Chapter Text
It isn't a very different night from the usual nights in Gotham. The weather is as grim as it ever is, the well known gothic skyscrapers stretch just far enough for some of them to reach the foggy night sky, the streets are buzzing with people and traffic, the billboards and jumbotrons blind everything on their path, the thick layer of smog has been cleared out by the rain and has been replaced by a thin one that will grow within the next days until the next rain comes, just like every other weekend in Gotham, and that well known bat-shaped beam of fear for some and hope for others is not shining on the clouds, yet still, Vengeance is lurking in the shadows, unbothered.
The sky is filled with dark clouds, the moon nowhere in sight, the air is as chilly as it gets in summer, not enough to freeze your breath, but enough to make you put a jacket on.
It has been around three years since the floods.
The city has re-birthed mostly, the walls have been rebuilt, and the water is not drowning the streets, except for the rain. Even though it has been better, crime never takes a day off, and there is still a need for the Caped Crusader to guard the city.
And so he does.
Hiding in plain sight is said nocturnal knight, sitting at the end of the counter in a busy bar in a not so busy street in downtown Gotham. His face is mostly hidden by his black hooded jacket, and his body is wrapped in dark clothing, his armor is in his bag, and his eyes have not yet been smothered by black paint.
This stake out is no different than the others. He carries his usual plan. First, he studies his surroundings, he locates every door, the bathrooms, the employees only entrance, all possible exits in case of needing them; second, he analyzes every face, the relevant ones for the case, the ones that he already knew from other cases, the ones that may be useful for the future, all the identities getting stored in a memory in his contact lenses, an intriguing one catches his attention, a tall dark haired man with glasses looking at him too much, his mechanical lens can´t place him anywhere, but his instinct leads him to believe he might be of service for the case.
The mission for the night was to find the Penguin's hiding spot.
About a week ago, Jim Gordon had told him about the case he now finds himself working on.
“Word on the street is that this ring is trying to expand to Metropolis, we're talking major illicit substances, Blizz, Drops, and this new zombie drug, and firearms, shotguns, and assault rifles. Now what's important is that this dealing is going to be made by the Boss himself, and as you know, we haven't been able to bust 'em, they always get a tip on us, whether we show up or not, but our man on the inside said that the Boss is doing this move himself because he's meeting with his man on Metropolis, you have to find Oz, we raided the Iceberg Lounge, he wasn't there, his apartment, not there either, if we find out about the time and place of this dealing, we'll get them.”
The Bat had done his own investigation too. He had gone to the Iceberg Lounge and 44 Below looking for clues, Oz was nowhere to be found, but a woman who worked there told him that he might be in an abandoned apartment complex downtown that sometimes the mob used for hiding.
So what he's doing now is staking out the building, observing through the bar's dirty mirror behind the counter, his eyes fixated on the door.
His mind begins to plot countless ways to bust the deal, but he goes one step further, they can't just stop this one smuggling, they have to take down the entire family, and if it was true that the boss himself was showing up then it was way one in.
His trail of thought gets interrupted by the bartender who places a drink in front of him.
“This is from that dude over there” she says as she points to the unidentified curly haired man he had been eyeing before.
The man stares at him with not quite a smirk, and not quite a sweet smile, but something along the lines. Bruce looks at him, hoping his eye won't fail him, but still he can't place him anywhere. Apparently his stare is well received and seems inviting enough for the man to walk over at him.
“Hey” he says friendly as he leans against the counter, his body towards him. “Is this seat taken?”
He lifts his gaze with his unmistakably own neutral stare, he shakes his head as if saying ´no´ as politely enough as he can, indicating with his hand that he can sit, and the man does.
“I'm Clark. Kent.” he adds.
Curiosity fills him. He can't put his finger on it, but it seems like he might be important, like he knows about Oz's whereabouts. It is something about his face, he has seen this man before, plus he's very muscular, so he might be a bodyguard on the Lounge, or maybe in the 44 Below. So he decides to entertain the situation.
And in a moment of reckless impulsivity he says: “I'm Bruce.”
“And do you have a last name, Bruce?”
“Pennyworth.”
Fuck. He’s being careless, nevertheless, the man nods and keeps talking.
“Are you here alone, Bruce Pennyworth?”
Bruce lets out a quiet scoff at the cheap kind of pick up line. But it’s fine, he can put on a charm for the sake of the investigation. So he turns to Clark, and with a small seductive smile he lowers his voice and says:
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he tilts his head, Clark raises an eyebrow slightly with curiosity, as if his whole mind was set on figuring Bruce out. “How about you, Clark? Are you here alone?”
“I was here with some friends, but I kinda lost them, they’re probably around here somewhere.”
Bruce notes that this is either a lie, or he had lost his friends a while ago.
“Mm” he nods his head upwards once.
“So, what do you do for a living?”
Bruce squints his eyes slightly, looking for a lie to tell. His first thought is ´cop´, but he clearly can’t say that, so he thinks ´bartender´, and that's stupid too, so he just says the third thing that pops in his head: “I’m an engineer.”
“Cool, do you do like city plans or are you more involved in construction…?”
“Uhh, technology.”
“Ah, do you work at Wayne Enterprises?” Clark leans in.
“Uhmf. Something like that.”
Clark smiles and nods.
“Are you from around here?” Bruce inquires.
“No, I'm from Metropolis, well originally, from Smallville, Kansas.”
So he definitely was involved in the deal, just not from Gotham’s side. Could Clark be the boss from Metropolis, was he meeting with the Boss?
Bruce entertains the small talk.
“Smallville?” A faint mock on his tone.
“Ha. Yeah. I know. Trust me, whatever joke you’re thinking about, I’ve heard it before.”
“What are you doing in Gotham then?”
“I’m, uh, I’m a journalist. I’m writing a piece about the city and how it has flourished after the floods.”
A journalist?
Bruce’s expression changes completely, from a somewhat friendly one, to a grimmer one. Did this guy approach him because he is Bruce Wayne? Worse, did he know he is Bruce Wayne? Or is it just an elaborate lie?
Recklessly, Bruce answers. “This is no way of getting an interview, if you thought that’s what’s going to happen.”
“Huh? What? I didn’t mean for that- that’s not what I…”
Bruce shifts his attention to the mirror. The door of the apartment building was opening up, a man was standing on the front of the semi-open door, and another one in front of the entrance. They greet and he enters the building, the door closing behind them, but a light lights up an uncovered window on the first floor. Through the corner of his eye he catches Clark staring at the mirror too, further confirming his involvement.
That open window might be the only way to confirm Oz’s presence, and to get a better look he has to go out to the street, but if this man was involved then it would be dangerous to just go out like that. He cooks up a plan quickly.
“You’re honestly not trying to dig anything on me?”
“No” Clark rushes in, “I don’t know who you are, and I’m not that kind of reporter anyways, if I wanted an interview I wouldn’t bribe you with a drink.”
You’re not any kind of reporter. Bruce thinks.
“Do you wanna get out of here?” He says instead.
The other man obeys, and when Bruce takes his hand and guides him through the crowd to the exit he doesn't complain, he actually intertwines his fingers with Bruce's. They end up in the alley on the side of the bar, Bruce notices Clark's gaze staring at the window of the apartment complex for a second, his head tilted as if he was trying to listen to something, he snaps out of it and turns to Bruce, staring with big wondering icy blue eyes, the sky has cleared up a bit letting the moonlight come through, and shit, was he always this handsome?
Concentrate. He thinks.
Bruce wouldn't admit it, even if you pulled a knife to his neck, but his heart skipped one beat as Clark bites his lip trying to unsuccessfully hide the smirk that was forming on his mouth, he slowly leans into him, his mouth lingers over Bruce's, Clark swallows harshly as Bruce stares back, the street is strangely empty, not a single pedestrian in sight, he can only hear faintly the music from the bar and some honking cars a few streets away.
Clark places one hand on Bruce's hip and brings him closer before leaning in completely for the kill. His lips are soft and puffy unlike Bruce's that are chapped and damaged, but Clark doesn't seem to mind, another hand is placed on his face cupping it, Bruce parts his mouth almost instinctively, and he doesn't know what to do with his own hands, until he reminds himself of the window and the mission, and he carefully sneaks a hand into his jacket's pocket taking out a very small camera with a suction pad that he sticks it to the side of the building, then he allows himself to fully get into the kiss.
It's not like any of the kisses he's had before, well he doesn't have much room to compare but still. It's a lustful kiss, powered not by care, but by raw need, it was almost as if Clark had placed a spell on him, making him forget about his priorities, either that, or Bruce wasn't thinking with the right head. He allows Clark to fully take control of the kiss, he moves his hand from Bruce's cheek to the back of his neck and with his other arm he turns him around, quickly but gently pushing him into the wall, a knee is placed between Bruce's legs, and his hands drop from their previous placements to Bruce's hips and then some more. He pulls him up, and presses them both flush against the wall, Bruce immediately wraps his legs around Clark's hips. He can feel the pressure building up, all his senses are enhanced yet at the same time they're all short circuiting, he feels Clark's tongue slipping into his mouth, and his hands keeping him steady against the wall, he sneaks a hand to the back of the other man's neck and wraps his finger around a dark curl pulling carefully, receiving a low groan in return, it almost makes him feral so he finds himself moaning in return, and then pulling back to breathe, as he does Clark kisses his jaw and then his neck, he bites just strong enough to leave a mark.
One heavy breath, two heavy breaths, and with his other hand he pulls Clark's chin up, getting back at the kiss, this time Bruce takes more control of it, he slips his own tongue into the man's mouth, which gets him a soft quick single chuckle in return, it seems like Clark likes it, so he stops to bite and pull Clark's lower lip for a second before kissing again, it was almost like he was magical, he couldn't think about anything else that wasn't Clark, he didn't want to do anything else that wasn't Clark, he only wanted to stay there and kiss forever. Clark pulls away to breathe and he looks sideways, probably at the building but Bruce isn't even a tiny bit concerned, his thoughts have become sluggish and he can't be bothered to look, he only breathes, and cups Clark's face again, wanting to get back to the kiss, Clark allows it.
After about twenty minutes with breathing intermissions, they break the kiss with heavy sighs, they stare at each other for what feels like eternity, Clark has a big smile on his now very pink lips, a small drop of blood on his lower lip, like when you bite your chapped lips, Bruce resists the urge to wipe it.
"I gotta go, but would you wanna maybe meet again? I'm in town for a couple of days."
Bruce knows he shouldn't, correction he can't, but it's difficult to think when Clark is flashing him his baby blues, with swollen pink lips and curls messier than before. But ultimately he can't, no matter how much he wanted to. Guarding the city is his priority, protecting the innocent is his responsibility, bringing criminals into the light of justice is his only issue. Batman doesn't have time to make out with criminals on lowly lit alleyways, and neither does Bruce Wayne. Plus, he is potentially dangerous, he reminds himself.
But apparently, Bruce used a different part of his body to think than his brain, because instead of declining, he finds himself saying:
"Sure."
And instead of lying, he finds himself writing in a piece of paper his actual phone number along with his actual name.
And as Clark leaves, he is reminded of his mission, he looks at the building and the light in the apartment has died. So he takes his camera and goes back to the cave to investigate the footage.
-
A few hours after that, Bruce turns into the Bat, aiding the night, answering the signal, like a moth to its flame. He forgets all about Bruce's troubles and desires, he forgets about Clark, about the company and the foundation, his motivations the only thing still intact, the Bat consumes him for as long as the sun doesn't rule over the city.
It's about an hour before sunrise when Gordon calls for him, like a shadow he moves through the night and responds to the call of that well known bat-shaped beam of hope, when he arrives Jim is standing next to it, looking out past the view, guarding over the city, just like he does too.
"You called?" He says simply.
"Batman. We received a tip from an unexpected visitor from Metropolis, the so-called Man of Steel, Superman. Do you know him?"
"The Big Blue Boy Scout? Yeah, I've heard of him."
"He came to see me with information about the big shipment, he said that it was going to take place tomorrow at two in the morning on the docks, and that they're shipping it through the cities’ ferry. He said he’ll be there to check it out with us.”
“Mm. I’ll be there too.”