Fic: Can You Hear It? (DCU - Clark/Bruce) 1/1 - PG-13
Title: Can You Hear It?
Fandom: DCU
Pairing: Clark/Bruce
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,842
Summary: Clark just won't stop staring at the Kryptonian habitat in the Fortress zoo.
Disclaimer: DC and WB own it all. I own nothing. Darnit.
Author's Note/Prompt: Written for the World's Finest Gift Exchange. Prompt #F39:
I'd like a story that explores Superman's alienness - alien thoughts, desires, reactions, biology, anatomy, whatever - because there must be moments when Clark Kent and the people around him realise that being raised human and acting human isn't the same as actually being human.
Hope this holds up to the prompt. The plot bunny sort of ran away with me. :p
Can You Hear It?
Watching Kal stare at the Kryptonian habitat in the Fortress was amusing at first, when his companion stopped in their circuit through the zoo to simply look. The way his eyes seemed glazed over and his body stilled, as if he had transfixed his attention, alert for any movement - Clark seemed hypnotized. But the longer Bruce watched him, standing there, not even his cape rippling with the slight movement of body that no one can help, the more he became aware of the bitter sadness permanently etched in his lover's eyes. He could swear he saw moisture well up there more than once, waiting to spill over as tears before being drawn back by a hard blink. When Kal didn't budge from the spot, seeming to forget their stroll through the various parts of the Fortress, their need to get back to one of the labs to get back to work, and finally even Bruce's presence, some hint at the truth seeped into the Bat's consciousness; Clark was still overwrought with grief, even after all this time. Even never having known the paradise trapped behind the glass partition.
Bruce couldn't blame him, though. He was sure he'd be more than a little put out if something happened to the Earth and he was the only one left. Of course, he figured he'd be a little more violent about his grief. But then... Earth was the only home he knew. How could one grieve and long for a world they didn't even remember?
In this way, he supposed he didn't understand his lover's fascination with watching the living memorial to Krypton. Probably never would. But he could leave Clark to it. He could give the man his space to make peace with that loss, as far back in time as it was. Coming to terms with loss was at least something Bruce knew well.
Finally leaving Kal to his reverie, the Bat moved back through the Fortress to get back to researching several species in the extraterrestrial zoo that hadn't been catalogued yet. The Preserver's records were decent, but nowhere near complete, and while genetic analysis would take a while, it was necessary if they hoped to learn anything truly useful about the incredible myriad of species and their long-destroyed home planets.
Setting up tissue samples took even longer than Bruce expected, however, and by the time he'd finished with the species from only a single habitat, life forms from a world that had once had a blue sun, he realized he'd lost more than four hours of the dim arctic afternoon, the sun having long set. Good thing they had three days here at the Fortress; he and Clark had both known their forced 'vacation' from active duty - no thanks to Canary - would only become a research trip.
Rubbing his eyes to regain some focus, Bruce tore himself away from the research station, finally realizing he hadn't seen Kal in all that time, either.
He couldn't still be staring at that habitat... could he?
Having lost the cape and cowl as soon as they'd arrived that morning, Bruce stalked through the massive maze in only his gray uniform and boots, his heavy tread echoing along the empty halls of the crystalline Fortress as he made his way back to the Kryptonian habitat, not sure what he hoped he'd find. If Kal was still glued to the glass as he had been earlier... how could he possibly approach that?
Finally, he rounded the corner into the corridor containing the Kryptonian habitat.
And stopped dead in his path.
The sight that met him made his heart want to explode with grief for his lover. Kal sat cross-legged on the floor with his cape splayed out behind him, leaned forward with his head cocked to the side, his eyes wide and fixed on the exhibit before him. His face was only inches from the special, tinted glass that separated the Kryptonian atmosphere and light from the rest of the Fortress, that kept Kal from rejoining the world he'd been forced to leave.
“Kal?” Bruce asked quietly as he approached, still not sure what to say to him.
The other man remained still, not acknowledging his presence.
“Clark?” Bruce tried again, stepping closer until he was beside his lover. Laying a hand on the Kryptonian's shoulder, he knelt down to try to get his attention.
Still nothing.
“You've been sitting here a long time.” He willed his voice calm and soothing, hating to break Kal's trance, but needing to bring him back to the real world.
Silence.
With a heavy sigh, Bruce sat beside him, crossed his legs, and waited, hoping his presence would be enough to snap Kal out of it. He had time. He could wait.
He just hoped it wouldn't take too long.
He watched Kal for a while, watched him breathe with that slow rise to his chest and his lips parted as if asleep. Watched that fixed look, the almost-tears that never quite made it out of his eyes. And every once in a while, watched the corner of his mouth twitch up or down as he saw something interesting in the habitat.
A long time later, Kal drew in a deep breath. “Can you hear it?” he whispered, his voice so low that Bruce wasn't sure at first whether he'd spoken or not.
“Hear what?” A small seed of alarm took root in his chest at the vague question.
“Them.”
Bruce's brow furrowed with confusion. “Who, Clark?”
Kal inclined his head toward the habitat. “Them. The... the animals. The Plants. All of them.”
The seed of alarm began to blossom throughout Bruce, sending tendrils of fear reaching out. “The plants? What exactly do you hear?”
“I...” Kal's face scrunched up as if in frustration, as if he were searching for the right words. Bruce had seen that look before, when Kal had been asked what he'd seen at the heart of a nuclear testing site. “I... hear them. Talking. Sort of. It's like...” He sighed, his eyes seeming to focus again for the first time in hours. “You know how I can hear a heartbeat on the other side of the world, how I can hear the skittering of a mouse three thousand miles away and underground?”
Bruce nodded.
“Well... it's more than that. I... if I'm close enough, I can hear the rush of chemicals released when a neuron fires. I can hear the gas exchange in the alveoli of lungs. I can hear the hum of the electromagnetic field within and surrounding an organism. I can hear the transpiration of water from leaves and nutrients being absorbed in roots. I can hear pollen being released. I can hear the construction of proteins and the excretion of wastes from a cell. I can hear the contraction of actin and myosin within a muscle fiber. And what I can see...” He stopped to catch his breath, his eyes becoming fixed on the scene in the habitat, ethereally beautiful plants and elegant animals living their lives beneath the artificial light of a red sun and within the heavily increased gravity natural to Krypton.
Bruce didn't dare say a word, still absorbing Kal's explanation.
Kal's voice was quiet. “I see everything. I see pores and stomata. I see vacuoles and lysosomes. I see bacteria conjugating. I see cells dividing and cells dying. I see strands of chromatin unwinding and Okazaki fragments being knitted together. I see that same electromagnetic field that I can hear. And it's so... beautiful...” he paused, breathless. “It... it's no color that could be described. It's ultraviolet and infrared and a whole spectrum in between that doesn't even intersect with the color spectrum we know. And it surrounds all living things. Plants, animals, bacteria, fungi... even viruses! And here...” He stopped again, his face heavy with concentration. “The very thing - the organelle - that makes me so different from human beings... the... 'kryptoplast', I suppose... it has its own field. So bright... It's more luminescent than anything I've ever seen. Even here under a manufactured red sun. The energy capture is so powerful, so strong... it can't help but glow with all its potential.”
Kal dropped his gaze away from the habitat then, breathing deeply as he reached up to lay his fingertips against the glass. “I... I can see and hear every process, every intention, every instinct and drive. And Krypton... Krypton was so unbelievably beautiful... So... right... It...”
When Kal stopped, the words seemingly stuck in his throat, Bruce laid his fingers over his lover's in warm reassurance to encourage him to continue.
The words came as a whisper, “It calls to me, Bruce.”
“Clark...” Bruce finally breathed, the full weight of Kal's confession settling in; Krypton was literally calling for him... and he couldn't respond, not without the possibility of losing his powers for however long. “I'm sorry.”
Finally meeting his worried eyes, Clark smiled weakly. “Thank you.” The tears Bruce had been expecting for a good, long time finally overflowed their banks and spilled down the Kryptonian's cheeks, and Bruce couldn't help but reach out and gather Kal into his arms, pulling him close as he felt heavy, silent sobs shuddering through the strongest man he'd ever known.
Holding him for what felt like eons, Bruce concentrated on keeping his own heartbeat steady, his breaths even, unable to think of any other way to soothe his lover but by his own calm. “It's okay, Clark. I'm here.”
After such a long time that Bruce's feet began to fall asleep, Kal drew back, wiping the tears from his face in a terribly embarrassed manner. “Uh, sorry,” he murmured meekly.
“Don't worry about it. Just... why didn't you tell me about this sooner, Clark?”
The Kryptonian drew in another deep breath. “I... wasn't sure how. I didn't think anyone would understand.”
Bruce cupped Clark's face in his palms and brushed a thumb across his cheek, swiping away another tear. “How could I not understand how special you are, Clark? You are the most unique being I have ever encountered - Kara, Karen, and Kon not withstanding. You're the only person I've ever met that could be so completely humbled by basic living processes, by DNA, proteins, and organelles. You see the secrets of the universe where no one else does, or where no one else literally can.”
A soft sigh escaped Clark as he leaned into Bruce's touch. “I love you, Bruce.”
“I love you, too. Now, let's get out of here and go make some dinner, and you can tell me what my cells are saying,” he finished with a slight smirk.
Kal scrutinized him for a moment. “They're saying you're dehydrated and need to take a nap.”
Rolling his eyes, Bruce stood, then offered Kal a hand to untangle himself from his spot on the floor - not that he really needed it. “Smart ass.”
A genuine grin spread over Clark's face. “You think so? 'Cuz I've been working out...”
* * * * *
Fandom: DCU
Pairing: Clark/Bruce
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,842
Summary: Clark just won't stop staring at the Kryptonian habitat in the Fortress zoo.
Disclaimer: DC and WB own it all. I own nothing. Darnit.
Author's Note/Prompt: Written for the World's Finest Gift Exchange. Prompt #F39:
I'd like a story that explores Superman's alienness - alien thoughts, desires, reactions, biology, anatomy, whatever - because there must be moments when Clark Kent and the people around him realise that being raised human and acting human isn't the same as actually being human.
Hope this holds up to the prompt. The plot bunny sort of ran away with me. :p
Can You Hear It?
Watching Kal stare at the Kryptonian habitat in the Fortress was amusing at first, when his companion stopped in their circuit through the zoo to simply look. The way his eyes seemed glazed over and his body stilled, as if he had transfixed his attention, alert for any movement - Clark seemed hypnotized. But the longer Bruce watched him, standing there, not even his cape rippling with the slight movement of body that no one can help, the more he became aware of the bitter sadness permanently etched in his lover's eyes. He could swear he saw moisture well up there more than once, waiting to spill over as tears before being drawn back by a hard blink. When Kal didn't budge from the spot, seeming to forget their stroll through the various parts of the Fortress, their need to get back to one of the labs to get back to work, and finally even Bruce's presence, some hint at the truth seeped into the Bat's consciousness; Clark was still overwrought with grief, even after all this time. Even never having known the paradise trapped behind the glass partition.
Bruce couldn't blame him, though. He was sure he'd be more than a little put out if something happened to the Earth and he was the only one left. Of course, he figured he'd be a little more violent about his grief. But then... Earth was the only home he knew. How could one grieve and long for a world they didn't even remember?
In this way, he supposed he didn't understand his lover's fascination with watching the living memorial to Krypton. Probably never would. But he could leave Clark to it. He could give the man his space to make peace with that loss, as far back in time as it was. Coming to terms with loss was at least something Bruce knew well.
Finally leaving Kal to his reverie, the Bat moved back through the Fortress to get back to researching several species in the extraterrestrial zoo that hadn't been catalogued yet. The Preserver's records were decent, but nowhere near complete, and while genetic analysis would take a while, it was necessary if they hoped to learn anything truly useful about the incredible myriad of species and their long-destroyed home planets.
Setting up tissue samples took even longer than Bruce expected, however, and by the time he'd finished with the species from only a single habitat, life forms from a world that had once had a blue sun, he realized he'd lost more than four hours of the dim arctic afternoon, the sun having long set. Good thing they had three days here at the Fortress; he and Clark had both known their forced 'vacation' from active duty - no thanks to Canary - would only become a research trip.
Rubbing his eyes to regain some focus, Bruce tore himself away from the research station, finally realizing he hadn't seen Kal in all that time, either.
He couldn't still be staring at that habitat... could he?
Having lost the cape and cowl as soon as they'd arrived that morning, Bruce stalked through the massive maze in only his gray uniform and boots, his heavy tread echoing along the empty halls of the crystalline Fortress as he made his way back to the Kryptonian habitat, not sure what he hoped he'd find. If Kal was still glued to the glass as he had been earlier... how could he possibly approach that?
Finally, he rounded the corner into the corridor containing the Kryptonian habitat.
And stopped dead in his path.
The sight that met him made his heart want to explode with grief for his lover. Kal sat cross-legged on the floor with his cape splayed out behind him, leaned forward with his head cocked to the side, his eyes wide and fixed on the exhibit before him. His face was only inches from the special, tinted glass that separated the Kryptonian atmosphere and light from the rest of the Fortress, that kept Kal from rejoining the world he'd been forced to leave.
“Kal?” Bruce asked quietly as he approached, still not sure what to say to him.
The other man remained still, not acknowledging his presence.
“Clark?” Bruce tried again, stepping closer until he was beside his lover. Laying a hand on the Kryptonian's shoulder, he knelt down to try to get his attention.
Still nothing.
“You've been sitting here a long time.” He willed his voice calm and soothing, hating to break Kal's trance, but needing to bring him back to the real world.
Silence.
With a heavy sigh, Bruce sat beside him, crossed his legs, and waited, hoping his presence would be enough to snap Kal out of it. He had time. He could wait.
He just hoped it wouldn't take too long.
He watched Kal for a while, watched him breathe with that slow rise to his chest and his lips parted as if asleep. Watched that fixed look, the almost-tears that never quite made it out of his eyes. And every once in a while, watched the corner of his mouth twitch up or down as he saw something interesting in the habitat.
A long time later, Kal drew in a deep breath. “Can you hear it?” he whispered, his voice so low that Bruce wasn't sure at first whether he'd spoken or not.
“Hear what?” A small seed of alarm took root in his chest at the vague question.
“Them.”
Bruce's brow furrowed with confusion. “Who, Clark?”
Kal inclined his head toward the habitat. “Them. The... the animals. The Plants. All of them.”
The seed of alarm began to blossom throughout Bruce, sending tendrils of fear reaching out. “The plants? What exactly do you hear?”
“I...” Kal's face scrunched up as if in frustration, as if he were searching for the right words. Bruce had seen that look before, when Kal had been asked what he'd seen at the heart of a nuclear testing site. “I... hear them. Talking. Sort of. It's like...” He sighed, his eyes seeming to focus again for the first time in hours. “You know how I can hear a heartbeat on the other side of the world, how I can hear the skittering of a mouse three thousand miles away and underground?”
Bruce nodded.
“Well... it's more than that. I... if I'm close enough, I can hear the rush of chemicals released when a neuron fires. I can hear the gas exchange in the alveoli of lungs. I can hear the hum of the electromagnetic field within and surrounding an organism. I can hear the transpiration of water from leaves and nutrients being absorbed in roots. I can hear pollen being released. I can hear the construction of proteins and the excretion of wastes from a cell. I can hear the contraction of actin and myosin within a muscle fiber. And what I can see...” He stopped to catch his breath, his eyes becoming fixed on the scene in the habitat, ethereally beautiful plants and elegant animals living their lives beneath the artificial light of a red sun and within the heavily increased gravity natural to Krypton.
Bruce didn't dare say a word, still absorbing Kal's explanation.
Kal's voice was quiet. “I see everything. I see pores and stomata. I see vacuoles and lysosomes. I see bacteria conjugating. I see cells dividing and cells dying. I see strands of chromatin unwinding and Okazaki fragments being knitted together. I see that same electromagnetic field that I can hear. And it's so... beautiful...” he paused, breathless. “It... it's no color that could be described. It's ultraviolet and infrared and a whole spectrum in between that doesn't even intersect with the color spectrum we know. And it surrounds all living things. Plants, animals, bacteria, fungi... even viruses! And here...” He stopped again, his face heavy with concentration. “The very thing - the organelle - that makes me so different from human beings... the... 'kryptoplast', I suppose... it has its own field. So bright... It's more luminescent than anything I've ever seen. Even here under a manufactured red sun. The energy capture is so powerful, so strong... it can't help but glow with all its potential.”
Kal dropped his gaze away from the habitat then, breathing deeply as he reached up to lay his fingertips against the glass. “I... I can see and hear every process, every intention, every instinct and drive. And Krypton... Krypton was so unbelievably beautiful... So... right... It...”
When Kal stopped, the words seemingly stuck in his throat, Bruce laid his fingers over his lover's in warm reassurance to encourage him to continue.
The words came as a whisper, “It calls to me, Bruce.”
“Clark...” Bruce finally breathed, the full weight of Kal's confession settling in; Krypton was literally calling for him... and he couldn't respond, not without the possibility of losing his powers for however long. “I'm sorry.”
Finally meeting his worried eyes, Clark smiled weakly. “Thank you.” The tears Bruce had been expecting for a good, long time finally overflowed their banks and spilled down the Kryptonian's cheeks, and Bruce couldn't help but reach out and gather Kal into his arms, pulling him close as he felt heavy, silent sobs shuddering through the strongest man he'd ever known.
Holding him for what felt like eons, Bruce concentrated on keeping his own heartbeat steady, his breaths even, unable to think of any other way to soothe his lover but by his own calm. “It's okay, Clark. I'm here.”
After such a long time that Bruce's feet began to fall asleep, Kal drew back, wiping the tears from his face in a terribly embarrassed manner. “Uh, sorry,” he murmured meekly.
“Don't worry about it. Just... why didn't you tell me about this sooner, Clark?”
The Kryptonian drew in another deep breath. “I... wasn't sure how. I didn't think anyone would understand.”
Bruce cupped Clark's face in his palms and brushed a thumb across his cheek, swiping away another tear. “How could I not understand how special you are, Clark? You are the most unique being I have ever encountered - Kara, Karen, and Kon not withstanding. You're the only person I've ever met that could be so completely humbled by basic living processes, by DNA, proteins, and organelles. You see the secrets of the universe where no one else does, or where no one else literally can.”
A soft sigh escaped Clark as he leaned into Bruce's touch. “I love you, Bruce.”
“I love you, too. Now, let's get out of here and go make some dinner, and you can tell me what my cells are saying,” he finished with a slight smirk.
Kal scrutinized him for a moment. “They're saying you're dehydrated and need to take a nap.”
Rolling his eyes, Bruce stood, then offered Kal a hand to untangle himself from his spot on the floor - not that he really needed it. “Smart ass.”
A genuine grin spread over Clark's face. “You think so? 'Cuz I've been working out...”
* * * * *