WFGE fic: The Real World
Title: The Real World
Pairing: Clark/Bruce
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Rating: PG
Word Count 1300
Summary: When Superman realizes that the world has shifted, he goes to his best friend for help.
Notes: Written for the World's Finest Gift Exchange! Prompt F5, "Superman is somehow blessed with the knowledge/memory of the old DCU (and flashpoint) and struggles to find his footing now that he realizes just how much the universe has changed."
"I'm telling you, I have no memory of anything from before a few months ago!"
Batman frowned, crossing his arms and looking up at the Kryptonian floating in the air a few feet above the Batcave floor. He knew Superman well enough by now to know that when Clark failed to put his feet on the floor, something was distressing him mightily.
"So, some kind of amnesia? You don't remember that first attack by Darkseid?"
Clark shook his head, grimacing. "I sort of do, but it's like...remembering a story you read. At the emotional level, at the gut level, they don't feel...real."
"You don't remember how we met?" The thought was unnerving. Batman didn't have many friends--he didn't want many friends--but he considered Clark one of them, strange as that may seem. He didn't want Clark to forget him.
"Of course I do!" Clark seemed offended at the notion. "I came to Gotham to meet you, and you told me that if I came close to you, it would detonate a bomb."
"I--what?"
"Oh, it was strapped to you, of course," Clark said warmly. "But I confess I found you a little...intense. And daunting."
"But that's not how we met," Bruce said. "We met when--"
"--I know, when Green Lantern and I were punching each other out." But his fond smile had flickered out, and the warmth was gone from his voice. "I know that. But I don't know it." He ran a hand through his hair. "Bruce. I came here because I woke up in what seemed like a totally new place. But there's a part of me that knows this is reality now. I guess I just wanted to hear you say that this is the way the world is, that it's been this way forever, that the other world is...really gone, except for in my memory."
"This is the way the world is," Bruce said. "I'll have Cyborg and Green Lantern check on it in their own ways, but as far as I know, this is the only world we've ever known."
"Ah," said Clark.
"But maybe, now that I think of it..."
A flicker of hope. "Yes?"
"Flash came to see me a few months ago. He told me some convoluted story about different realities--" It was strangely hard to remember it, like it had faded out of his mind after Barry left. "--He brought me a letter from my father, from a world where--"
"--Where he was Batman!" Superman actually pounced forward in the air in his eagerness. "I remember that too." He shuddered. "I was trapped in a lab my whole life."
"Hold it." Batman held up a hand. "If I died as a child and you were a guinea pig, how did we ever meet?"
Superman made an exasperated sound. "No, that was--it's hard to explain. Barry Allen--he's the Flash, now, right? Not Wally?"
"Who?"
Clark grimaced. "Anyway, Barry tried to change the past, and the consequences were--horrible. The world that letter came from--that was just a sort of...messed-up, cobbled-together world. Then we cleared that one away and ended up...here. It's a lot closer to the real world, but it's..." A fleeting look of terrible sadness crossed his face. "...Well, it's definitely different."
Bruce decided he did not at all like the way Clark described this other old world as "the real world." "What's different about it?"
"Well, some people are missing entirely, but...since you don't know who they are, it wouldn't mean much to you," Clark said sadly. "And my parents were alive."
"Oh," said Bruce, putting out a hand with instinctive sympathy. "Then you have to try to--"
"--No," Clark said quickly. "I thought about it, but no. Barry set all of this in motion because he wanted to save his mother, and he almost destroyed more than one universe in the process. I'd rather not risk that kind of hubris. I mean, what if we woke up in a world where Darkseid had won or something? I'm not going to take that chance." He shrugged his shoulders as if shaking the thought off. "Lots of little changes--they're not all bad, either. Roy Harper still has both of his arms, and I suppose there's still a chance his cute little daughter will be born someday. Ted Kord is alive and well and running Kord Industries. I went and found Ralph and Sue Dibny, they're non-powered but living happily in New York."
"Friends of yours? What happened to them?"
"Friends of just about everyone, and you don't want to know," Superman said with a shudder. "And Kandor is still safe, if in stasis--in the real world, it got enlarged, but Lex Luthor...killed all of the Kryptonians again. Maybe this time I can save them." He was pleating a fold of his cape in his fingers, frowning down at it. "Plus we're all younger somehow. That's a good thing. So I guess I shouldn't feel so depressed. It's just...there were things about the real world that--"
"--Clark. This is the real world." Bruce's voice was sharper than he had meant it to be, and Clark looked up from his cape with a chagrined expression.
"Oh, I know that. This is the only world, now. But--"
"--Is that so bad?" Bruce found himself on his feet, glaring up at Superman. "I like this world just fine."
"I know," whispered Superman. "I shouldn't...shouldn't want..."
The regret in his voice was so thick that Bruce wanted to shake him. "You'd give up our--our cordial working relationship for some other world? A world where I threatened to blow myself up if you didn't get out of Gotham?" He heard some alarming emotion in his voice, tried to modulate it into a lighter tone. He managed a wry smile. "I wouldn't think you'd want to return to a world where I was your enemy. I'd make a bad enemy, Clark," he said, wagging a warning finger at him.
Clark's answering smile was sickly. "But he and I weren't enemies. I mean, we didn't get along at first, but later, we..."
Bruce frowned. "You still managed to become friends?"
Clark opened his mouth, closed it again. And suddenly the loss in his eyes, the yearning, all made sense.
"You were more than friends," Bruce said--not a question, the deduction was too certain.
After a moment, Clark nodded, his eyes miserable.
"You were lovers," Bruce said, feeling somehow that it was essential to make this perfectly clear.
"Bruce, don't." Clark's voice was anguished, but Bruce had no patience for that at the moment.
"So you remember kissing me."
"It wasn't you, Bruce! It--it wasn't--"
Bruce seized two handfuls of crimson cloth, hauled Superman down to his eye level, and kissed him.
Clark made a sound as if the world were falling apart at the seams (or maybe coming together) and kissed him back.
"Better?" Bruce asked after a while.
"Yes, very." Superman sounded dazed.
"I mean, am I better than him?"
Superman started to laugh helplessly, putting his arms around Bruce and holding on as though he needed the support. "Only you," he said, "Could manage to be competitive with yourself."
Bruce scowled at him. "If this world is worse in some ways, it will have to be better in others to make up for it. I intend this to be one of those areas." Clark was staring at him in a way that made him start to feel somewhat uncomfortable. No one really deserved to have Superman look at them as though they were the center of the universe, he reflected. "At least we're younger this time around," he said. "If I'm not better already, there's room for improvement."
Clark just shook his head--in disagreement or exasperation Bruce wasn't sure--and kissed him again.
And Bruce swore to himself that, no matter what, he would make this Clark's real world.
Pairing: Clark/Bruce
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Rating: PG
Word Count 1300
Summary: When Superman realizes that the world has shifted, he goes to his best friend for help.
Notes: Written for the World's Finest Gift Exchange! Prompt F5, "Superman is somehow blessed with the knowledge/memory of the old DCU (and flashpoint) and struggles to find his footing now that he realizes just how much the universe has changed."
"I'm telling you, I have no memory of anything from before a few months ago!"
Batman frowned, crossing his arms and looking up at the Kryptonian floating in the air a few feet above the Batcave floor. He knew Superman well enough by now to know that when Clark failed to put his feet on the floor, something was distressing him mightily.
"So, some kind of amnesia? You don't remember that first attack by Darkseid?"
Clark shook his head, grimacing. "I sort of do, but it's like...remembering a story you read. At the emotional level, at the gut level, they don't feel...real."
"You don't remember how we met?" The thought was unnerving. Batman didn't have many friends--he didn't want many friends--but he considered Clark one of them, strange as that may seem. He didn't want Clark to forget him.
"Of course I do!" Clark seemed offended at the notion. "I came to Gotham to meet you, and you told me that if I came close to you, it would detonate a bomb."
"I--what?"
"Oh, it was strapped to you, of course," Clark said warmly. "But I confess I found you a little...intense. And daunting."
"But that's not how we met," Bruce said. "We met when--"
"--I know, when Green Lantern and I were punching each other out." But his fond smile had flickered out, and the warmth was gone from his voice. "I know that. But I don't know it." He ran a hand through his hair. "Bruce. I came here because I woke up in what seemed like a totally new place. But there's a part of me that knows this is reality now. I guess I just wanted to hear you say that this is the way the world is, that it's been this way forever, that the other world is...really gone, except for in my memory."
"This is the way the world is," Bruce said. "I'll have Cyborg and Green Lantern check on it in their own ways, but as far as I know, this is the only world we've ever known."
"Ah," said Clark.
"But maybe, now that I think of it..."
A flicker of hope. "Yes?"
"Flash came to see me a few months ago. He told me some convoluted story about different realities--" It was strangely hard to remember it, like it had faded out of his mind after Barry left. "--He brought me a letter from my father, from a world where--"
"--Where he was Batman!" Superman actually pounced forward in the air in his eagerness. "I remember that too." He shuddered. "I was trapped in a lab my whole life."
"Hold it." Batman held up a hand. "If I died as a child and you were a guinea pig, how did we ever meet?"
Superman made an exasperated sound. "No, that was--it's hard to explain. Barry Allen--he's the Flash, now, right? Not Wally?"
"Who?"
Clark grimaced. "Anyway, Barry tried to change the past, and the consequences were--horrible. The world that letter came from--that was just a sort of...messed-up, cobbled-together world. Then we cleared that one away and ended up...here. It's a lot closer to the real world, but it's..." A fleeting look of terrible sadness crossed his face. "...Well, it's definitely different."
Bruce decided he did not at all like the way Clark described this other old world as "the real world." "What's different about it?"
"Well, some people are missing entirely, but...since you don't know who they are, it wouldn't mean much to you," Clark said sadly. "And my parents were alive."
"Oh," said Bruce, putting out a hand with instinctive sympathy. "Then you have to try to--"
"--No," Clark said quickly. "I thought about it, but no. Barry set all of this in motion because he wanted to save his mother, and he almost destroyed more than one universe in the process. I'd rather not risk that kind of hubris. I mean, what if we woke up in a world where Darkseid had won or something? I'm not going to take that chance." He shrugged his shoulders as if shaking the thought off. "Lots of little changes--they're not all bad, either. Roy Harper still has both of his arms, and I suppose there's still a chance his cute little daughter will be born someday. Ted Kord is alive and well and running Kord Industries. I went and found Ralph and Sue Dibny, they're non-powered but living happily in New York."
"Friends of yours? What happened to them?"
"Friends of just about everyone, and you don't want to know," Superman said with a shudder. "And Kandor is still safe, if in stasis--in the real world, it got enlarged, but Lex Luthor...killed all of the Kryptonians again. Maybe this time I can save them." He was pleating a fold of his cape in his fingers, frowning down at it. "Plus we're all younger somehow. That's a good thing. So I guess I shouldn't feel so depressed. It's just...there were things about the real world that--"
"--Clark. This is the real world." Bruce's voice was sharper than he had meant it to be, and Clark looked up from his cape with a chagrined expression.
"Oh, I know that. This is the only world, now. But--"
"--Is that so bad?" Bruce found himself on his feet, glaring up at Superman. "I like this world just fine."
"I know," whispered Superman. "I shouldn't...shouldn't want..."
The regret in his voice was so thick that Bruce wanted to shake him. "You'd give up our--our cordial working relationship for some other world? A world where I threatened to blow myself up if you didn't get out of Gotham?" He heard some alarming emotion in his voice, tried to modulate it into a lighter tone. He managed a wry smile. "I wouldn't think you'd want to return to a world where I was your enemy. I'd make a bad enemy, Clark," he said, wagging a warning finger at him.
Clark's answering smile was sickly. "But he and I weren't enemies. I mean, we didn't get along at first, but later, we..."
Bruce frowned. "You still managed to become friends?"
Clark opened his mouth, closed it again. And suddenly the loss in his eyes, the yearning, all made sense.
"You were more than friends," Bruce said--not a question, the deduction was too certain.
After a moment, Clark nodded, his eyes miserable.
"You were lovers," Bruce said, feeling somehow that it was essential to make this perfectly clear.
"Bruce, don't." Clark's voice was anguished, but Bruce had no patience for that at the moment.
"So you remember kissing me."
"It wasn't you, Bruce! It--it wasn't--"
Bruce seized two handfuls of crimson cloth, hauled Superman down to his eye level, and kissed him.
Clark made a sound as if the world were falling apart at the seams (or maybe coming together) and kissed him back.
"Better?" Bruce asked after a while.
"Yes, very." Superman sounded dazed.
"I mean, am I better than him?"
Superman started to laugh helplessly, putting his arms around Bruce and holding on as though he needed the support. "Only you," he said, "Could manage to be competitive with yourself."
Bruce scowled at him. "If this world is worse in some ways, it will have to be better in others to make up for it. I intend this to be one of those areas." Clark was staring at him in a way that made him start to feel somewhat uncomfortable. No one really deserved to have Superman look at them as though they were the center of the universe, he reflected. "At least we're younger this time around," he said. "If I'm not better already, there's room for improvement."
Clark just shook his head--in disagreement or exasperation Bruce wasn't sure--and kissed him again.
And Bruce swore to himself that, no matter what, he would make this Clark's real world.