alpha x alpha superbat bc i just LOVE it
But Superman thinks Bruce hates his scent. He has a lot of reasons to believe why that is. First of all, human alphas are very territorial, so an alpha's scent can be seen as a challenge more often than not. Second of all, it's, well, Batman. The guy never trusted him in the first place, but then again, he didn't really humor anyone in the JL, except Diana, but that's Diana. Clark gets it; there are a lot of alphas with a bunch of scent. Phew, if he were human, he'd get overwhelmed. He has to give it to Bruce for still holding so high. So, just to make people's lives easier, he wears scent patches designed in the Fortress so no one would smell him. Like, even if his rut was coming, no one would suspect a thing. Peace is what matters, so even though he never felt challenged, it's better to keep the JL in peace, and if less scent means that, so be it.
But he guesses maybe Bruce has some metahuman powers because every time there's a mission and Superman is done rescuing people, Bruce's nose wrinkles a bit, just a bit that no one would even see it. But that's Clark, and he sees everything. It's actually amazing that Bruce is able to pick up on the scent, and Superman is fascinated by it. Sure, he's upset that that means his plan on not getting Batman overwhelmed doesn't work, but at least the guy can smell anyone so he's definitely safe in Gotham. Who knows what can crawl behind you.
Except somehow and someday, Clark is still shocked by this, but now they are together. He doesn't really know how it came to be (no, he does know, he still remembers that night so well). But Bruce (Bruce!!!) is dating him, and they're together and in love, so in love. Clark still wears patches, obviously; he is just really happy to be next to Bruce that he doesn't want to rival that guy. He knows instincts aren't all intentional, so he's more than happy to wear the patch just so Bruce would be comfortable around him. It's kind of overwhelming for Clark, though, to wear them 24/7; he really needs to release all that scent that had built up, but Bruce really wants Clark to stay at the manor, so he does. And Bruce is very lovable; even though he does put on an act, he's still such a flirt at home as well. Gods, it's almost like Clark's face is just always red, and he thanks Rao for wearing that god-awful patch because he'd be releasing so much scent he thinks someone next to him would faint.
But just because everything is happy between them doesn't mean problems really go away. Bruce still despises Clark's scent. But now that they are together he is more expressive about it; it's not just wrinkling his nose, he now fully shows a face of disgust. It always happens after battles, after Superman is done saving civilians. He realizes that while in battle he's got to release a lot of scent and Bruce is able to pick it up. God, he's almost self-conscious about going to the Watchtower after the battles. He really doesn't want to look into Bruce's eyes all meeting, because what if Bruce will have had enough with whatever humans call this scent war. Clark isn't trying to show dominance really, but he also knows that you can't just ignore your instincts (sometimes he wishes Bruce did, but he gets it). He's just scared Bruce will realize it's a lot of trouble to go through to be together if there's always going to be this conflict with scents.
Does Bruce know Clark's thoughts? No, he doesn't! He's too busy glaring at omegas that just have to rub their scent onto his boyfriend, onto his potential mate. They really don't have to get all this bubbly scent onto the hero that just saved him. And he's so mad. Clark doesn't have a scent; sure, he's an alpha, but for some alien reason, he just doesn't scent. And it's driving Bruce nuts. He doesn't want anyone to be able to scent-mark Superman. He hates everyone that gets close; he doesn't care that it's just the irrational alpha part of him speaking. Sure, he can cover Clark in scent at home, but anywhere else? Everyone is just free to do so. Maybe he should get Clark a cologne or anything so just someone else's scent wouldn't linger much on him (for better, make that cologne compliment Bruce's scent so anyone could take a hint).
