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English
Series:
Part 13 of whumptober 2023 , Part 13 of An ever-growing family
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Published:
2023-10-13
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1,259
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1/1
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36
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618
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Negotiations begin

Summary:

“Not really. I have shenanigans to deshanaiganise.” Bruce sighed deeply.

----
It's time to talk to Clark now, Bruce

Work Text:

Clark looked as surprised as Conner did to see the other. It was abundantly clear that they didn’t expect to see the other. Conner, Bruce could understand, as Bruce had told him that he probably wouldn’t be seeing Clark without several days' notice. 

He was surprised that Clark had shown up - Bruce had messaged him that there was something important he needed to tell him in person, and that he should appear in the cave as soon as he got a moment. He didn’t expect Clark to fly here without warning. This wasn’t what he had planned.

Not that even he had a plan for how to tell his friend that he had a teenager that was only a few months old with the man that was his mortal enemy and a supervillain.

It wasn’t really something that came up very often.

But here they were, as Clark simply arrived in his home without warning. 

“You didn’t ring the bell.” Bruce observed. 

“What?” Oliver said over the phone.

“Ah, Clark just showed up.” Bruce explained.

“Oh. Should I go? Do you need to do damage control?” Oliver asked.

“Hmm.” Bruce studied his friend and his child. Conner was looking anxious and hopeful, but he was still looking at Clark - which was a marked improvement. He wouldn’t look at anyone except for Tim, not without gentle prompting (Dinah was helping them with learning how to do it gently, since Alfred scared him by approaching the topic bluntly.) so for him to look at Clark, without prompting, was a good sign.

Clark, on the other hand, was an absolute mess of emotions. He was betrayed, which Bruce could more than understand. He was shocked - which was obvious. And then he was also dismayed and confused and horrified and more still. He was a mess of emotions, but the other boys were in the room (Dick was already edging for the spot where Bruce kept the kryptonite) - and Clark had never hurt a child before. Bruce didn’t think he’d start now, child surprise dropped on him or not.

“Pig.” Oliver said.

“What.” 

“If you’re going to grunt like a pig I’m going to call you one, Pigman.”  

“I’ll sue you.” Bruce said flatly.

“For what? We have the same things.”

“Custody of Roy.” 

“Really?!” Dick perked up. Bruce ignored him.

Clark was still gawking. He was pretty sure Tim had his hands on the kryptonite Dick had been going for.

Bruce was starting to get a bit worried…

For Clark, that was. Tim was definitely a 'stab first, ask questions later' child. 

“I’ll sue you for custody of Conner.” Ollie retaliated. “And I don’t have a million kids and counting so I can provide better than you can.”

“I’m richer.”

“I have more arrows than you do.”

“I have an Alfred.”

“I have a Diggle.”

“I already have the paperwork drawn up to adopt Conner.”

“My son named him.”

“So did mine.”

“My best friend rescued him.”

“My best friend is his other father.”

“My -”

“Shouldn’t I get a say in where he goes?” Clark asked.

“Hmm?” Bruce looked back up, drawn out of his one-upping with Oliver.

Tim definitely had the kryptonite that Dick had been going for, and had clearly snatched it from under his nose - judging by how Dick was ‘subtly’ searching the drawer for it. 

“Tim put down the kryptonite. If you stab Superman, there will be no more video games.” Bruce told him blandly. Tim scowled at having been caught, before he put the little box back in the drawer. Dick promptly snatched it up. Bruce pinched his nose.

“Do I want to know?”

“Not really. I have shenanigans to deshanaiganise.” Bruce sighed deeply. 

“If you need a break, I’m sure Hal would love to take them.” Oliver said before he hung up. Bruce grumbled.

“Kids, I give you one free prank to pull on Oliver.” Bruce said - payback for suggesting Hal. He’d probably end up making at least one of his kids a Lantern. Bruce struggled enough with keeping them in line, thank you very much.

“Your help distracting him and we’re in.” Jason said for the flock.

“You don’t tell him I said it was okay.”

“Deal.” Bruce nodded back to Jason, sealing their deal. 

“Can we get back to the bigger issue at hand?!” Clark said loudly. Conner winced, and Tim glared. 

Bruce was glad he’d made Tim put down the kryptonite.

“Conner has superhearing like you do; we can get back to the matter at hand so long as you can use your inside voice.”

There was a beat of silence.

Then Dick and Jason lost it, laughing so hard they fell off their respective seating.

“You told Superman to use his inside voice.” Dick wheezed. 

“That’s almost better than when he was Hello BatKitty.” Jason snorted. 

Bruce sighed, before he motioned for Clark to follow him. “Kids… don’t blow anything up while I’m gone.”

“I’m in charge!” Dick said gleefully.

“No you are not.” Bruce nipped that in the bud. “No one is in charge because you are all chaotic gremlins. But if you can be good I won’t send Alfred up to babysit you.”

“Fun sucker!” Dick and Jason called after him as he left with Clark.

Bruce ignored them, but he did text Alfred that Clark had shown up and that he would be speaking to him about Conner so the kids might need to be checked on. Alfred answered him that he understood, and that he, Alfred, would not let Conner go without making efforts to keep him. It made Bruce feel lighter, knowing that his father wouldn’t let Conner go without a fight.

“I don’t feel so good.” Clark said. Bruce looked at him in concern; he did look pale.

“You had quite a shock, I imagine.” He probably wasn’t as prepared as Bruce would be if someone showed up with his child who they had cloned. “We’ll get you laying down with a cold cloth and resting. Then we’ll discuss Conner.”

“Is that his name?” Clark asked weakly, collapsing onto the couch Bruce kept in his office for his kids to nap on. Bruce went to get a cloth.

“Conner Thaddeus Wayne. Originally Conner Julia Wayne, but when it was shortened to ‘C.J.’ he took it to mean his new identification number rather than a name.” 

“His what.”

“Luthor didn’t name him, he simply called him by a number.” Bruce explained, putting the cold compress over Clark’s eyes. “When we shortened his name to C.J. he thought that that was his new ‘number’. He didn’t understand that C.J. can be a name, and he still doesn’t understand nicknames really. I’m having Dinah work with him, and Tim but that’s something else entirely.”

“And Oliver knows about him?”

“And Barry. Roy and Wally were with Dick when they raided Luthor’s compound and found Conner. Barry had to be convinced not to send his rogues after Luthor.” 

“Really?” Clark sounded surprised.

“All of the kids nearly died on that mission; I’m surprised he was able to be talked out of it.”

“Ah. That explains it.” 

They fell into an awkward silence, the cloth covering Clark’s eyes though Bruce knew it did nothing to take away from his ability to know where Bruce was. He wasn’t sure what was going to come next, but he was fairly certain that Clark wouldn’t be joining them for the moonlight screaming.

Or maybe he would; he did have an awful lot unexpectedly happen that he might want to shout about.