Chapter Text
There are three fundamental rules to galas in Bruce’s mind. One, they are going to be tedious and boring. There is absolutely nothing he can do to change this. A bunch of rich people are going to be gathered in the room. They are all going to clambering after either him or Luthor and sometimes both. Despite the fact that they will all agree without any question that this is annoying and the worst, he must go and keep up appearances. Two, there will be no discussion of Luthor’s criminality towards superheroes nor any appearance of Batman while at these galas. The combination would ruin all the good will either one of them had ever had and would likely be considered a very bad conclusion to the evening. Three, either him or Luthor would at some point slip an extra card key into the others pocket for the suite they were staying in, and they would relieve the tensions of the night once they made all their polite goodbyes and managed to donate only a fraction of what they actually wanted to give.
Tonight is no difference than any other. Bruce is tired of all the simpering fools trying to convince him that they are the next up and coming and all they need is for someone like Bruce to give them the time of day. A few got him to dig out his checkbook for a small donation, one or two got told to contact Wayne Industries, but most got a head nod and a fake smile. He is glad at least that the press have been keeping rather quiet this evening. There’s no point in being miserable.
He spares a glance towards Lex at the other end of the gala. He is drumming up support for the midterm elections in the hopes of gaining more of a lead in the Senate.
Common sense tells Bruce that if the game is going to be played tonight, it should be Luthor that initiates it. He has secrets that shouldn't be shared with someone with such a negative view of the justice league, and his tensions can be solved by things other than being fucked into a mattress. However, he doesn’t really want them to be solved in that way. He wants the kicking and grunting and flat out raw empowering nonsense that comes along with him and Lex Luthor being together in a hall room. And despite his better judgement, he had brought the second card down with him to the event.
He plays it cool as he approaches the politicians. He has the bland smile that he saves for all these events plastered on his face. “I hope you are all considering climate change as an issue for this next election cycle.”
That is simple enough to distract them with his presence. Wayne Industries has made a good deal about trying to get Gotham to be a green city, and it is a public issue that Bruce himself has spoken for several times at different events.
Luthor grins. “Would you believe that I was just telling them that I was thinking that we ought to consider stricter regulations on energy companies and their waste?”
Bruce would believe that. Luthor and him fought on several different fronts. They were diametrically opposed, although given Bruce’s rather frigid anti-meta rules in Gotham, they weren’t as clear enemies as Bruce knew they were at times. Still, they had common ground. This is one of them. “Of course you were, it’s why you’ve secured my vote.”
A click of a microphone tells him that at least one of the reporters at the event had just caught this admission. It will be the headline on at least one article tomorrow and depending on how quickly Clark gets through his morning read of different papers, he can be expecting at angry phone call. Still, it is good politics to get caught saying this. Bruce would prefer Luthor over the other side of the aisle any day, regardless of the politics regarding super heroes and the justice league.
Bruce and Lex shake hands in front of the cameras, and Bruce passes off the room card with ease. The rest of the night flies by in the same way as the start did. Just boring people and tedious conversations that don’t interest him but are unfortunately necessary for the good of the world.
Bruce excuses himself shortly after midnight, citing the many children making him promise to keep up a decent schedule if they were forced to. Many laughs accompanied his remarks as people were readily willing to believe that was mighty reasonable of him. He collapses onto the sofa of his suite, kicking off the fancy shoes that he’s worn all night and tilts his head up to just exist for a moment.
The door to his hotel room opens a few minutes later, with Lex telling his secret service men to wait outside, and that he knows this wasn’t the room they swept for bugs earlier. Lex snorts at the look Bruce gives him.
Bruce holds out his hand. A quiet offer of support and is pleasantly welcomed with Lex pulling him up off the couch.
Lex’s hands travel up until they’re cupping Bruce’s head and neck. “Hello, darling, it’s been a while since we were at the same event.”
“They never get less tedious, though.”
“I thought I made them worth your while.”
Bruce gives him a wry smile at that. “That you do. Willing to make the night worth it?”
“I would have just not shown up if I wasn’t,” Lex teased. He steps them both backwards towards the bedroom. “You’’ll have to forgive the men outside the door, they’re kind of a requirement of my new position.”
Bruce shrugs. “As long as this doesn’t end up on the cover of a magazine where we both have to do several press conferences, I’ll live.”
“Ensured that they were all very loyal to me and not a lick of homophobia among them.”
Bruce isn’t surprised by that either. Despite the fact that they both trended conservative in some issues and liberal in others, neither one of them puts up with the stupidity of human hatred. It is still present in the world. It is mostly impossible to get away from it entirely, but the two of them never entertained it with much thought.
Lex tilts Bruce’s head up and crashes their lips together. It is an absolutely brutal kiss. Full of passion and strength. One that Bruce had once thought he’d fight, but every time Lex kisses him like this, he lets his lips fall open. He chases after the feeling of being desired with a burning flame.
Lex chuckles into the open mouth when he pulls away. “Have you missed me, dear?”
“Always.” It is true. This is likely the closest thing to a long term arrangement he’s ever had. Both of them had gone on actual dates since starting this, periods of time where even when they were at the same event, they wouldn’t find their way back to each other because they in fact had people waiting for them at home. However, those people never lasted, and somehow the two of them do. Despite the secrets they keep from each other, they keep coming back to each other.
Lex smiles at him. He pushes Bruce down towards the bed. “What do you want tonight? Hmm, it’s been long enough now, that I fear I’ve forgotten which one in the cycle we’re on.”
That’s a blatant lie. Neither one of them ever forget. They switch positions, although even when Bruce tops, it’s Lex who is calling all the shots. No, this is part of the game that Lex likes so much, is to hear when Bruce gets going exactly what he wants in the evening.
Bruce glances away from the face of the man asking him to bare these desires plain between them, but he knows well enough that he won’t get any relief if he doesn’t come clean and start talking to the man. The two of them have a weird dynamic in that respect.
Finally, he unclenches his jaw. “Fuck me.”
“Pardon, Bruce?” There’s a hint of a laugh in the bright words, but that’s enough to send Bruce spiraling.
“For the love of God, Lex. Fuck me. Push me down on the bed and rip this blasted fucking suit off of my skin. Give me prep, or fucking don’t. I don’t care at this point. I just want you to be buried inside of me. Pinning me down with one hand while your other rests on my hips to drive each fucking thrust home in my soul. Make my brain turn to mush with the orgasm you ring from me.”
“Darling, if you needed it that badly, all you had to was ask.” Lex leaned forward to brush his lips against the shell of Bruce’s ear. “Seriously, all joking aside, I know we usually wait for the opportunity to strike, but if you need me, you’re one of the few that still have my cell phone number and the ability to reach me. Use it when you like.”
Bruce gapes. That’s the closet to a confession that there is more to this than just easy sex that they’re ever given each other. Neither one of them are big on the heart-touched feelings and the bullshit of false promises, which is how Bruce knew that this one was real. If he called that number, he would get a response. It likely wouldn’t always be possible for them to meet up.
Lex doesn’t force him to respond with words. Instead, he captures those open lips in another heart aching kiss. “You said you didn’t need prep.”
“Wouldn’t mind if you plowed into me without and just lubed up your dick. Might regret it in the morning though,” Bruce explains softly.
Lex pinches his side in retaliation. “You know I don’t play with that kind pain at all, Bruce. But did you want it rougher?”
“Fuck, yes.” Bruce spreads his legs wider to keep Lex pressed up close to him. He needs more the way that fish needed water. His children are taking care of Gotham. His children are making sure the streets are safe, and he has nothing to worry about other than Lex taking him apart.
Lex runs his hands up Bruce’s clothed thighs. “Alright. I don’t need you to beg.”
Bruce quirks a grin up at the man. Despite the reassurance that he doesn’t need to hear the begging, Bruce is fully aware that it gets Lex going like nothing else. He leans back on his elbows to allow Lex room to play.
Lex shakes his head fondly. He steps back and starts taking off his suit jacket. “You know for someone desperate for my cock, you are awfully dressed still.”
That’s all Bruce needs to be spurred into action. His socks are kicked off in the same fashion as his shoes earlier, and the only thing that keeps him from just ripping all the buttons in his suit out in an act of getting the damn thing off faster is the incoming lecture he can almost hear in the back of his head from Alfred for wasting perfectly good material because he couldn’t be bothered with patience.
Lex’s hands stopped him as he was struggling with the buttons. Already clad in nothing but the skin he was born with, the man still made an impressive figure. The suit jacket covered up a decent set of muscles across his chest, and his cock was already standing tall against his stomach from the kiss earlier.
Bruce lets his hands fall away so Lex can take care of peeling him out of the rest of his shirt. His hands land on the belt he was on and the metal clatters to the ground as Lex just drops it off the edge of the bed. His pants and underwear go down together as Lex shimmies them down as he drops to his knees.
Lex grins up at him from the new position. His face inches away from Bruce’s cock and all of his attention is suddenly split between wanting more and needing Lex to be less of a presence in his mind. “Can you keep your hands on the headboard for me?”
Bruce had to fall flat against the bed in order to move his arms backwards to reach the headboard, but he could reach it from this angle without too many problems. Benefits of being a superhero in his free time in Gotham, he could hold this position with the strain on his shoulders for many minutes past what the average person could.
Lex runs his hands up and down Bruce’s legs. “Thank you,” he murmurs. The quiet praise causing a blush to spread across Bruce’s cheeks. Then, without further warning or context. Lex wraps his hand around the shaft of Bruce’s cock and places his mouth over the head.
Bruce shouts as the sensations fully hit him and he realizes what the other man’s plan had been the whole time. He barely recalls the order in time to grip his hands on the headboard instead of moving them down to catch Lex’s head in his hands to guide the motions.
Lex grins around Bruce’s cock in his mouth. He loves watching the man above him fall apart. He brings him to the edge, the pre-come settling on his tongue before he wrenched himself off of the man. He pants around on the ground for a second as Bruce fights the urge to try to get more pressure on his dick or more attention or anything else.
Bruce groans. “You’re a cruel man.”
“I know, but you love when I’m mean.”
“Do it more,” comes the demand from Bruce. He wants it all. For the night, he wants to believe that he is not Batman, his parents were not killed horrifically, his children are not all vigilante justice members fighting against crime in a city determined to make worse and worse villains all the time. He’s just Bruce Wayne, rich business man and philanthropist getting dicked down by the president of the United States of America, and what a weird world it is that he can say that sentence with a straight face and be totally honest at the same time.
Lex crawls up to straddle the man. “Sure, darling. Whatever you want tonight,” he agrees. Their lips come together in another kiss. Bruce strains himself to follow Lex’s lips when he pulls back, much to the amusement of Lex.
Lex settles on the other side of Bruce. “I do need you to turn over, dear.”
Bruce blushes again as he realized that he hadn’t even thought about the fact that he was demanding things that would be somewhat impossible for Lex to accomplish the way that they were currently positioned, and yet hadn’t even realized that failing of positions. He allows his hands to drop down from the headboard to roll onto his stomach. He braces himself up to put his ass on display and moans as his dick brushes against the covers.
Lex chuckles. “I don’t mind if you chase your pleasure, my dear Bruce, but just a fair warning that if you come before I’m in you, I’m still going to fuck you the way you asked.”
That is enough of a threat to stop Bruce from immediately humping the sheets like he had almost done. Neither of them are young enough to still be able to do multiple rounds in a night, and the overwhelming sensation of being fucked after an orgasm would border on too painful for him. The threat is also somewhat empty, if Bruce said no, Lex would immediately stop. There is never any concern of that front he two of them.
Lex huffs a tiny laugh. He grabs the lube from Bruce’s travel kit and almost commented on the coming prepared for me line, but recalls that his own bag up in his normal room also had a bottle of lube for this exact reason. No need to confirm that the assumption had been the correct one to make based on each others actions.
He spreads the lube around his fingers, and then harshly shoves two of them into Bruce. The resulting shout would feed his dreams for ages. “What's the matter, darling? I thought you wanted rough.”
The intrusion is barely halted seconds from reaching his prostate, and Bruce isn’t honestly sure whether he wanted to push back into the fingers in order to get them to touch the bundle of nerves that would light all of his sensations on fire for the evening or whether he wanted to jerk away from the burning feeling of the painful stretch.
Lex tuts as he started moving his fingers and pressing against Bruce’s prostate every third thrust or so. “Darling, darling, darling. You were going to try to convince me that you could take me dry when you can barely handle just two of my fingers.”
Bruce shook his head quickly. “Mistake,” he mutters.
“Well at least you’re honest and considering the fact that your bold words earlier weren’t at all accurate for the situation. I suppose I can forgive you, especially as you are so fun to split open on my fingers.”
Bruce pants as Lex put another finger inside him and he writhed around on the bed for a moment. He desperately wants Lex to stop all the teasing and just take him. It wouldn’t kill him, the stretch at this point, and he is quite certain that the man would be able to take the remainder of his thoughts away with the dick that he is proud of.
Lex strokes Bruce’s back with one hand as he pulls the fingers in Bruce’s hole out. The gaping hole beckoning him to speed up, so he rather quickly winds a hand through Bruce’s hair to twist his head not to be buried in the pillows. “Condom?” He asks.
“Haven’t been with anyone but you in ages,” Bruce chokes out in between his moans.
Lex pauses in wonder. “You haven’t….I’m clean if you’re willing to forgo.”
“Yes, just get in me please.”
Lex snorts out a small amused laugh at Bruce’s antics. There is no rush to this, they are perfectly capable of going the whole night if they wish to. However, he is also starting to get a quite tight feeling in his cock that he would prefer alleviated at the earliest opportunity.
So, he slips his hand down to ensure that his cock has a decent amount of lubricant on it, and he slams home into Bruce. Another loud shout from Bruce as he set a rather brutal pace. “Tell me darling, can you come on nothing but my cock?”
“Yes,” Bruce whimpers.
“Good, come with me,” Lex says. He starts snapping his hips in an effort to come rather than just fuck Bruce. He wraps an arm around Bruce’s stomach and pulls some of his weight up to ensure that every thrust ensures the maximum rub against his prostate.
Bruce starts clenching around him in an orgasm first, but soon afterwards, Lex is coming inside him. Bruce’s eyes start drooping shortly after.
Lex collapses down to the bed as well. “I’ll set an alarm for a few hours so I can sneak out and to my correct room before anyone else in the area starts to get a wise idea of where I spent the evening.”
“You’re staying?”
“For a while.” Lex waits as Bruce is closer to sleep before whispering softly. “I meant what I said. I might be president, I might have a million other responsibilities, but if you need me, call me.”
Bruce didn’t think much of it at the time. That did not last forever. Months later, and Bruce is at his wit’s end. His youngest son is missing. His youngest son has been missing for nearly a week now. Everyone has checked everything.
Jason slips back into the bat cave where Clark and Diana have been for hours. Both having done what they could to search Gotham. “If my criminal contacts know anything, they’re far more terrified of what his captor will do to them than what I will do to them.”
Clark sets a hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, my friend. I don’t know what more we can do. We will of course be here, but we may have to wait for the kidnappers to make the first move.”
Bruce knows that they can’t do that. If they do that, his son will be tortured. There is a chance that they don’t want to bargain. They might just want his son dead, and what then? He can’t bury another son. He just can’t.
He’s gotten too many second chances as it stands. The gods might not give him back this time, and he can’t possibly allow that to happen to Damian. “There’s another contact I can reach out to.” The words fall from his lips before he can even think about it.
Dick frowns. “Bruce, there’s no one left to call. We’ve exhausted all our allies.”
“We’ve exhausted all of Batman’s connections. I am also Bruce Wayne.”
Clark joins Dick in frowning. “Bruce, you’ve been careful not to let anyone outside of your circle of trust know your identity. It took years for you to tell me. I don’t think you can call up someone from that part of your life.”
“My mind is made up.” It really is. He would do anything to ensure Damian’s safety. If that meant that he was going to tell Lex Luthor about the fact that he is a member of the justice league and destroy whatever tentative bond they have, so be it. He is still pretty sure the man will help. “I’m going to call and all of you are going to stay silent while I have this fucking conversation, got it?”
No one says a word, which Bruce takes as agreement. He dials the cell phone number he has for Lex, as he tries not to think about the fact that he’s on the trusted list of those with the power to directly call the president, and the fact that he might lose it today.
“Bruce, darling, I didn’t expect you to be calling. It’s been months since my offer, and I figured either you weren’t interested in expanding our arrangement or that you had been drowned in work.”
“Lex,” Bruce says.
“Bruce,” Lex replies. His voice stopping all teasing qualities. “What happened?”
“Our relationship and friendship, I know it’s not one where we tell each other things, and we don’t really trust each other with anything but ourselves, but today, I need to trust you way more.”
“Bruce, stop talking.”
Bruce falls silent. There’s noise on the other end of the call, but Lex isn’t coming to the phone. God, he hopes that he’s not about to get hung up on. He isn’t sure whether he’ll survive the death of another son and without Lex’s help, he’s screwed.
“Okay, I’ve gotten us to a line that can’t be tracked and won’t be part of the official record as I’m not acting as president right now. Now, tell me what the hell happened and how I can help.”
Bruce lets out a sigh of relief. “Damian has been taken.”
“Shit. Okay, I assume you’ve already called the police.”
Bruce jitters for just a second. Nervous plays out in the tap of his fingers and the hesitancy speaking. However, he’s in for a penny so he needs to be in for a pound otherwise none of this is going to matter. “He wasn’t kidnapped because he’s my son.”
“Okay?”
“He was kidnapped because he’s Robin or possibly because he’s Ra’s Al Ghul grandchild.”
“Your son is Ra’s Al Ghul grandchild. Your son is Robin! How the fuck could you allow him to do that? Unless….”
Bruce winces.
“Bruce, you’re batman.”
“Yes.”
“You’ve been batman the whole time.”
“Yes.”
“Jesus Christ. You know how much I hate Clark, you’ve been around for my many rants. You work with him. You’re part of the justice league that I want to dismantle. Fucking hell.”
“Lex…”
“Shut the fuck up, Bruce.” The line goes dead on the other end of the phone.
Clark just stares at him. “Did you just call one of my worst enemies to help you find your son by admitting who you are, knowing what he’s done since learning my identity?”
Bruce nods.
Jason stares at his phone. “Shit, Bruce, there’s an uptick in conversation around everything after this. Are you at all concerned that he’s not going to be helpful but rather pissed about the lies?”
Bruce pauses. The concern had never even crossed his mind. A lot of things could be said about Lex Luthor and most are true. However, he knows the man would never hurt his child. He knows it the same way that he knows Jason isn’t evil even though he kills. “No.”
It’s a few hours later when there’s a knock on the Wayne Manor door. Eventually, Bruce treks himself out of the bat cave to go check out whoever needs Bruce Wayne that day.
Standing outside his house is Lex, Damian tucked under one arm and a wry smile across his face. Lex shakes his head. “Found him. Ended up paying some fools who believed that I’d be just as likely to use him to get to you as they were.”
“It was about Batman, then?”
Lex nodded. “Yeah, they wanted to keep him for a few more days to soften him up so that when they reached out to you, all you saw was a nearly dead robin so that you’d be less likely to try to get away with a sneak attack or rescue mission instead of what they wanted.”
“Which was?”
“Your death,” Damian rasped out. “They wanted you to kill yourself on live camera in return for my free release.”
“Fools,” Bruce mutters. “As if I would ever do that with nothing but their word that you would be released.”
Lex rolls his eyes. “Your son, returned safely. I do have other important things to be doing, so I’ll take my leave.”
Bruce reaches out to catch Damian, only he doesn’t stop there. He reaches further to be able to touch Lex’s arm. “Thank you.”
“I’m still angry,” Lex says, finally. There’s a low threat of something in his eyes, but Bruce can’t for the life of him figure out what that threat is. “However, please don’t be a stranger and don’t hesitate to call again if the need arises. Take care, Bruce.”
Bruce keeps Damian tucked close to him as he gets them down to medical. The rest of the children spend quite a long time just gaping at him as he guides Damian up and onto the cot for Alfred to check him over.
Finally, Dick approaches. “How?”
“Lex bought me,” Damian said with a snort. “Then, he brought me right to father. Although the whole time we were traveling, he kept cursing you out, father.”
Dick froze. “Is there a reason why you aren’t panicked about this?”
Damian glances over at his oldest brother and stares for a second. “He came and got me. He was pissed as hell at father, muttering about lies and how dare he be batman, but he got me out anyway. He didn’t hesitate to help me walk when it became clear that the injuries had damaged me. He bandages said injuries on the flight home, and we took me straight to father. Also, he hates batman, but I’m not as confident what he feels for father.”
Bruce runs a hand over Damian’s hair. “I haven’t been able to figure that one out either.”
“Sounds like love to me,” Stephanie says. “I mean I’d put up with a hero as a villain if their other personality was someone that I loved.”
Bruce chooses not to fight that comment. He isn’t sure about whether this is love. He does however send everyone else up to rooms to catch up with sleep as he takes up position next to Damian.
Damian reaches for Bruce’s hand. He takes a second to gather his thoughts. “He came for me, but he didn’t care about Robin, did he?”
“No.”
“He didn’t want a favor from batman either, did he?”
“No.”
“Would he come for me again?”
“Yes.”
Damian nods. “Thank you, father.”
It takes Bruce a week before he finally decides that he needs to talk to Dick and change a few protocols. It takes that long for him to gain the courage to use his phone to send a message to Lex as well. He’s sure that he’ll be left on read, but he doesn’t feel right not sending the message. He spent ages crafting it.
Thank you for saving him. Thank you for picking up when I called. I know that my being batman changes a few things for us, but I just wanted to let you know on my end, Bruce is different. Bruce still wants what we have. You’re welcome to do whatever. Also, in the case of my demise from any of the various end of world events that come at times, I’m telling the kids that you’re their point of contact. I know you’ll take care of them, and I know you’ll do it with respect for who they are outside of the hero outfits, and that’s important to me.
Just as he expected, the message blinks with the little light that tells him that Lex reads the message. No response is incoming. Bruce doesn’t blame him. This will need a bit of time to come to terms with. It’s not easy to realize the person you’ve been sleeping with has been your enemy in another scenario.
Bruce flags Dick down the next time they’re both in the manor at the same time. “We need to talk.”
“Are we talking about the fact that you’ve been dating or sleeping with or whatever the hell it is that you’re doing with a villain?”
“Yes.”
Dick stops his fast pace away. “I’m listening.”
“Dick, Lex Luthor isn’t just a villain.”
“I’m aware, he also won the damn presidency.”
Bruce gives Dick a light glare. “You know damn well that’s not what I was talking about. I know that you know that wasn’t what the hell I was talking about.”
Dick swallows. “No, I’m not all that certain. Yes, he’s a rich man who you have to have polite conversations with as Bruce Wayne. That much I understand, but you know what he’s like when he’s not in that persona, and how can that be a person you’re okay with?”
“Can I ask you a question, Dick?”
“Didn’t you just?”
Bruce doesn’t back down from his question. He doesn’t really care whether Dick decides that he wants to be a stubborn asshole about this or not. His son has a right to his opinions. “Okay, what?”
“How many people do you know that you can call that would come and help Dick Grayson from a situation?”
“A few people down at the precinct would come if I called as Dick.”
“How many of them would you trust with your identity as Nightwing?”
“None.”
“Yeah. That’s kind of the curse of being a vigilante hero. We aren’t going to leave the world undefended. We aren’t going to stop being who we are. However, an important thing to consider is that for me, I can call Lex. I did call Lex.”
Dick considers that for a moment before he nods to Bruce. “I hear you, Bruce. It’s just, he’s a villain.”
Bruce shrugs. “Only sometimes. Most of the time he’s the president of the United States and trying really hard to keep Americans safe. He’s also a business man who does his best for his employ.”
Dick rolls his eyes. “Why are you pushing this?”
“Because I want you to know from the bottom of my heart that I mean what I say next.”
“What?”
“If I die, go and take the rest of your siblings to Lex.”
Dick blinks. “You’ve told us to go to Clark for forever, Bruce. I’m worried about you.”
“Hear me out, please.”
Dick waves him on to keep speaking.
“If I’m dead, I don’t want you going to Clark. He was the best option. He would try to give you your private secret lives along with your superhero identity. But his priority would be your superhero selves. That’s nothing against him, but that’s what he thinks is most important. I disagree. If I die, I want all of you to live. Don’t keep following me into the depths of trying to save the world. It won’t be worth it in the end.”
Dick stares at Bruce in horror. “Bruce…”
“Please,” Bruce whispers. “I want to believe that it will never come to this. That you’ll never have to make this call, but we both know that neither of us can guarantee that, so I’m asking you. Please take them to Lex. Let him figure out how to raise you all, to be a father in my absence.”
Dick shakes his head. He turns away from Bruce. “I promise,” he whispers as he leaves.
Bruce wishes that he didn’t know how much it hurt Dick to make that promise. He wishes that he didn’t know that if he died, there would be several people that would rage at him. Lex would rage over suddenly having so many kids that he hadn’t intended to get. Dick would rage that he was supposed to go to a villain. Clark would rage that the world had lost more than one hero that day. But lord, that was part of the point.
That promise was meant to be a last standing option. A contingency that was never fetched out of the box that it had been placed in. In the end, Superman had called for help, and Bruce had answered. Bruce fell to the alien mess that was coming after Clark and Lois. He didn’t get back up again. He wondered in his last moments how Clark would tell Dick and the others.
He hadn’t even managed to patch things up with Lex. The two of them had managed to avoid being at the same gala and charity event for nearly two years. The first one that they were going to be in the same room again had been three days away. He regretted that he was never able to have another conversation or another night with the man after he saved his son. He had wanted to ask what went through his head when he did that.