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“...Jaybird,” Bruce shook his baby boy’s arm, also simultaneously jostling the tiny body of his puppy who’d slept in his arms all night long. In response, Jason complained via smacking his lips and turning away, nestling his face into pillows. Despite the belly, it didn’t stop Bruce from grabbing and squeezing his son into a hug which the little one squirmed and responded to in kind. “Tweet-tweet, my little Jaybird— he-llo my little blue-jay…”
“‘M tired, mama.”
“I know, kiddo, but I think we need to talk, babybird.”
“Don’t wanna…”
“Baby, your mama and I just want to know why you were crying last night. You worry us,” Clark supplied helpfully from the other side of the nest, extending calming pheromones and a balanced aura of absolute control even through these beginning hours of his rut.
B’cause I was scared.”
Clark and Bruce share a look.
Bruce’s face softened in the dark of the room, light attempting to heartily push through their blackout curtains in this mid-morning and dewy day. No matter how much the sun’s rays tried, they could not prevail. The constant light gave Bruce a headache…he wasn’t sure if it was the constant exposure to horrible stimuli during his nightly activities or if it was a symptom of the pregnancy, but Clark had set to blacking out an entirety of rooms leading all the way to the grandfather clock and the kitchen, making two distinct routes through the house natural-lightless. It would not help his accusations of being a vampire, but the animal he based his entire personality around never did him any favors anyway.
“How come?” Bruce reached up and tucked a strand of curly hair behind Jason’s ear.
Jay rolled back over and wrapped his arms around his mama’s midriff, burying his bed-head-clad hair into Bruce’s ever-softening chest. “I was scared because he smelled like rut and I don’t want him to hurt you.”
“Has your papa ever done anything to hurt you or your brother, baby?” Jay shook his head and Bruce smiled at him, raking his hand through his baby’s softly conditioned hair. “What about me?” Another shake. “So why did you cry about him rutting?”
“Because Willis hurted my mommy.”
Ah. So this was about what Bruce had expected it would be about. God, if he could get his hands on that man—
“I’m so sorry, honey,” Clark breathed and held back the choke to his voice, wresting Bruce from his scent-souring trip to I'm-gonna-fantasize-about-killing-that- man-in-a-hundred-different-ways imagination land. He instead outreached a hand, placating the both of them who's shoulders raised to their ears defensively by tentatively reaching out a hand to pet through his son’s hair. Jason shied away, hiding away in his mama’s protection, and the man tried not to take it personally, but the gesture held the same intended calming effect.
“She was gonna had a baby,” Jay continued, “but then Willis hurted her when he was rut and then she gived all the baby stuff to our neighbor and she cried a lot. I don’t want you to cry a lot because of papa.”
Bruce’s shirt sported two growing spots of salty tears where Jason’s eyes had been, and when the man realized his baby was crying, he pulled back and wiped them with his soft thumbs sweetly. Gentle rocks walked them both through the following bout of crying and distress. As the atmosphere calmed again, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to his boy’s crown like it was what he was designed to do. He shoved the amusement at the fact that Clark had, indeed, caused him to cry a lot for one reason or another in the past. He would understand when he's older. Relationships are complicated.
“Thank you for sharing this with me, baby. And for protecting me. I’m very proud of you,” Bruce breathed into Jason’s hair and then took a steadying breath, the unmistakable milky puppy scent mixed with the conditioner they used for his curls calmed him. “Your papa told me something else, though. He told me that you offered to…share your body with him…sexually.”
Alright, Bruce, don’t clam up now. Your pup does not need you to be nervous. If you’re nervous, he’s nervous and then
“Well, yeah…I did it on the streets and everyone knows that a willing omega is always desirable and—”
“Puppy,” Bruce’s words cut like the tang of pineapple on a cut in the corner of your mouth. His hand rose to rest at the nape of the puppy’s neck, only gripping slightly. Not enough to scruff, but he would if need be. To get his point across. “No adult should ever be having sex with a child. No one is to ever be touching you, baby. You are here to be a kid just like the baby, okay? It’s my job to keep you safe. All of your siblings. If your papa Clark ever made me nervous about anyone being near, I would have never let him into our nest. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, mama.” Jason’s voice left no room for doubts. Not a single question lingered in the air as he burrowed his face into mama’s chest again, listening to the heartbeat strong and grounding. “I’m sorry I got upset last night, papa.”
Clark took the little hand that reached out towards him gingerly and pulled it to his heart before then nuzzling it to his face. “Never be sorry, sugar.”