"Hey! Look what your kid did to my shirt!"
Bruce turned as a furious man stormed toward him, dragging a child by the arm. The man jabbed a finger at a brown stain on his shirt, clearly ice cream, given the cone still clutched in the boy’s hand.
"I didn’t bump into him! He bumped into me!" the boy protested, yanking his arm free with such force that the man nearly lost his balance. The man glared at the child before turning back to Bruce.
"Well? Aren’t you going to compensate me? This shirt’s expensive!"
Without a word, Bruce extended his hand toward the boy, silently requesting the ice cream. The boy hesitated, then handed it over. To the man’s shock, Bruce calmly dumped the remaining ice cream onto his head.
"There. Now you’ve got a matching hat. And here’s $10 for your knockoff shirt," Bruce said, slipping a bill into the man’s pocket. "Why don’t you spend the rest of the day cooling off instead of picking on kids? Come on, kid."
With that, Bruce walked away, the boy trailing obediently behind him.
Once inside the car, Bruce started driving back to the manor.
"I’m sorry your day at the zoo got cut short, Damian," Bruce said after a moment. "I’ll ask Alfred to get you a big tub of ice cream when we get home, okay?"
"Uh... I’m Jon," the boy replied hesitantly.
Bruce slammed on the brakes.
***
Meanwhile, Clark raised his hands in a placating gesture, trying to calm the angry zookeeper standing before him. A child clung to his back, occasionally hurling small sticks and pebbles at the man.
"Your kid is an absolute menace! You should be ashamed as a parent!" the zookeeper yelled.
"I’m really sorry about the trouble. Let me talk to him, okay?" Clark replied, trying to defuse the situation. The zookeeper gave them both a final glare before stomping off.
Clark sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The kid finally slid off his back and stood, brushing off his pants.
"We’ve talked about this. You have to keep a safe distance from the animals at the zoo. Why did you climb into the monkey enclosure? You know it’s against the rules," Clark admonished him.
"That zookeeper was being mean to the little monkey! He deserves to be free!" the boy argued, crossing his arms defiantly.
"Okay, but that doesn’t give you the right to throw things at the man. You could’ve hurt him. You know we’re supposed to use our powers responsibly, Jon."
"What are you talking about, old man? If I wanted to hurt him, I’d have used the tiny knives in my boots. And my name’s not Jon."
Clark blinked, then reached down and pulled the cap off the boy’s head, revealing a pair of angry green eyes staring back at him.
Superbat Family Fics
