Batman did not want Superman to hold him, not because he was shy or averse to physical contact.
It was the same logic as not wanting a Tyrannosaurus Rex to hold him.
When facing some enormous creature that could send you flying with a flick of a hair, no normal person would want any physical contact with him. What kind of bat wanted to hug the sun?!
Batman did have a bit of paranoia, but not wanting close contact with Superman was entirely an instinctive act of human self-preservation.
This guy's strength was too terrifying. If his arm used even one hundred-thousandth more force, Batman would turn into pulp on the spot.
Batman knew Superman too well. People like him always pushed their luck. Let him hug you once, and from then on he would hug you every time you met. What if he lost control one day?
You could not just dart into traffic every day because cars had brakes, could you?
No normal person would do that, right?
But unfortunately, Bruce was not normal.
Batman even wondered whether the other-universe version of himself had never met Superman, or perhaps had never seen Superman fight crime.
With one punch from Superman, aliens and their spaceships turned straight into flat decals. A planet the size of Earth was like a kettlebell in his hands; he could swing it around and throw it out of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Even Joker, with that mushy brain of his, knew not to casually get close to someone like that, right? Had Bruce taken too much medication or something?
Batman completely overturned his previous plan. Sharing an identity with Bruce was too dangerous. Today he dared to hug Superman; tomorrow, who knew what he would dare to hug.
But if he wanted to expel