Chapter 3 - Guilt
"It's not what it seems!" Bruce protested in a loud voice. "I swear it's not."
Clark glanced at him and then looked down again at Selina in the closet. "Miss Kyle?" he offered her hand, ever the polite gentleman.
"Call me Selina," she insisted as she took his hand and stood up.
"I didn't even know she was here," Bruce kept babbling. "I came up and she was here, and I told her to go away. I did, Clark, I told her several times to leave, but she wouldn't."
"Oh, cool it," Selina looked at Bruce in disgust. "I came by to see if the old Bats fancied a quick one in the Batmobile again, like old times, and he got all offended."
"That's right, she came on to me," Bruce said in the same loud voice.
"So we just made out. Batsy here was ready to round second base when you came back and then he tossed me in the closet like a pair of old shoes. No one treats Catwoman like that."
Clark said nothing, his lips pressed into a tight line.
"We were just kissing – it wouldn't have gone further than that, I swear," Bruce sounded desperate.
"Yes, it would have," Selina frowned. "I used to get you to sleep with me anytime I wanted. You may be with Mr. Red, White, and Blue now, but two years ago your ass belonged to me."
"I never belonged to you, you decrepit old hag," Bruce shot back.
With a hiss, Selina sprang towards him, her hands like claws to scratch his face. Clark stepped forward and grabbed her around the waist before she could reach Bruce.
"That's enough," Clark decided as he set Selina aside and fixed Bruce with a stern look. "We're not resorting here to violence or name calling. We will act civilized and we will treat ladies with respect."
"What?" Bruce looked bewildered.
"Regardless of what you did or she did, you still are going to act like a gentleman," Clark told him. "So basically what happened was that you came home, she was here, you started kissing, and then you tried to hide her in the closet when I got here?"
Bruce suddenly flushed red and he looked away.
Selina stared, mesmerized at his reaction. She had seen him in all sorts of moods and tempers over the last years, but she had never, ever seen Bruce look so incredibly guilty and shameful as he did under Clark's stern gaze. She knew she should feel angry that Clark could cause such a reaction in Bruce, but the expression on her ex-lover's face completely overrode everything she was feeling.
Bruce looked like a naughty child caught in mischief who knew he was about to get in big trouble, and Selina held her breath, wondering what would happen next.
"Were you planning on cheating on me?" Clark asked, his face and voice still perfectly even.
"No," Bruce stammered. "Not like that. It's just . . . Selina – we have a history together, but we could never work out."
"We could," Selina spoke up. "You like being bad with me, you just said so. Face it, Bruce, you belong with your kind, the dark souls of Gotham, not this do-gooder alien from Metropolis."
"I wasn't doing anything!" Bruce said. "I swear, we were just kissing, and then I was going to make her go away."
"Without doing anything else?" Clark asked.
"Yes."
"Without cheating on me?"
"Yes!"
"Without telling me what you had done?"
"Yes! No, I mean, no. Of course, I would tell you. I really would." Bruce looked even more guilty, seriously sweating now.
Clark's eyes narrowed. It wasn't the first time he had caught Bruce in a lie, but each time he got through with his boyfriend, Bruce swore it would be the last. It wasn't so much Selina either. Clark expected her to be back to bother them just as he expected Lex Luthor to scheme up diabolical plans and Bruce to refuse to take care of himself. But for Bruce to try to hide it, to willfully cover up what he had done –
Clark slowly crossed his arms and looked right at his boyfriend.
Bruce paled and swallowed hard again as he took in Clark's stance, especially those thick arms folded against Clark's solid chest. "I swear to you –"
"I've heard enough out of you for tonight," Clark interrupted. "I'm not letting this get anymore out of hand than it already is. We're going to deal with this now and then –"
Clark hesitated suddenly. He turned his head to side as if listening to something. "Trouble downtown," he reported. "I'm going to sort it out. When I get back, she better be gone. Then you and I are going to have a little talk." Clark looked straight at Bruce.
A second later, Clark had disappeared, leaving Bruce and Selina alone in the bedroom.
Selina smiled coyly, about to suggest that they pick up where they had left off, but Bruce ran his fingers back through his hair in distress.
"Oh, no," he shook his head. "No, no, no – why the hell did you have to come here tonight?"
"Me?" Selina prissed her lips together.
"Yes, I was all ready to spend a nice weekend with him, and then you showed up. Did you see his face?"
"Yeah, not much there," Selina sniffed. "I mean he caught us in your bedroom together. You would think he might have shown a bigger reaction like throwing things around or yelling at you or threaten to beat you up. Instead, he was all cold and stern and you were – Bruce? You look like you're about to throw up."
"He caught me trying to hide you in my closet!" Bruce yelled at her. "Then I tried to get out of it, and then I lied. Oh, no, he's going to –"
Bruce turned and ran for the door, but Selina used her fast cat reflexes to beat him there. She stood in front of the hallway door and demanded,
"What's he going to do? Where are you going?"
"Get out of my way," Bruce ordered. "I swear, I'll throw you down the stairs if you don't get out of my way and leave my house forever."
"You let me come with you or I'll stalk your house for the next three weeks," she shot back.
Bruce wanted nothing more than to throw her into the far wall, but he growled, "Fine, whatever, just get out of my way."
Selina jumped back and then ran along with Bruce down the hallway to the stairs. "Where are we going?"
"To the Cave," Bruce thundered down the stairs with Selina right behind and dashed into the room to the right. Scrambling down to the piano, he slammed his fingers on several notes and the grandfather clock turned abruptly, opening a passageway.
Selina had seen it before, but she had never seen Bruce so frantic and worried when he was out of costume and no one's life was at stake.
Bruce stepped into the old-fashioned lift and she jumped right beside him just in time as the whole thing began to lower.
"Tell me what's going on," she urged, fascinated by the look of terror on his face.
Bruce pushed the lever of the lift down harder. "It's in the Cave, a chunk of Kryptonite. I have it somewhere on the second floor. Come on, come on, move!"
"Isn't Kryptonite bad for Superman?" Selina wrinkled her brow as she tried to remember. "Doesn't it make him sick?"
"Yeah, but I don't want it for that," Bruce leapt out of the lift before it stopped completely. "I just want to have it to make him calm down and listen to me long enough before he can do anything drastic. If I can get him to listen, it'll be okay."
Bruce ran towards a cabinet and nearly tore off the two doors as he pulled them open to search inside.
"How did you get Kryptonite anyway?"
"He gave it to me years ago, in case he ever went crazy and I needed to stop him," Bruce began throwing things out of the shelves. "It'll slow him down enough to hear me out before – damn, where is it?"
"Not too organized, are you?" Selina smirked.
Bruce turned to her, furious. "I am organized! But that rat orphan I live with probably took it somewhere to play with and didn't put it back. Wait 'til I get my hands on him. That's going to be one sorry Tim Drake when I'm done."
Selina blinked at Bruce's mean description of the boy, but Bruce snarled,
"Don't stand there. Help me look. It's a small lead box that closes tight with a bright green rock inside."
"Fine," Selina began looked around herself. "I don't understand why you're so worried about stopping him. He seemed perfectly calm upstairs. I thought he would be ready to tear the house down, but he just stood there and asked questions. So much for the jealous boyfriend."
"You don't know him like I do. Once the arms cross, it's all over for me. Search faster, woman!"
"I am looking in a dark cave as big as your house," she protested. "It could be anywhere. Maybe Tim took it with him."
Bruce growled again as he moved to the next cabinet and began flinging out papers and tools and spare parts onto the floor. "This can't be happening. Not again, not after I promised him the lying was over. Ugh, where is that damned box? Of all things to lose, of all the stupid, sodding, rotten, fuc – there!"
He saw the small black box in the corner of the lower cabinet, tucked away innocently under new designs for the Batmobile.
Bruce reached out with a shaky hand. He would never use Kryptonite to hurt Clark – no, it was just to slow him down, to make Clark stop and think before he did something catastrophic, to force Clark to listen and understand that sometimes people make mistakes and that there was absolutely no reason to go to drastic lengths about anything.
Bruce felt the cold lead under his fingertips. He would open the box and slip the rock into his pocket, and when Clark got back, they would talk everything out. They would come to a nice agreement where Clark understood Bruce's confusion and Bruce got to continue sitting comfortably for the weekend because they had reached such a peaceful agreement. And if they couldn't, well, Bruce would have to find a way to keep the rock next to him for the rest of his life.
He grabbed the box and lifted the whole thing up in the air. He held the bottom with his left hand and put his right on top to open the lead box up.
At that moment, tight fingers closed around his wrist and yanked his hand off, leaving the box still closed.
In utter dismay, Bruce watched as Clark reach out with his free hand and grabbed the box. Bruce tried to hold on to it, but he could never match the brute strength of the Kryptonian. With another second more to open the box, Clark would have sunk to his knees in defeat in front of the green rock, but as long as the box was still tightly closed –
"You've done it now," Clark shook his head in disapproval as he slipped the box into his coat pocket. He kept one hand wrapped around Bruce's wrist like a vice. "You have really done it now."
Clark glanced at him and then looked down again at Selina in the closet. "Miss Kyle?" he offered her hand, ever the polite gentleman.
"Call me Selina," she insisted as she took his hand and stood up.
"I didn't even know she was here," Bruce kept babbling. "I came up and she was here, and I told her to go away. I did, Clark, I told her several times to leave, but she wouldn't."
"Oh, cool it," Selina looked at Bruce in disgust. "I came by to see if the old Bats fancied a quick one in the Batmobile again, like old times, and he got all offended."
"That's right, she came on to me," Bruce said in the same loud voice.
"So we just made out. Batsy here was ready to round second base when you came back and then he tossed me in the closet like a pair of old shoes. No one treats Catwoman like that."
Clark said nothing, his lips pressed into a tight line.
"We were just kissing – it wouldn't have gone further than that, I swear," Bruce sounded desperate.
"Yes, it would have," Selina frowned. "I used to get you to sleep with me anytime I wanted. You may be with Mr. Red, White, and Blue now, but two years ago your ass belonged to me."
"I never belonged to you, you decrepit old hag," Bruce shot back.
With a hiss, Selina sprang towards him, her hands like claws to scratch his face. Clark stepped forward and grabbed her around the waist before she could reach Bruce.
"That's enough," Clark decided as he set Selina aside and fixed Bruce with a stern look. "We're not resorting here to violence or name calling. We will act civilized and we will treat ladies with respect."
"What?" Bruce looked bewildered.
"Regardless of what you did or she did, you still are going to act like a gentleman," Clark told him. "So basically what happened was that you came home, she was here, you started kissing, and then you tried to hide her in the closet when I got here?"
Bruce suddenly flushed red and he looked away.
Selina stared, mesmerized at his reaction. She had seen him in all sorts of moods and tempers over the last years, but she had never, ever seen Bruce look so incredibly guilty and shameful as he did under Clark's stern gaze. She knew she should feel angry that Clark could cause such a reaction in Bruce, but the expression on her ex-lover's face completely overrode everything she was feeling.
Bruce looked like a naughty child caught in mischief who knew he was about to get in big trouble, and Selina held her breath, wondering what would happen next.
"Were you planning on cheating on me?" Clark asked, his face and voice still perfectly even.
"No," Bruce stammered. "Not like that. It's just . . . Selina – we have a history together, but we could never work out."
"We could," Selina spoke up. "You like being bad with me, you just said so. Face it, Bruce, you belong with your kind, the dark souls of Gotham, not this do-gooder alien from Metropolis."
"I wasn't doing anything!" Bruce said. "I swear, we were just kissing, and then I was going to make her go away."
"Without doing anything else?" Clark asked.
"Yes."
"Without cheating on me?"
"Yes!"
"Without telling me what you had done?"
"Yes! No, I mean, no. Of course, I would tell you. I really would." Bruce looked even more guilty, seriously sweating now.
Clark's eyes narrowed. It wasn't the first time he had caught Bruce in a lie, but each time he got through with his boyfriend, Bruce swore it would be the last. It wasn't so much Selina either. Clark expected her to be back to bother them just as he expected Lex Luthor to scheme up diabolical plans and Bruce to refuse to take care of himself. But for Bruce to try to hide it, to willfully cover up what he had done –
Clark slowly crossed his arms and looked right at his boyfriend.
Bruce paled and swallowed hard again as he took in Clark's stance, especially those thick arms folded against Clark's solid chest. "I swear to you –"
"I've heard enough out of you for tonight," Clark interrupted. "I'm not letting this get anymore out of hand than it already is. We're going to deal with this now and then –"
Clark hesitated suddenly. He turned his head to side as if listening to something. "Trouble downtown," he reported. "I'm going to sort it out. When I get back, she better be gone. Then you and I are going to have a little talk." Clark looked straight at Bruce.
A second later, Clark had disappeared, leaving Bruce and Selina alone in the bedroom.
Selina smiled coyly, about to suggest that they pick up where they had left off, but Bruce ran his fingers back through his hair in distress.
"Oh, no," he shook his head. "No, no, no – why the hell did you have to come here tonight?"
"Me?" Selina prissed her lips together.
"Yes, I was all ready to spend a nice weekend with him, and then you showed up. Did you see his face?"
"Yeah, not much there," Selina sniffed. "I mean he caught us in your bedroom together. You would think he might have shown a bigger reaction like throwing things around or yelling at you or threaten to beat you up. Instead, he was all cold and stern and you were – Bruce? You look like you're about to throw up."
"He caught me trying to hide you in my closet!" Bruce yelled at her. "Then I tried to get out of it, and then I lied. Oh, no, he's going to –"
Bruce turned and ran for the door, but Selina used her fast cat reflexes to beat him there. She stood in front of the hallway door and demanded,
"What's he going to do? Where are you going?"
"Get out of my way," Bruce ordered. "I swear, I'll throw you down the stairs if you don't get out of my way and leave my house forever."
"You let me come with you or I'll stalk your house for the next three weeks," she shot back.
Bruce wanted nothing more than to throw her into the far wall, but he growled, "Fine, whatever, just get out of my way."
Selina jumped back and then ran along with Bruce down the hallway to the stairs. "Where are we going?"
"To the Cave," Bruce thundered down the stairs with Selina right behind and dashed into the room to the right. Scrambling down to the piano, he slammed his fingers on several notes and the grandfather clock turned abruptly, opening a passageway.
Selina had seen it before, but she had never seen Bruce so frantic and worried when he was out of costume and no one's life was at stake.
Bruce stepped into the old-fashioned lift and she jumped right beside him just in time as the whole thing began to lower.
"Tell me what's going on," she urged, fascinated by the look of terror on his face.
Bruce pushed the lever of the lift down harder. "It's in the Cave, a chunk of Kryptonite. I have it somewhere on the second floor. Come on, come on, move!"
"Isn't Kryptonite bad for Superman?" Selina wrinkled her brow as she tried to remember. "Doesn't it make him sick?"
"Yeah, but I don't want it for that," Bruce leapt out of the lift before it stopped completely. "I just want to have it to make him calm down and listen to me long enough before he can do anything drastic. If I can get him to listen, it'll be okay."
Bruce ran towards a cabinet and nearly tore off the two doors as he pulled them open to search inside.
"How did you get Kryptonite anyway?"
"He gave it to me years ago, in case he ever went crazy and I needed to stop him," Bruce began throwing things out of the shelves. "It'll slow him down enough to hear me out before – damn, where is it?"
"Not too organized, are you?" Selina smirked.
Bruce turned to her, furious. "I am organized! But that rat orphan I live with probably took it somewhere to play with and didn't put it back. Wait 'til I get my hands on him. That's going to be one sorry Tim Drake when I'm done."
Selina blinked at Bruce's mean description of the boy, but Bruce snarled,
"Don't stand there. Help me look. It's a small lead box that closes tight with a bright green rock inside."
"Fine," Selina began looked around herself. "I don't understand why you're so worried about stopping him. He seemed perfectly calm upstairs. I thought he would be ready to tear the house down, but he just stood there and asked questions. So much for the jealous boyfriend."
"You don't know him like I do. Once the arms cross, it's all over for me. Search faster, woman!"
"I am looking in a dark cave as big as your house," she protested. "It could be anywhere. Maybe Tim took it with him."
Bruce growled again as he moved to the next cabinet and began flinging out papers and tools and spare parts onto the floor. "This can't be happening. Not again, not after I promised him the lying was over. Ugh, where is that damned box? Of all things to lose, of all the stupid, sodding, rotten, fuc – there!"
He saw the small black box in the corner of the lower cabinet, tucked away innocently under new designs for the Batmobile.
Bruce reached out with a shaky hand. He would never use Kryptonite to hurt Clark – no, it was just to slow him down, to make Clark stop and think before he did something catastrophic, to force Clark to listen and understand that sometimes people make mistakes and that there was absolutely no reason to go to drastic lengths about anything.
Bruce felt the cold lead under his fingertips. He would open the box and slip the rock into his pocket, and when Clark got back, they would talk everything out. They would come to a nice agreement where Clark understood Bruce's confusion and Bruce got to continue sitting comfortably for the weekend because they had reached such a peaceful agreement. And if they couldn't, well, Bruce would have to find a way to keep the rock next to him for the rest of his life.
He grabbed the box and lifted the whole thing up in the air. He held the bottom with his left hand and put his right on top to open the lead box up.
At that moment, tight fingers closed around his wrist and yanked his hand off, leaving the box still closed.
In utter dismay, Bruce watched as Clark reach out with his free hand and grabbed the box. Bruce tried to hold on to it, but he could never match the brute strength of the Kryptonian. With another second more to open the box, Clark would have sunk to his knees in defeat in front of the green rock, but as long as the box was still tightly closed –
"You've done it now," Clark shook his head in disapproval as he slipped the box into his coat pocket. He kept one hand wrapped around Bruce's wrist like a vice. "You have really done it now."