Chapter Text
Two steel blue daggers glared holes through Clark’s impenetrable skin piercing him in a way he’d never felt before. Clark tried his hardiest to ignore Damian’s icy gaze as he sat across the table and deliberately stared at the man. This was definitely one of Clark’s most awkward and stressful meals at Wayne manor.
For the majority of their relationship, it had been painfully obvious to Clark that he was not one of Damian’s favorite people. Then again, from what Clark understood, Damian wasn’t the type of person who had people in his life he considered his ‘favorite’. No, he was pretty certain the boy organized folks more in ‘tolerable’ and ‘intolerable’ categories. Now where the Kryptonian fell under, he wasn’t exactly sure. Not when Damian usually seemed to go to great lengths to ignore and avoid the alien all together.
So when Damian suddenly started paying so much attention to Clark, the reporter immediately took notice. He never actually engaged with Clark in conversation, no matter how hard Clark tried. Instead he would just stare at the man as though he was sizing him up, and that was exactly what he was doing.
‘I just don’t get.’ Damian mentally seethed his eyes narrowing in on Clark.
When Damian first found out about Bruce and Clark’s relationship, he wasn’t very supportive. Then again, he also wasn’t really fazed. He did, however, expect that it would just be another one of his father’s passing fancies. Damian was already well aware that Bruce had peculiar taste. From circus boys to feline seductresses, whether it was a romantic or a paternal need, Bruce always found a way to fill it.
Damian had a lot of respect for his father, but he recognized his weakness all too well. On the outside Bruce was a powerful, well trained, nearly unrivaled force, but on the inside there was a dark emptiness. One that sometimes ran so deeply, it started to consume the man from the inside out. So in order to avoid falling prey to his own shadows, Bruce would sometimes try to fill the void. However, it seemed to the boy that it was never truly enough to fulfill the man and in the end these already fragile bonds would justly flee from the darkness or be completely consumed. There had even been some cases where Bruce had firmly pushed people away before they could completely fall victim to an unavoidable fate.
So when Bruce and Clark first started their tryst, Damian decided to do what he always did. He would ignore it and wait it out. It was only a matter of time before the man would disappear from his father’s life. Just like all the others before him, or so Damian had thought.
Now over a year had passed, and his father had even gone as far as revealing their relationship with the entire world. After that, it became painfully clear to the boy that Clark wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. So for the first time ever, Damian was left wondering what exactly made Clark so different? What had the boy missed, and how would this relationship affect his own plans?
As Damian examined Clark, he continued to contemplate this conundrum. Of course, the obvious reasons were quite literally apparent to the boy. As far as physical specimens go, his father couldn’t have chosen a better partner.
If not for his alien origins, Clark would be considered perfect human in Damian’s eyes. There weren’t many beings in the universe that could match Clark’s strength, speed, and resilience and he’d even been titled earth’s most powerful hero.
As far as looks, Damian had concluded that the Kryptonian was far beyond what one would consider attractive. Then again, he never really was that interested in such frivolous standards. He did at least recognize that one’s overall attractiveness did play an important part in how much influence a person could have over weak minded individuals who considered that kind of thing important, and judging from what Damian had witnessed, the empty headed lambs flocked to the caped boyscout by the droves.
In the end, the only downside to their physical arrangement was Bruce and Clark’s inability to reproduce, but at this point that hardly seemed to be a matter of recourse. Bruce already made his contribution in furthering the gene pool and passing along his bloodline by reproducing Damian and even the Kryptonian had managed to find his own unorthodox means through that clone of his.
So all in all, Damian considered his father’s superficial rationale more than adequately justified, nothing but the best for Bruce. However, Damian knew such shallow reasoning was above his father. If it was just a matter of physical looks and strength, his father would’ve been hitched long ago.
No, there had to be something Damian was missing. There had to be some kind of explanation and Damian intended to get to the bottom of it.
As Alfred began to clear the table, Clark decided now would be the best time to make his escape from Damian’s reproachful glare. However, the moment the unsuspecting man started to make his exit, he was cut off by the current Robin.
Clark blinked down at Damian, unsure at what point he had lost track of the boy’s location. One moment he was trying his hardiest to pretend not to notice Damian’s relentless gaze, and the next moment the boy was standing in front of him with his chest puffed out and his head raised so high it gave the illusion that he was much larger than he actually was.
“What are your intentions with my father?” Damian questioned sharply.
Clark’s brow furrowed with a bit of confusion. For some reason the particular situation he was in felt very familiar to the reporter. It almost reminded Clark of his days back in high school when he would go to the house of a girl he was dating to pick her up, and her father would be the first one to answer the door. Surely that was not what was happening right now.
“Wha-what? I don’t think I understand your question,” Clark gauchely replied.
Damian’s chest shrank a bit as he let out a frustrated breath. “Fine. For example my mother’s intentions were to marry father-”
“Ma-Marriage!” Clark blurted as his face turned bright red. “Well, I uh, sure marriage is usually the next step, but the thing about your father is, well you see, sometimes life is a little bit complicated, and…”
Damian watched with mild boredom as Clark became a clumsy sputtering mess before he finally lost his patience and cut in.
“Oh please. Don’t tell me that is your actual end game,” Damian replied with an eye roll. “My point is that my mother planned to marry my father, and in turn he would have taken the mantle as Ra’s al Ghul. Together the two of them would have transformed this corrupt decrepit world into one of true peace and order.”
Somehow Clark’s forehead managed to wrinkle further. “So basically you’re asking if I want to rule the world with Bruce…”
Another impatient sigh escaped Damian. “Not exactly, but if that were your intent, I wouldn’t see any problem with it. I mean, with your power and influence and my father’s wit and resources, you two could easily conqueror this planet.”
Now Clark was giving Damian a more firm look. “Damian, I don’t want to rule the world and neither does your father.”
“Yes, I figured as much,” Damian shrugged somewhat contritely. “So once again, I ask, what are your intentions? What exactly is it that you want from him?”
Damian felt his interest peak as Clark gave the boy a somewhat distressed look.
“Damian, I don’t want anything from your father. I just want…” suddenly Clark’s face softened as he looked past Damian thoughtfully and smiled. “…to be with him.”
Upon catching Clark’s sincere look, Damain felt at a complete loss. It was an expression the younger Wayne was not used to seeing, and suddenly he felt his chest tighten in a way he didn’t like.
“I knew asking you was pointless,” Damian huffed. He then quickly turned away and exited the dining room without another word.
Clark was left staring at the now empty spot in front of him with even more confusion as he did just a few moments before.
“What was that about?” Bruce asked as he suddenly appeared beside the dumbfounded Kryptonian. Prior to their discussion, Bruce had been preoccupied with the paper and admittedly missed their entire conversation, but when he did finally notice the two of them having the most contact he’d ever witnessed them having in the last several months, he couldn’t help but be curious.
Clark still had a blank look on his face before he finally responded. “Bruce, do you get the impression that Damian doesn’t like me?”
Bruce let out a soft chuckle. “Don’t be silly, Clark. I don’t get that impression at all.”
“Really?”
Bruce’s lips curled into a familiar smirk. “Because it’s obvious that he doesn’t.”
“Bruuce,” Clark groaned his eyes clearly conveying his distress and frustration.
Bruce patted the helpless looking man on the shoulder and let out another laugh. “Don’t worry about it Clark. He’ll come around in his own way.”
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The boy made a clicking sound with his tongue as he watched the scene before him unfold.
‘Are you kidding me?’
As Damian magnified his binoculars, the first thing his sights inadvertently focused on was Clark’s big smile. He then watched as the man pulled the cat out of the tree and handed it to the obviously grateful elderly woman.
‘Really? The all-powerful Superman debases himself to such menial tasks? What will he do next, help the woman cross the street?’
Damian lowered his googles and rolled his eyes as Clark did exactly that. After several minutes of what Damian translated as doting, Clark was handed some candy from the woman’s purse to which he graciously accepted, waved at her, and took to the skies.
A dull throbbing could be felt in Damian’s head as he began to recall what brought him to such a pedestrian and trivial place. Damian had spent several days researching Clark’s lineage. There was sorts of information about Kryptonians compiled on the cave’s servers. So much so that Damian was certain no one on the planet and possibly the universe had more information about the alien. From weaknesses to family history, the details on Clark were beyond vast.
It was pretty obvious to Damian that his father considered Clark one of the greatest possible threats to the planet, and he’d gathered so much information on the alien as a means to develop measures for dealing with him should he go rogue. However, things like the man’s hobbies, his favorite meals, and information on every woman he ever dated seemed rather pointless and almost fanatically obsessive.
However, despite his many hours of grueling study, Damian never once found the information he was hoping to locate. Nowhere in the scores of records was there ever any mention of Kryptonians having the ability to brain wash or mentally control an individual. They also seemed to be a race that preferred scientific studies over sorcery, and there were no stories about Clark dabbling in magical arts.
In the end, Damian was left just as puzzled as he was when he first started his research and had finally resigned himself to observing the man instead. Of course, watching Clark when he was at the manor was pointless. Clark would never give away his front in the presence of his father, and Damian wasn’t very keen on watching the man’s interactions with Bruce.
Eventually Damian had decided that he would follow Clark to Metropolis. What better way to observe the alien than on his own home turf? After breaking into the man’s apartment, and almost too easily locating the whereabouts of Clark’s uniform, Damian had carefully hidden a tracker that was now woven into the man’s cape. After that, he began to follow the hero.
All in all, the whole venture had been quite boring and disappointing to say the least. The majority of Clark’s day seemed to be spent working his cover job at the Daily Planet where the supposedly all powerful alien spent a good portion of his day being heckled by a stout older man and small raven-haired woman.
Every now and again, Clark would make a not so discreet exit from the building so that he could tackle some heroic task. The fact that the man could disappear so easily without raising any question from his employers showed that Clark was either far from integral to the workings of the company, or printed press truly was outdated and unnecessary to today’s modern society. Whatever the case, this was definitely something Damian decided he would take into consideration after he inherited the Daily Planet.
In the end, the feats of this supposedly mighty hero ranged from rescuing cats from trees to putting out forest fires, leaving Damian to conclude that the man was the very essence of a walking public service announcement. No wonder he was given the nickname “the world’s boy scout.”
So now Damian was more confused than ever. This type of wholesome man was not at all the kind of person he expected to finally win his father over. This man was on the very opposite spectrum of his father’s methods and ways of thinking. So many had come before, but in the end, it was this drudge of a man his father decided on?
From his last few days of observation, everything about Clark seemed contrary to Bruce. He was nothing at all like any of his father’s past flings, and as far as Damian was concerned, he hadn’t exhibited any special qualities outside of his alien abilities. He was just another sympathetic pandering simpleton who flagrantly wasted his powers. There was just no way this type of man could’ve have mentally and emotionally bested his father using any normal methods. There was definitely something Damian was missing, and until he discovered what it was, the boy was determined not to end his investigation of Clark.
Damian narrowed his eyes as he peered out across the rooftops towards a building he had now become very familiar with. It was Clark’s apartment. At about the same time every night, the man returned to his home where he pretended to be just like any normal mundane human being. With the exception of leaving to take care of random distress calls across the city and sometimes the world, the man followed his routine like clockwork. Such a naive man he was. That he would go about his life so unguarded, never expecting that someone might be creeping up behind him or watching him.
Damian’s mouth began to form into the shape of a smug smirk. That is until he suddenly and without warning felt an overwhelming presence. One that was so close, he was completely surprised that he hadn’t noticed it until it was already too late.
Damian’s face dropped as he turned around and looked up just a few feet above him. The first thing to catch his attention was the flip of a red cape dancing carelessly through the bustling night air. The second thing he noticed was Clark’s crossed arms and firm expression before he finally replied. “Is there a reason you’ve been tailing me for the last three days?”
To Be Continued…