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The Birthday Present	By : Kip Category: DC Verse Comics > Batman Views: 8479 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Batman series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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"I never meant to, Kal. I swear I never set out to let him be hurt." Bruce stared out into the night. "But Sandy's right. I did it anyway."
"What did you do, Bruce?" Kal sat on the very edge of the balcony, oblivious to the drop below, dangling his legs out into the air.
"What didn’t I do?" The unhappy billionaire had had plenty of time to reflect on his actions, and his shortcomings.
"I don’t know." Kal answered honestly. "And please don’t give me any sordid details, I can't sleep as it is. What I do want to know is why Sandy has cried himself to sleep every night for the past week, and why Wally nearly beat me over the head with a skillet for suggesting that we put the two of you together somewhere to talk it over."
"Sandy's been crying?" Horrified, Bruce turned to his friend.
"Practically non-stop." Kal nodded.
"Thanks Kal." Bruce let out a long sigh.
"Thanks?" The Kryptonian looked at him dubiously. "For what?"
"I didn’t think that anything could make me feel like a bigger shit than I already did; but you've just managed it."
"What are friends for?" Kal shrugged. "If it's any consolation, Wally isn't speaking to me right now."
"No? Why?"
"Because I flew us to my fortress so we could get some quality time."
Which didn’t sound like a bad thing; but obviously was.
"Wally's mad at you?" Bruce was beginning to get the idea: lately it seemed like everything was down to him… Any minute now someone was going to lay Global Warming on his doorstep… Probably the Last Ice Age too… He told himself to stop thinking like The Question and listen to whatever Kal was babbling about.
"I suppose that's my fault too?" He asked wearily.

"No." Kal was quick to deny it. "It's my fault! I should have remembered that Wally hates the ice because he can't get enough traction."
"I'm not going to even think of asking you what that is about." Bruce told him. "Because I've not been sleeping properly either," Try almost not at all. "And my brain is just about frazzled. My head's full of cotton wool, and I don’t think that anything anyone says is going to make any sort of sense to me." Which was why he hadn't dared go out on patrol…
Kal sat and thought that over. "It's quiet here." He said tentatively.
"Yes." Too quiet… I miss the way Sandy used to snuffle when he was asleep. I miss the way he used to sigh each time he turned over. I even miss the way the energy used to crackle like thin cellophane when he let Moon manifest. I miss HIM!
"Bruce, maybe you’re not sleeping because you're used to having someone around?" Kal suggested, which was worrying because Kal had never shown any talent for mind reading before. "I know that I can't sleep back at my old apartment because I miss Wally," He added seriously.
"Maybe?" Bruce agreed.
Kal was suddenly uncharacteristically confident. "Get into bed."

Now THAT was really worrying…
Bruce stared at his friend. "I beg your pardon?"
"I said for you to get into bed." Kal repeated the previous instruction.
"I know what you said," Bruce told him. "What I don’t know is why."
"You need to sleep." Kal stated equally firmly.
Which was clear as mud. "And this would be your business how?" Bruce asked. Really smart there, Bruce … one super-powered friend storms out of your life, and now you're standing on a balcony arguing with another… Not to mention that he can fly and you can’t... Oh and not forgetting that he just happens to be able to take whole planets apart with his bare hands...
"I'm your friend, and right now I can see how awful you look." The Kryptonian told him.
"And of course, telling me that is just going to make me feel so much better!" Bruce managed just a small spark of sarcasm.
Kal rolled his eyes. "No," He said slowly, "But what I have in mind might just make both of us feel better. You are going to lie down under the covers, and I am going to lie down on top of the covers, and we are BOTH going to get a few hours sleep. The world can manage without us for one night; but if we don’t get some rest we are both going to collapse; which would be a bad thing." He added.
Even Bruce couldn’t fault the logic in that.

Who knew that Kryptonians were warm and soft and liked to cuddle?
Wally does… And he is going to be pissed as hell if he ever finds out about this. But that wasn’t Bruce’s main concern at that moment. It hadn’t been anything deliberate; but apparently Kal had been right and they had both fallen asleep the instant they occupied adjacent spaces. It was morning now, and Bruce had woken to find Kal's arm wrapped around him; which was something that he was finding more than a little disconcerting. Even so, sharing a bed with his very male friend wasn’t his main worry.
What if Kal accidentally squeezes? Bruce had a sudden disturbing image of being crushed like a used toothpaste tube.
"Mmmm?" Kal inhaled magnificently, tensed, and then instantly let go. "Sorry." He said at once. "I grabbed you didn’t I? I get kinda clingy when I'm asleep."
"No?" Bruce raised an eyebrow. "You don’t say? I hadn't noticed."
"Wally says it's cute." Kal confided. He made a wry face. "Of course there are other times when he complains that it's like sleeping with a steel octopus." He stared at his hand. "I wonder why he says that?"
"I can't imagine." Bruce said quickly, "And I really don’t want to try."
"Well you seem perkier." Kal had noticed. "More sarcastic anyway, which means you must be feeling more like your usual self?"
"I did sleep the whole night." Bruce admitted. "And I didn’t even have any nightmares."
"You usually have them?" The Kryptonian was immediately sympathetic.
"Yeah," Bruce didn’t like talking about that, and thankfully Kal appeared to have successfully taken the hint, as he didn’t seem inclined to press the matter any further.
Of course, it might also mean that, like me, Kal's got other things on his mind…

"You obviously sleep better when you've got someone with you," The other hero supposed.
"Apparently so," Bruce nodded. "Not that it's a lot of good finding that out now, not under the current circumstances."
"Still…" Kal had an uncanny knack of being able to imply something without seeming to even get close to mentioning the topic.
"You think I should apologise to Sandy, grovel on bended knee, and beg him to come back?" It was reasonably obvious that that was the way Kal's thoughts were headed.
Because that's what Kal wants to do with Wally…
"If you think that's the right thing." Kal started to say.
Meaning 'yes, get on with it!' …
"I've thought about it." Bruce admitted. Plus a lot of far more embarrassing and sappy things – any of which I’d try in an instant if I thought that there was the slightest chance of Sandy letting me talk to him, even for a few seconds.
"And?"
"Kal, he won't talk to me. Surely I don’t need to tell you about that?"
"No." Kal conceded the point. "I've been there when Sandy put the phone down on you."
"You were there? Every time?"
"Well, only some of them; but Wally and I always made sure that someone was there with Sandy if we had to go out." Kal flushed a little. "Most of the time it's us at home with him; but we weren't always paying too much attention to what was going on … outside the bedroom." He said tentatively.
"Listen, I know that the two of you are doing your best for him, and I appreciate it." Bruce promised, single-mindedly ignoring the additional information. "Believe me, Kal, I'd like nothing more than to have Sandy forgive me; but I don’t see how that's ever going to happen if he won't let me get anywhere near him."
"And he destroyed the letters you wrote, and the flowers." Kal bit his lip. "Uh…"
"I expected it." Bruce nodded reluctantly. "Which is why I had the last letter coated in flame-retardant." Shame I couldn’t find any flame-proof flowers … Asbestos tulips didn’t sound like a very smart idea though…
"Sandy can make things fall apart." Kal reminded him. "He doesn’t have to actually burn them."
Bugger, I'd forgotten about that – but apparently Sandy hasn't…

"I take it that Wally liked the chocolates?" Bruce enquired casually.
The look that Kal gave him said that Kal was under orders not to say a word about that. Presumably having already lost sleeping privileges the Big Guy was worried about losing visiting rights too?
Or something just as precious: after all, Sandy can actually touch him, can’t he? And even Kal has to sleep sometime… Quite coincidentally that usually tended to happen right around the time of night when the Moonshadow was most active.
And there’s nowhere Sandy couldn’t get to, if he really wanted to.
"Don’t worry about it, Kal. I do understand." Having placed a discreet video surveillance device on the roof of the building opposite, and seen how Sandy had instantly passed the box to Wally, it wasn’t exactly news. Bruce couldn’t find it in himself to begrudge the speedster either, not after the way in which Wally was taking care of Sandy, which was partly why Bruce had deliberately selected something that at least one of the volatile pair would definitely appreciate.
"One way or another that bloody blond is going to be the death of me." He said quietly, realising that if he and Sandy carried on like this, it was only a matter of time before one or other of them made a fatal mistake.
"Bruce?"
He was reminded that he was not alone. "Oh, I don’t mean it, Kal; but still… What the hell am I going to do?"
"You could try coming to the Station and returning to full active duty?" Kal supposed. "Statistically speaking, you're bound to be sent out on at least one call together? He can't very well ignore you if you're out on assignment, can he?"
"I wouldn’t count on it." Bruce sighed. "He can be very stubborn at times."
"Then you'll have to be even more stubborn." Kal pointed out. "If anyone can do it, you can."
Bruce didn’t even dignify that one with an answer.
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The Birthday Present