Hands (SuperBat)

6 Bathe

Crying.

Bruce heard it. He went to the area of the manor where Kal was occupying. He followed the cries to the bathroom. He came to the closed door and called, "Kal, do you need me to come in?"

Sobs could be heard through the door, but no clear answer.

"Alright, I'm coming in," he warned. He slowly opened the door.

The sobbing was coming from the bathtub. Hot steam filled the room, making it hard to see. In the tub was Kal curled up into a ball as the water continued spraying from the showerhead.

Kal's hands were raked into his soaked hair in distress. He was hunched over with his eyes squeezed shut.

"Hold on," Bruce said. He grabbed a towel that was on the sink. He turned off the water.

A few drops managed to get on his hand, which was way to hot for a human being. He hissed at the hotness of the water.

Bruce paused to figure out what to do exactly.

Kal didn't like to be touched.

"Um," he said. "I'm going to wrap the towel around you, okay?"

Kal didn't look up, but he did respond with a nod. His sobs calmed down to little whimpers. His body was trembling.

"Okay," he said relieved. He placed the towel around Kal's shoulders. "Hm." He felt awkward as Kal's lower body needed to be rinsed off. Not only that, he was a bit hard.

Kal tried and failed to take a shower.

Bruce said, "You need to be rinsed off before you get out."

Kal's hands were clenched to the towel. He was not in any condition to continue.

"Okay, hold on," Bruce said. He needed to help him out. He couldn't leave Kal a crying mess in the bathtub. He went to grab the washcloth.

Kal looked up alarmed. He tried to push himself back, but he was already against the tub's back.

"Hold on," Bruce said. "It's alright. I'm not going to touch you."

"That's not it," Kal stuttered. He pulled his knees up to his chest. He wiped his face with his still wet hands. He looked down at himself, then away. He was embarrassed. "I'm sorry." He was in such a vulnerable state.

"It's no big deal," he said. It wasn't often that he saw Kal embarrassed. A little nudity never made Superman nervous. "Do you need me to help you?"

Kal gulped as he tried to think of his options. He grimaced as he thought of what to do. "I... I can do it. I'm... I just panicked."

"Looked like more than panicking."

He didn't respond to that statement. "I just don't like..."

"Feeling hands?" Bruce observed. "Negative reaction to stimuli to the genitals."

Kal tensed up. "Can you stop?"

"Sorry," Bruce needed to stop psycho analyzing him, especially to his face. "Want me to get you a robe while you try to rinse yourself off?"

"Yes, please. Give me a few minutes."

"Okay," Bruce said. "And be careful with that water temperature."

Kal nodded.

Bruce walked out and closed the door behind him. He got a robe and came back to the bathroom. He knocked on the door. "It's me."

Kal cracked open the door and reached his hand out. When Bruce handed him the robe, Kal closed the door. "Thank you," he said through the door.

"No problem." He left Kal, hoping he would feel okay enough to recuperate. He tried to figure out what else Kal would have trouble doing with his adverse to feeling hands. The fact that he couldn't touch himself with his own hands was concerning.

While he was deep in thought, Damian popped up behind him and said, "Wow, I've never heard Superman cry before."

"How did you know-."

"That that's Superman?" Damian interrupted. "There was a lot of evidence. If it wasn't him, then it would have been a girlfriend of yours and there was no way she would stay inside and not show you off."

"Hm."

"Is he alright?"

Bruce answered, "No. He needs therapy."

"Like you?" Damian spouted.

Bruce was not amused.

"Since you kept Superman a secret, does that mean he doesn't want it known that he it living here?"

"Correct," his father said. "He doesn't want to be bothered. Do not bother him."

"Okay okay," he said, annoyed. "Does he have a screw loose or something?"

Bruce said not giving a lot away, "As you know, he has been through a lot."

"Yeah," Damian said. "It's too bad he went through all that. At least, he has you." He shrugged at the last statement.

Bruce would like to refute the statement because he felt like he wasn't doing much for Kal. He felt like he was just watching Kal retreat to himself everyday. He felt he was enabling him. He only felt like the detective in the relationship between the two.

Later in the evening, Bruce decided to check up on Kal. He found him in the sitting room. He sat across from Kal on a couch. Before saying anything, he observed Kal.

Kal was sitting on the arm chair. He was fully dressed in a flannel shirt over a tee-shirt, that made Bruce cringe. He wore easy lounge pants. He was holding the same book he had been holding before. Of course, he wasn't reading it. He was looking at it, but his mind was somewhere else.

"Kal," Bruce called.

It may have taken a few seconds, but Kal slowly looked up at his visitor. "Hi," he said sheepishly. He was still embarrassed about earlier.

"Do you want to talk?"

After thinking for a few seconds, he shrugged.

Bruce sighed, "Have you... Would you like a hug?"

Puzzled, Kal cocked his head to the side. He wondered just what brought this on?

"You are the type to hug, to make others feel better. I know a simple hug wouldn't solve all your problems, but couldn't it do something?" Bruce knew Kal didn't want to be touched, but recognized it was mostly hands he hated.

Kal looked to the side, then to Bruce. Then to his lap. "Maybe."

Bruce stood up. He walked around the coffee table until he was in front of Kal. He felt awkward as he slowly lifted his arms and wrapped them around Kal. Heet his arms lay around his shoulders. He made sure his hands didn't touch Kal; they rested on his forearms.

Kal was stiff as a board.

"Want me to let go?"

"No," Kal answered as soon as the question was asked. He leaned forward into the hug until his ear laid on Bruce's chest. He could hear his heartbeat. He closed his eyes as he trembled. He shook his head as a sob escaped his lips. "Stay."

"Okay, I will stay. You don't need to hold it in."

Kal said as he trembled, "Says the Batman." A chuckle escaped his lips, but it turned into more sobs.

"Don't worry about that," Bruce said. "You already have your own problems. Just let it all out." He knew that he hadn't seen Kal cry except in the bathroom.

That probably wasn't enough. He needed the outlet, and Bruce was willing to give it.

Kal's hands clawed into Bruce's shirt as he cried.

Bruce could've sworn within the cries, he heard him call for his "Ma" and "Pa".

Bruce just continued to hold him. He hated to hear him cry, but he had to push his feelings aside for him. He would do anything for him. He desperately wanted him to feel better.