruce looked at him for a long moment. "I have far more ambitious dreams than that," he whispered.
As Kal wondered how to respond to that, the door opened and Kara came in, passing into the circle of silence with a smile. Kal welcomed her with some relief, but she was grinning at Bruce. "Got them," she said triumphantly, waving two pieces of paper and a small package.
Bruce's eyes flashed. "Yes." He took the papers and looked at them carefully, then shot a glance at Kal. "Think you can contrive a reason to be away for a couple of weeks?"
Kal knitted his brow. "Well, they'll probably expect me to do some sulking after finding out I'm engaged. I can always tell them I'm going to go visit friends offworld for a while."
"I'll tell them I've whisked you off to my Metropolis apartment while Kal is gone," Kara said to Bruce, her eyes gleeful.
"Why? What's going on?"
Bruce brandished the papers. "There's a shipping route that's used to transfer goods necessary for plantation life across the continent. Certain slaves are tasked with driving the trucks that deliver raw materials like flour, cloth, farming equipment across the system. Kara's managed to get us IDs as drivers."
"But...why?"
Bruce was turning the little package over in his hands. "In part because there's...something at the end of the route I want to show you, and I'd rather not risk someone tracing us if you fly there. In part because..." He looked up and met Kal's eyes, "...if we're going to work together in the long run, we need to know each other better, and we have a better chance of that if we get away from here, away from the cities, and have time together. So, what do you think? Are you with me?" He looked, for just a moment, slightly hesitant.
"Of course. Always."
Bruce looked away from him and cleared his throat slightly. Kara stepped into the silence, taking Kal by the shoulders. "Fortunately, you've gotten much better at walking. But your posture will never do."
"What--what's wrong with it?"
"Too straight. Too prideful. Slouch, Kal." She tugged at his shoulders and he let them sag, rounding them. "And don't meet my eyes. Meet a Kryptonian's gaze like that and you're done for."
Kal dropped his eyes, trying to look submissive and cowed. A hand disarranged his hair, making it fall almost over his eyes, and he looked up to find Bruce frowning at him, arranging his bangs. "And the final touch," said Bruce, opening the package.
In his hands were a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles. He put them on Kal, settling them on his nose. Kal blinked at him owlishly, adjusting his sight for the distorting glass. "Can I really pass for human?"
Bruce snorted. "No good Kryptonian would be caught dead walking on the ground. And no perfect Kryptonian would allow themselves to be seen with glasses." A brief, grim smile. "You make a fairly decent human."
"Thank you," Kal said wryly.
"Don't let it go to your head," Bruce shot back.
Kara thumped him on the back and Bruce handed him a piece of paper. "Of course, you need a human identity. You're going to be posing as the long-lost son of two of our operatives who live on our route; you'll meet them later if all goes well. We gave you a human name that sounds a bit similar to your real one."
He reached out and closed Kal's fingers around his papers, clasping his hand briefly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Clark."