Author’s Note: *giggles* May actually spawn a SERIOUS version, but for right now… I have to do it!
Legalities: Characters property of DC Comics and their creators.
Continuum: Something resembling comics.
Summary: *snicker* Something that would never, yet possibly could, happen. Some people discuss the way their children turned out. Don’t hate me for their portrayals—it’s just a STORY!
A Discussion
By: Carmen Wayne
“Damn kids.”
“Be nice.”
A black haired main shook his head, sighing in resignation as he tossed his cards to the table in front of him. Around his head was gold band, that matched the one his wife wore that sat next to them. They both wore white, fine clothes with a soft sheen to them. They sat with another couple at a table, that was placed in the middle of a lush green meadow that was woven with wild flowers and drenched in the sunlight…
“I don’t know why they’re the way they are.”
The man across from him with brown hair and his wife with black shrugged. He wore a nice white tuxedo, and she wore a white gown. She gently set the cards down she held.
“We certainly didn’t raise them to be so,” she commented.
“That’s the thing, Martha,” her husband said. “We didn’t raise them!”
“Well, at least you two had time with your son, Thomas,” the other wife said. “Jor-El and I had to lose our son just before he was two years old!”
“Such is a shame, Lara,” Thomas said.
Jor-El rubbed his eyes before gazing at the three.
“It’s not what they do that makes me angry, it’s how they go about executing it!”
“Well,” Thomas said, “At least Kal-El isn’t a male slut like Bruce.”
Martha struck Thomas across the arm, making him jump and rub it. Lara chuckled.
“Thomas, give Bruce a break. He’s a messed up child!”
“He is.”
“Who WOULDN’T be, Thomas?” Martha scolded. “He witnessed us being killed right in front of him!”
“He was raised to know about heaven and hell, though, Martha… We never would have wanted him to do what he has been.”
“Yes, but he was only eight years old. What he went through is enough to convince him of what he truly believes!”
“What does he believe?” Lara asked, curious.
Martha looked at her and began to fix her hair.
“What god allows an eight year old’s parents to be stripped away from him, especially like that?” she asked as if talking as her son.
“Ah…”
“And I have another thing to ask!” Jor-El stated, slamming his fist into the table. “What is it with their dying and being resurrected?!”
“That’s just a publicity stunt so their comics will sell more,” Thomas said. Martha nudged him hard and he choked. “Er, uh, I mean…”
“Thomas MEANS,” Martha stated, “that legends aren’t meant too die easily.”
“Uh, yeah.”
Thomas sealed his jaw together and picked up his glass of water. He figured he’d be quiet for a while and let the other three converse. Lara sat back in her chair and crossed her arms.
“Well, they ARE good boys,” she said.
Martha smiled and found herself thinking of her little boy—despite the fact of his being 6’2” and a good 210 pounds. When it all came down to it, she adored her little boy and was *very* proud of him.
“They’re superb. I love my child with all my heart,” Martha said softly, dazed off. “He’s such a handsome man now, and his heart is in the right place.”
“So is Kal-El’s. They’re wonderful children,” Lara agreed.
Thomas looked at Martha.
“Bruce is still a male slut.”
“Thom-AS!”
“Kal-El was definitely raised right by Jonathon and Martha Kent, I’d say,” Jor-El said, looking at Lara. “I’m so grateful THEY found him.”
Lara nodded in agreement, smiling.
“I would have no others being parents to him. And his name is nice. Clark Kent… It’s a name that isn’t anything too special, nor too plain. Suits him.”
“Agreed, love.”
Jor-El looked over to Thomas and Martha, Lara following him. The two of them were bantering back and forth.
“You’re just jealous—“
“Why? Because he doesn’t have the capacity for a monogamous relationship whereas I do? And very happily so?” Thomas asked her, taking her hand.
He attempted to kiss it, but she pulled it away.
“Do not insult your son. He may be… promiscuous—“
“He’s had orgies, Martha—“
“BUT, his body is wracked with scars that he has gotten in an attempt to honor us!” she insisted.
“And I do not mistake that, sweetheart, but MUST the man sleep with anything that walks?”
“At least he’s not attracted to goats.”
“Heh. Gross, Martha.”
Jor-El and Lara mused at the transaction.
“I suppose in the long run, we should try to look at the whole picture,” Jor-El said. “Kal-El honors us as he honors Krypton with his nobility, and gentle nature, and his need to protect those that are innocent.”
Lara giggled a bit.
“’Truth, justice and the American way’ after all. And your take on Bruce?”
Martha fanned herself, smiling big.
“Our boy doesn’t say much. He tries to work alone. He brutalizes people. He… sleeps around, since I know Thomas will want to add that, and he is obsessive compulsive with traces of borderline psychopathic tendencies—“
Thomas nudged her, leaning over to whisper to her:
“You’re going sociologist again, honey.”
“Sorry, Thomas. Anyway…” She looked back to the two Krypton natives. “But all the same, he donates billions to charity, rebuilds cities, saves lives at the cost of his own and honors his parents, even though he barely ever knew us…”
Lara applauded her. Jor-El nodded, then stared into space.
“WHY did he marry that Lois Lane?”
The three looked at him, wondering where that came from. Lara touched his arm.
“Jor-El?”
“Wonder Woman looks so much better with him! WHY Lois? Why a mortal woman, anyway? And a reporter to boot!”
“*I* think Princess Diana looks better with Thomas and Martha’s boy. Kal-El and Diana are FRIENDS, Jor-El. She’s far too moody for someone like our boy. But for Bruce Wayne, I think she’d be lovely with him. Besides, Kal-El is too modest. He’s been raised a farmer’s child, not that I’m complaining. Diana and Bruce were raised as upper class and royalty. They match each other!” Lara insisted.
“Now, if only Bruce could hold to a relationship as your boy does,” Thomas said. “That Selina Kyle, if she weren’t a kleptomaniac, would be a good match for Bruce.”
Martha reached over the table and began to gather their cards together to shuffle the deck.
“Bruce has a duty, a relationship would block his judgment. That’s how he feels, and that is how I shall support him,” she said stubbornly. She smiled a bit, looking at Jor-El and Lara. “What do you think about his costume?”
“Well, tight fitting clothes seem to be taboo in your culture, Martha,” Jor-El said. “For men, anyway. But it’s quite customary for men to wear tighter clothes on Krypton.”
“I think he looks handsome!” Lara said. “What about you with Bruce?”
“He’s awfully frightening…” Martha said. “But that’s what he goes for.”
Thomas grunted.
“If he wasn’t such a man-slut, I’d think he was gay.”
“THOMAS!”
Jor-El grinned a little, and Lara shielded her eyes, looked away and giggled. Martha hit Thomas’s arm again.
“You are so crude to your son!”
“I LOVE him, Martha… but you can’t keep defending his obvious track record with women. He’s just as bad as a pop star!”
“Thomas, just stop…”
“…I think he’s bisexual…”
Martha held her head. Lara continued to giggle silently, looking elsewhere. Jor-El just wore a blank smile, watching the two. Near them, in a flash of white light, appeared yet another couple. They both were in white, and both had black hair and blue eyes. Thomas stood.
“Oh, thank God! John, Mary, please sit down…”
John looked at him, and then Martha, and then smirked, leading Mary to a seat as it appeared.
“Are you questioning your son’s sexuality again, Thomas?”
“Love the man dearly, but those tights…”
“Thomas, that’s so mean!” Mary insisted.
“Oh, he knows that Bruce is not all that bad, and NOT homosexual,” Martha insisted, continuously shuffling and bridging the cards.
Thomas said nothing, but just smiled. Lara looked over to the two.
“We were discussing our boys’ costumes. What’s your take on Richard’s?” she asked gently.
Mary smiled.
“I love his new Nightwing costume. It’s VERY attractive on him…” Then she began to frown. “But that boy has made some horrible fashion choices in the past…”
“Meaning?”
“MEANING,” John said, huffing, “Short pants and chest hair! When he was little Robin, he wore short pants! And tights! No, not tights, that’s what that new Robin wears. He wore panty-hose!”
“Not to mention,” Mary said, “that he had that gold cape! He was a walking target in that! And that mask that *tied* around his head?! And lets not forget the elf shoes!”
“And why the HELL were his short pants scaled?!”
Mary made a glass of water appear and picked it up.
“I personally adore the new Robin’s costume. Much more appropriate.”
“Now, there was Nightwing’s first costume. That one annoyed me. As if he hadn’t learned that bright colors make him a target from the time he got shot!”
Mary slammed down her glass and fanned herself.
“And the horrid bare-chest! With that collar?! I’m glad it was screaming the opposite of what he really was!”
“All those Titans were horribly dressed back then.”
“I was ecstatic when he changed to the black and blue suit he has now. And that he cut his hair!” Mary smiled proudly. “He’s going to be a police officer!”
Martha chuckled.
“That’s a very good job, though dangerous! As if the poor man doesn’t have enough troubles already!” She slowly began to pass out the cards evenly to everyone. “Who’s up for a game of War?”
“I am!”
“Sounds good to me!” Lara smiled.
“War is good,” John agreed, grinning.
“Uhm, Martha?”
“Yes, Jor-El?”
“There’s fifty-two cards there, right?”
“Yes?”
“There’s six of us.”
“Why?”
“Eight cards per person even, four with nine.”
“Well… then…” She gathered up the cards she had passed out, and then had five more decks appear on the table. “More decks will suffice, I do believe! Correct, Jor-El?”
Jor-El chuckled, shuffling his new deck.
“Six people, three-hundred and twelve cards. I think we’re going to be here for a while.”
“No like we have to be anywhere,” John mused.
“You know what makes me furious, John, Mary?” Thomas asked, looking to them.
“What?” Mary asked nicely.
“Those public accusations that used to go around about both our boys. You know, ‘Oh God, you DO know why Wayne has that little boy living with him, DON’T you?’”
“Oh, yes, those STUPID people!” Mary exclaimed. “How DARE they even *imply* such a dreadful thing! We all know that Bruce cares for Dick as he would his own son. And quite frankly, John and I thank God every day for delivering Bruce to Dick as a protector. Even now that Bruce and he have become legal father and son.”
“Bruce does know how to love on a family level, that’s for sure,” Thomas said, nodding. “And they look so much like father and son, it’s disturbing! But I thank God that Bruce got Dick for a ward, and a friend, and a son. Dick has always been that… anchor that has kept our son from falling into insanity…”
John nodded slowly.
“I just feel so bad for Richard when it comes to the… emotional abuse Bruce has shoved him through…” he said, cautiously.
Martha touched his arm gently, since he sat right beside her.
“We are so very sorry for that, John. Bruce… we cannot excuse that…”
He covered her hand with his.
“Martha, it’s always been in Dick’s best interest… Always to protect him, to keep him away from other hurts. I assume he was willing to sacrifice the relationship between he and Dick for his life. We don’t blame him.”
Martha smiled faintly at him, then turned to Jor-El and Lara.
“You know, their boy is a connecting figure to both Bruce and Dick, as Clark AND Superman.”
Mary chuckled, looking at them.
“Kal-El is SO funny sometimes, when he’s around Dick, you know that?”
Jor-El grinned at Lara, who giggled, and looked back to Mary.
“No matter how innocent and how sweet he acts, he’s still got a paralleling perverseness to him. Anything he says, you need to be careful, there might be an underlying innuendo there…”
Thomas laid down his first card, and decided he had to say it. Jor-El had just left it wide open for him. He never believed anything he said along these lines, but it got reactions out of his bride. He loved that.
“Better than have underlying questions in his sexuality.”
“THOMAS!”
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