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Clark flies leisurely back towards Earth, soaking in the sunlight that he’s been missing while away. He’s been stuck on a planet on the edge of the solar system helping with some major threats but they barely got the sun there and it was definitely affecting Clark and making him feel tired in a way that he usually doesn’t have to deal with.
He’s also been feeling a bit down because he’s been away from Bruce for over a week. Usually they go on missions like this together so he doesn’t have to be away from his omega for long periods of time but Bruce couldn’t be away from Earth for this long so Clark had to go alone. It’s been hard, especially since it was hard to catch up with Bruce on the phone. The man always seemed busy when he called and he always felt bad for interrupting his work but he was also worried because it seemed all Bruce was doing was working. But, Bruce always assured him that he was getting proper rest and wasn’t overworking himself.
As he flies back into the atmosphere he can’t help but be excited to see Bruce the next day. If it wasn’t the evening he’d go now, but he had tried to call Bruce and got no answer so he assumes the man is asleep for the night so he can go out as Batman later on. He doesn’t want to risk waking him so he’s going to have to sleep in his Metropolis apartment for the night.
Clark stops to change into civilian clothes before walking up the stairs to his apartment. Soaking in the sun made him regenerated and he figures he can get some Daily Planet work done until morning but as he opens the door he can immediately hear bickering from the couch. “Why did you not ask Richard?”
“I thought you had it!”
Clark closes the door behind him and walks into the living room to see Jason and Damian sitting on the couch. Damian has his arms crossed and is glaring at Jason, making a soft tutting sound, while Jason is just lounging across the couch staring at the ceiling. Usually he would be able to smell the pups but it seems they’ve been in his house long enough that their own scents are covered by his own. “Jason? Damian?”
They both turn quickly. “Clark!” Jason cheers, standing up. “See, I told you he’d show up eventually.”
“This was entirely inefficient and it is all your fault Todd.”
Clark raises an eyebrow at them. “How long have you guys been waiting in my house?”
“A day or two.”
“Todd has trashed your bed. I recommend washing the sheets, he slept with his shoes on,” Damian states.
“Don’t let him fool you, he totally slept in the bed with me,” Jason quickly says, smiling triumphantly as Damian turns to glare at him.
Clark shakes his head with a small smile. “Alright you two,” He cuts them off before an argument can start. “Not that I’m against you two being here, but is there a reason you’ve been hanging out in my apartment for two days?”
That seems to get their attention because they glance at each other in a way that makes Clark a little worried. “Well B isn’t doing too great. We were hoping you would be able to come and help him.”
Worry instantly shoots through him and his scent must show that because they both now look at him with worried faces. “What’s wrong with Bruce?”
“Father has locked himself up in his office and has made himself sick,” Damian explains. “He will not leave the room. Richard and Drake are at home trying to get him to come out but they have not been successful.”
“Sick?”
Jason nods. “A stress heat I think. It started a few days ago and when we noticed we tried to get him to come out but he wouldn’t, he won't even listen to Alfred. Tim and Dick sent us to get you.”
“Why didn’t you guys call me? I could have come back sooner.”
Damian turns to glare at Jason. “Apparently only Richard has your number saved in his phone. I thought Todd had it.”
“Why would I have it? I only just got B’s number back in my phone!”
Clark rolls his eyes at the two of them. “Okay you two. I am going to give you my number. Make sure the others have it. If something like this happens I want you to be able to contact me. But we are going back to Gotham, come on.” He grabs a piece of paper as he heads back towards the door and writes his number down, handing it to the boys as they walk out of the door. “Who wants to be carried and who wants to be on my back?”
The boys look at each other. “I will not let myself be carried like a baby,” Damian quickly says.
“I’m too old to be carried like that,” Jason argues.
If he wasn’t worried about Bruce, he’d find the two endearing. They’re the two that butt heads the most, it really reminds Clark how brotherly they are even when they try to say they aren’t. “You’re not too old, I carry Bruce and sometimes I even carry Dick still. Though Dick prefers to ride on my back. But Damian, you need to hold on tight if you’re going to ride on my back.”
“I can do that,” Damian assures.
Clark nods slowly, leading the two to the roof before picking Damian up easily and setting him on his shoulders. The younger boy doesn’t say anything but Clark can feel the way he immediately grips on to his shirt, the boy hasn’t flown with him as much as the other Robins have. “Good?”
“Yes.”
He picks up Jason, who moves to pull his phone out. “I’ll call TimBit and tell him we’re on the way.”
Clark raises slowly and starts to fly towards Gotham, rising high enough into the sky that no one will see them from the street. “Don’t have him tell Bruce that I’m on my way, it will be easier if he doesn’t know I’m on my way,” He quickly says.
Truly, he needs to know where Bruce is mentally before he makes any moves. If Bruce has worked himself into a stress heat and has been dealing with it for a few days then there’s no telling what place he is at mentally. “Will Father be alright?” Damian asks, the grip that he has on Clark tightening.
“Yes. I’m sure he’ll be feeling better soon,” Clark assures.
If he could he’d raise a hand to pat Damian’s leg comfortingly. A stress heat is uncommon, he’s not sure if Damian has ever seen one but he definitely hasn’t seen his dad go through one. Bruce has only gone through one other one since Clark met him and it had been during the beginning of their relationship. Clark had helped him then and after just one night Bruce was back to his normal self. He can only hope that it works the same way this time. But it truly all depends on how worked up Bruce has made himself.
They reach Wayne Manor quickly and Clark lands outside of the front door. “Alright, let's get Tim and Dick out of the room with him. I want to hear how bad he is,” Clark quietly says as he places Jason down and then picks Damian off his shoulders so that he can set him down too.
“I’ll go get them,” Jason says before rushing off.
Clark sets Damian down and watches the young boy dust himself off as they walk into the house and into the family room. The further into the house they get the more Clark can pick up on the soured, heat-struck scent that is coming from Bruce’s home office. He tries to get his mind off of it, ignoring how much his inner alpha wants him to find him. Instead he turns to Damian who seems to be in the same predicament, the pup is staring in the direction of the stairs and Clark can see the way he’s got his hands clenched into fists.
“Did Jason make you dinner before I came back?” Clark asks, stepping a bit closer and softly patting his shoulder.
Damian looks at him before shaking his head. “No. Not that I would trust Todd to cook us dinner. I once saw him eat something off of the floor like a poorly trained dog.”
Clark chuckles softly. “Well maybe you can all go out and get something to eat while I get Bruce to bed.”
Damian hums softly but doesn’t reply, looking back towards the stairs. Clark looks over also, hearing three people walking their way. It doesn’t take long for the three of them to reach the family room and Dick is quick to rush over to him. “Clark,” He sighs out, a slight whine to his voice as he hugs him.
Clark coos softly and rests his head on top of Dicks’, softly scenting him. Dick was young the first time Bruce did this so he’s not really surprised that he is upset this time around too. It had been stressful on him last time and even if he is grown, Bruce is still his father so seeing him like that can’t feel nice. He’s just glad he’s able to give Dick a bit of reassurance. While he’s close with all of the Robins, Dick is always open about being close with Clark and wanting his reassurance in this way. “It’s alright,” He mumbles. He can feel the way Dick sags into him at the reassurance and Clark rubs his back softly. “How bad is he?”
“He won’t leave his office,” Tim states. “Alfred has been giving him food but he won’t eat it. We’ve run out of ideas.”
Clark lets out a noise of understanding, trying to ignore the urge to just rush to his omega now. He needs to get them out of the house first so that they don’t cause any accidental stress to Bruce. Dick takes this time to slowly pull away from him. “I should have called you, but I didn’t know you weren’t at home. I just thought Daily Planet work had been keeping you busy.”
“It’s alright. It’s not your fault at all, it’s not any of your faults,” He tells them all, looking around at their anxious faces. If Bruce is this bad that he won’t listen to anyone, not even Alfred, then Clark knows he has a long night ahead of him. He hates to use his alpha command but if it comes down to it, he will use it. Bruce’s well being is more important. “How about you guys go out together and get something to eat? I know Damian hasn’t eaten so I doubt any one else has. I can handle Bruce.”
“Are you sure?” Jason asks. “We can stay and help.”
Clark shakes his head. “I can handle him, I promise. I’ve handled it once before. If you guys get worried you can call and I can give you updates and if I need help I’ll call you.”
They all look at each other, having a conversation that Clark can’t see or hear. Clark doesn’t mind, staying silent and letting them converse to each other with their eyes. “Okay,” Dick finally says, sighing softly. “Let’s go get something to eat. Clark can help B.”
“Who’s paying?” Jason asks.
Tim holds up a leather wallet with Bruce’s initials on it. “I got Bruce’s wallet,” He answers with a smile.
Clark rolls his eyes at them. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”
“Sweet! Let’s go to Batburger, I could kill for some jokerized fries.” Jason claps his hands and starts heading for the door.
“No! We should go somewhere sophisticated. I am tired of eating that greasy food,” Damian quickly argues, following after him.
Tim is quick to intercept. “I stole the wallet, I get to pick where we go!”
Clark looks over at Dick when he hears him sigh. “Let’s find somewhere we can all agree on!” He calls, rushing after the other three.
Clark listens to them all argue amongst themselves until he hears car doors closing. He lets himself start heading to Bruce’s office now, trying to keep his scent light and airy so that he doesn’t overwhelm the omega, he knows if he goes in there smelling like anxiety it won’t help either of them. The closer to the office he gets the more he can smell Bruce’s soured scent, he can just barely smell the underlying heat underneath it. He has to bite the inside of his cheek as he opens the door and the scent hits him completely, stopping himself from doing anything rash.
It’s eating at him that Bruce has been suffering like this and he hasn’t been able to help because he’s been away, seeing Bruce doesn’t help at all with the feeling. The man looks horrible, there are bigger bags under his eyes than usual, his usually clean shaven face is patchy, his hair is greasy, and his cheeks look a little sunken in from lack of food, and most likely water. “Omega?” He calls softly.
He can see the way Bruce reacts to his voice, can even smell it in his still soured scent. It sweetens just a bit as Bruce turns to look at him. “Clark?”
Clark smiles at him and walks towards the desk. “Yup.”
“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be helping that planet?” He asks, his words a little slurred.
He frowns softly at the slurring, Bruce must be really out of it. “I finished that today,” Clark explains as he walks behind the desk. The soured smell is so potent that he has to push his out a bit more to stop himself from getting too upset but he can see the way Bruce starts to sniff at the air between them. “The pups came and got me.”
This makes Bruce look at him with a confused face. “The pups? They were…” He looks around quickly and seems to notice just now that they’ve left the room. “...Just here.”
A soft whine comes from the omega suddenly and Clark reaches out to wrap his hand around the back of Bruce’s neck, starting to thumb at the scent gland there. “It’s alright,” He coos. “I sent them to get something to eat so that I can take care of you.”
Bruce relaxes under his touch but gives him a confused face. “Take care of me?” He mumbles. “I don’t need to be taken care of.”
Clark gives him a worried look. “Omega, you’ve worked yourself into a stress heat,” He explains. “You need to take a break. The pups are worried and so am I.”
The omega shakes his head slightly, careful not to move enough to dislodge Clark’s hand. “‘M fine. Just need to finish this,” Bruce assures, or tries to at least. It’s not very convincing as his soured scent and the look of him proves that he’s not fine. “Almost done.”
“Well that can wait until you’re feeling a bit better. It’s time to rest now.”
A soft growl comes from Bruce, surprising Clark enough that he lets go of the omega, which then leads to the growl fizzling into a whine. “I don’t need to.”
Clark sighs softly to himself, if Bruce is worked up enough to growl at him about this then it might be a bit harder than he thought. “Bruce-”
“No! I’m going to finish this,” Bruce cuts him off.
Usually Clark wouldn’t mind letting Bruce work for just a bit longer but he can’t let Bruce work himself into an even worse sickness. He’s Bruce’s alpha, he’s the one that’s supposed to help when the omega gets worked up like this. “Bruce.” He growls out. The omega immediately straightens up, letting out a soft whine to try and pacify Clark. “No more work.”
Bruce lets out a louder whine at that, obviously trying to fight the command. Clark reaches out to massage the omega’s scent gland again, making him relax enough that he’ll just accept the command rather than trying to fight it. He hates using the alpha command on Bruce, he feels like too many people use it to take advantage of others, but he has to do this. He’ll deal with Bruce being angry with him later.
He watches as Bruce closes out of the work he’s doing and when he stands up Clark moves to grab his hands. “Come on Omega,” He coos softly, leading him towards the master bathroom. Bruce lets out a soft noise, seeming dazed as he’s led through the house. When they reach the bathroom Clark lets go of Bruce’s hands. “Can you strip?”
The omega nods slowly and starts to take off his clothes and Clark turns to turn on the water, drawing a warm bath. “Alpha?”
Clark turns to him quickly, smiling softly when he sees Bruce naked. “Ready to take a bath? It’ll help you feel better.” Bruce nods slowly, though he has a soft pout on his face. “Tomorrow, if you’re feeling better, then you can continue your work. If not, I’m sure Tim and Dick can cover for you. For both Wayne Enterprises and Batman. Batman can’t go out being so sick, Sweetheart.”
Bruce nods and Clark moves to help him in the tub. As he sinks into the tub Clark can see the way he relaxes, a bit of clarity returning to his eyes before they slip closed. He lets Bruce just enjoy the water for a little bit, giving him time to relax since it’s obviously helping. The sourness within Bruce’s scent starts to slowly disappear, making the scent of his heat show through more.
“Alright, let’s start washing your hair Omega.”
All Bruce does is let out a soft hum to show that he understands so Clark helps him sit up in the tub before grabbing the shower wand. He takes his time wetting Bruce’s hair and then working shampoo through it. He carefully combs his fingers through Bruce’s hair, working through any knots in it and softly scratching at his scalp in a way that he knows the omega likes. He’s proven right when Bruce begins to purr softly. “Feels nice,” Bruce mumbles.
Clark smiles. “Yeah?”
“Mhm…”
He tips Bruce’s head back and starts to rinse out his hair, listening to the purring that starts to grow in volume. It makes him happy to know that Bruce is already feeling better. These stress heats aren’t like an actual heat, the omega just needs love and support. They usually happen because an omega works themselves up too much or even because they’re away from their alpha for too long. Clark feels a little guilty knowing that his absence probably played a role in this stress heat.
When he’s finished rinsing out Bruce’s hair he moves on to the conditioner. “After your bathe we can take a little nap before having something to eat,” Clark tells him, leaving a kiss on his forehead as he moves to grab the shower wand again.
Bruce is quiet for a moment but Clark can tell he has something to say. “... Will you make it?”
Clark lets out a soft coo, running his fingers through Bruce’s hair as he continues to rinse it out. “You want me to make your food?” The omega nods and Clark can tell he’s embarrassed. “I can do that.”
The purring gets louder at the confirmation and Bruce’s scent clears up completely, all that’s left to it is the sweet smell of his heat. The alpha’s own scent sweetens in turn, his happiness showing through. If Bruce is feeling okay enough to ask for that then he must be starting to feel better, often during Bruce’s actual heats he’ll ask Clark to make him food because of the instincts that want his alpha to take care of him and Clark will always indulge him.
When he’s finished rinsing out Bruce’s hair he starts to drain the tub before helping Bruce stand up and starting to wash off his body. He takes the time to massage the omega’s muscles, working out the stress built up in them. Bruce deserves to relax and rest. Really, if Clark knew he could he would make Bruce relax for a few days rather than just until he works through the stress heat. But he knows Bruce will want to work, it’s an integral part of him, and he would never take that away from him.
“Alright Omega, all done,” Clark says when he’s done rinsing Bruce’s body off. “Can you dry yourself while I go get you some clothes?”
“Yeah,” Bruce mumbles, his tiredness clearly showing on his face now.
Clark hands him a towel before heading into the bedroom and grabbing a pair of boxers and one of the t-shirts that he has left here. He takes the initiative to scent it too, wanting to give Bruce a bit more comfort. When they get into bed he will take the time to actually scent Bruce but for right now this should hold him over.
He heads back into the bathroom and smiles when he sees Bruce sitting on the edge of the tub with his eyes closed. “Tired, Sweetheart?” Bruce jumps slightly, blinking his eyes open. He lets out a hum of agreement and Clark walks over to take the towel from him. “Let’s get you dressed and then we can lay down for bed.”
Bruce is pretty much limp as Clark dresses him, the fight from earlier has obviously left Bruce completely and he is ready to rest. He’s happy about that, that means the omega will be more likely to actually get better. When he’s finished Clark picks him up and carries him to the bed, using one hand to pull the covers back so he can lay Bruce down under them. “Staying?” Bruce mumbles as he’s laid down.
“Yeah Baby, I’ll be right here.”
Clark climbs under the covers with Bruce and pulls him close, starting to lightly scent him as the omega practically melts into him. “‘M sorry.”
He coos softly, petting the back of Bruce’s hair. “Why are you apologizing?”
“Should have called when I started feeling bad, I didn’t want to bother you. You were gone for so long.”
It feels like someone squeezed his heart and he quickly shakes his head. “It’s not your fault, I’m sorry I was gone for so long. I won’t leave like that again, it’s not good for either of us.”
Clark kisses the top of Bruce’s head. “Really?”
“Yeah, Omega. It’s important to me that you’re healthy and we’re mates, I need to be around.”
Bruce’s scent is suddenly so sweet that it catches Clark off-guard. “Mates,” Bruce repeats, clearly happy.
“Yes, mates,” Clark confirms with a smile.
It takes only minutes for Bruce to finally go to sleep after they finish talking and Clark isn’t surprised at all. It’s obvious how much the omega needed this and Clark is just happy he could deliver. He’s going to keep his word and stay around Bruce more and not go off for long periods of time. Bruce is the most important person in his life, Bruce and their pups. He will always put them first.
When he’s sure Bruce won’t wake up he slowly pulls away and floats his way down to the kitchen so that there will be food ready for the omega when he wakes up. He’s cutting up vegetables when he hears four pairs of feet walking up towards the door, he listens as they take their shoes off and make their way towards the kitchen and he turns to look at them.
He opens his mouth to ask them how their meal was but he freezes when he sees them. The four pups are covered in mud and Dick and Jason have a bit of blood on their knuckles. “Hey Clark! How’s Bruce?” Dick asks quickly.
He ignores Dick’s question in favor of his own. “What happened to you four?” Clark questions as he puts the knife down and walks closer so he can scan them over with his x-ray vision.
“We got into a fight,” Tim answers.
“With who?”
Damian, who is cleaner than the other three, glares at the others. “They did not listen to me and took me to a dirty bar for dinner. Then they fought at the bar like a bunch of hooligans.”
“It’s not dirty! They have really good food,” Jason argues.
Clark sighs softly, pinching his nose. “Two out of four of you are two young to drink, why would you go to a bar?”
“Jason wanted to go and then Tim wanted to go even if he can’t drink. I made the mistake of letting Jason drive so I couldn’t drive us anywhere else,” Dick explains.
“Did you guys get to eat at least?” Clark asks, looking at all of them.
“No. I am hungry and they would not take me somewhere else,” Damian answers.
“We should have gone through a drive-thru after the fight,” Tim whines, throwing Bruce’s wallet down onto the counter.
Clark sighs again, shaking his head. “Alright, you four go shower and change. I was making food for Bruce but I can make enough for everyone.”
“Oh yay!” Dick cheers. “What are you making?”
“Pasta with sauce made from blended vegetables, Bruce needs all the nutrients he can get right now and now all of you are going to get some too.”
Jason groans. “I want something greasy.”
“You all had the chance to pick what you eat when you left. Since you got in a fight I get to pick what you eat now. Now go,” Clark points towards the stairs, ignoring the various groans he gets in reply. “You’re all going to be the death of me,” He mumbles to himself, though he can’t stop a small smile from spreading across his face.