A Kryptonian's Fixation

Watchtower Mishap

Batman sighed softly as he rubbed his face the best he could with his cowl on. He had been at the Watchtower for the whole night, and he had to leave soon, but it appeared as though no one was coming to relieve him of duty. If he remembered the chart correctly, the next person's shift is one of the Green Lanterns, probably John Stewart seeing as Hal had an Air Force mission.

"Hey, what are you still doing here?"

Surprised at the sound of someone else, the Dark Knight did what he always did when he's surprised and in the cowl; jump up and get ready for a fight.

The red caped hero backed up quickly, his hands flying up in a form of surrender. Sure, none of the usual weapons that the Batman had on him would hurt him, but he didn't want to test to see how far the startled bat would go.

"Oh. It's you." Batman's gruff, his tense-battle ready body, slouching. He then moved to conceal his weapons back in their various pockets and boxes.

Superman was a little curious on how much Batman could hold in his utility belt. He's seen the Cape Crusader pull out weapons and items that were far too big for the simple sized boxes. Oh, and don't get him started on how many baterangs he somehow had on him! Had he figured out how to shrink things? That would make sense, except why wouldn't he use that in a fight then? If it was unstable, he wouldn't use it at all!

"Are you here to take over watch?" Hearing the darker hero speak out, the paragon hero refocused himself.

"No, I was actually wanting to add something about Luthor onto the database."

The night vigilante nodded, turning around in the large chair as he went back to monitoring the world. Superman frowned a little at the silence. The silence wasn't anything new from Batman, but it felt off. He knew at the very least the dark knight would know the schedule, so him asking was weird.

"Why don't I take over for you though? You should get some sleep before the morning." He joked a little, leaning over the chair to smile at his friend.

As usual, there was no laughter, not even a twitch on his mouth or a flutter of change from his heart. Sometimes the Kryptonian thought the man before him wasn't human or alive. However, there was a heartbeat and he bled and healed like a normal human. He was just a rather strange human. Taking every precaution to not be found out, even going so far as to line his cowl and belt with lead. Superman was sure that was mainly for him, though he wasn't sure why, especially after all they went through.

Batman grunted, his lips barely moving at the sound he caused. "I'm waiting for-" Just as he turned his head to speak more directly to the hero of Metropolis, their lips met. It was this moment his heart fluttered a bit faster than normal.

Quickly, both men pulled away from each other, their lips tingling with the sensation of what had happened. They could only stare at each other in surprise and shock, Superman's being more visible while Batman's was more internal.

A deep scowl soon took place on the pointy eared man's face, him turning back to the monitors before him. Superman winced some at the scowl, listening to the once again regular heartbeat of the Cape Crusader. The air around the two was a bit tense, heavy even. The Big Man in Blue looked away before reaching out and gently grabbing the other's shoulder.

"Sorry... I-I was too close." He started, he stopped when he saw his co-worker move. His shoulders lifted before slowly setting, Superman's ears picking up on the other sighing.

"It's equally our fault." Came the grumbled response. There was another sigh from the broad man. Slowly, he stood up, giving the Man of Steel enough time to back away. "Maybe I do need some time to sleep." He murmured, rubbing his face.

Listening to his heart, the Kryptonian found it beating slower than normal. It wasn't beating abnormally slower, but the kind of slowness he learned to associate with exhaustion. He had heard his human parents' hearts beat like that after a very long day.

"I'll take over till John comes in." The Man in Blue stated with a calming smile.

The other caped hero raised an eyebrow. "Didn't know you memorized the schedule." He spoke aloud before he began to walk away.

Superman frowned a little at this. Did Batman think so lowly of him? Just as the thought crossed his mind, the two Green Lanterns showed up, both of them arguing. The reasoning for their arguing? They didn't know who's turn it was to be at the Watchtower.

After sorting all that out and doing what he had originally gone there for done, he went home. As he left, he did think about what Batman said. Maybe what the Cape Vigilante said wasn't too unnecessary. He did have a bad habit of not listening to the schedule after all.