This is a one-shot I wrote for my AP Psychology class, and I really like it, so I figured I'd post it. 8D
I kept all of my end-notes intact, for those who are interested in Social Psychology and how it relates to the JLA.
Yes, I know Indigo isn't a League member, but she was the one most clueless to Batman's behaviors, so I picked her.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to DC Comics.
WARNING: There is implied Bruce/Clark near the end, just so you know.
Why Batman is so…Batman-y (1)
"Kal." Indigo approached the Last Son of Krypton with a determined stride. Kal turned his baby blues from the reaches of space, one dark eyebrow raised.
"Kal," repeated the android, blue skin shimmering under the fluorescent light of the Watchtower. "I have realized something today." This ought to be interesting, Kal thought with the faintest grin.
Indigo hadn't been on New Earth two months and she was still getting used to how everyone acted, the technology they used, the meta-humans that existed; the entire world was brand new to her, and she was incredibly eager to learn all she could about everything she could.
"Like what?" Kal asked.
"Batman," Indigo professed. "Why is he always—"
"Brooding?"
"Not only that," Indigo said. "He is so distant. He always seems an outsider, even amongst the Justice League, those who are his friends." Bruce doesn't have the luxury of friends, Kal thought sadly.
"Uh, yes he is."
"Why?"
Why? Asking why Bruce was so…detached was like asking why Victor and Garfield had mustard-covered Tweenkie eating contests with Kory, or asking how Lois's day went after a busy day at the Planet. It wasn't something that would be easy to explain, and it wasn't something that was going to be quick to explain. It was just asking for a confusing, four-hour long story.
"It's…complicated," Kal settled on saying. (2)
"Is it because he is not meta-human?" Indigo asked, pink eyebrows arched high.
"No," Kal blurted out. "No, no, no." Not having powers had never bothered Bruce, because he knew he could be just as good as the rest of the League without them. I shouldn't be telling her, Kal thought, biting the inside of his lip as he pondered his current situation. Then again, if it's just Indigo...I guess it wouldn't hurt. Plus she wouldn't be learning anything that wasn't common knowledge. She hasn't been around long enough to know about Bruce's past, about his parents' murders. (3)"A little story-time won't hurt anything," Kal said, smiling. "Come on. Let's head over to the rec-room. A lot of League members are on active duty right now, so it should be deserted."
"Tell me, Kal. Why is Batman so—"
"All right," Kal said, looking around the empty room, double-checking that no one was with them. No one on the x-ray vision. Nothing with the super-sonic hearing. They were alone.
For about two seconds.
Before half a word was past Kal's lips, Wally was there. "Hey, Big Blue!" he greeted. "Indigo. What's happening?"
"Flash," Indigo greeted in her normal, android tone.
"Hi, Wally."
"You asked what was happening," Indigo said, and before Kal could quiet her, she continued with, "Kal is going to tell me why Batman is so—"
"Moody?" Wally finished. He grinned. "Cool. Can I join?"
Kal could immediately see a conflict arising. Telling two people about Bruce wouldn't be bad, if the two people were both androids who didn't already know about Bruce, and if the two people were any two people but Wally West. His mouth was as fast as his feet and if Kal let anything slip that Bruce wouldn't want people knowing…oh, he'd be in it deep.
"Actually, Wally," Kal said. "I think you ought to sit this one out. You already know about Bruce's past anyway."
"Sure." Wally shrugged. "But I've only heard it from the papers, and I'm not on active duty right now, and I know that you're a great story-teller." His emerald eyes went wide. "Pretty please?" Kal sighed and caved.
"All right, all right," he conceded. "But only you two." He sat in one of the comfy cushioned lounges the rec-room offered, and Indigo and Wally both took a seat on the floor before him, like two eager children waiting for story-time. In a way, they were, except one was the Fastest Man Alive and the other was an android from the 31st century. "When Bruce was eight," Kal began, "his parents took him to see The Mask of Zorro. After they left the theater, the street was deserted." He remembered Bruce telling him that he'd been acting like Zorro in the movie, pretending to wield a rapier as his parents looked on, smiling. "Where the theater is used to be Park Row. Now it's Crime Alley." He paused as Indigo and Wally held on every word. "A gunman stepped out of the shadows, demanded money and jewelry." (4)
Suddenly, a door to the rec-room opened, and all six eyes shot to it.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Dinah strolled in, giving a lazy salute in their direction.
"Story time," Wally said, grinning.
"Really?" Dinah asked, walking over. She sat next to Indigo, leaning back on her hands. "About what?"
"Batman," Indigo said.
"Really?" Dinah sounded terribly interested now, and she leaned forward, crossing her legs beneath her.
There's no arguing with Dinah, Kal thought sourly. The last argument Ollie had had with her had ended with near-ruptured ear-drums and a perpetual ringing sound in his head for weeks. (5)"Okay, fine," he said. "But no one else." He sighed, trying to find the place he'd stopped. "After Bruce's parents murder, he never really had a childhood. I saw him once, in Smallville." Bruce had told Kal that Alfred had somehow convinced him that a drive to California would do him good. By the time they were in the Midwest, he'd convinced Alfred it had been a horrible idea and wanted to fly home. Their car had broken down in Smallville, Kansas. "Pete Ross and I were playing baseball and we saw him." He looked so…so sad, too. "We were going to ask him to play, but decided against it.(6) He probably wouldn't have, anyway."
"Is that why he is so—"
"Mean?" Dinah finished for Indigo.
"Who's mean?"
Oh, fantastic, Kal thought, running his hand down his face as Kyle entered the room.
"Kyle!" Wally greeted. He patted the floor next to him. "Sit down! It's story-time!" Kyle obliged.
"Who's mean?" he repeated.
"Batman," Indigo said."
"Oh. Yeah. Thought it might have been…less obvious."(7)
"We are learning about Batman and why he is so—"
"Crabby?" Kyle asked, cutting Indigo off. (8)
"All right!" Kal said firmly, stomping the floor. "I'll keep telling the story, but none of you had better say anything. And I swear, no one else or it stops." (9)
"Mum's the word."
"Where was I…?" Kal shook his head to clear his thoughts. "After Bruce turned twenty-two and his parent's murderer was killed by one of Falcone's thugs, he disappeared for seven years." Now Kal was treading on thin ice with what he should be saying and what he shouldn't be. "After he came back, he was dead-set on justice for Gotham. So he took up the mantle of the Bat." He looked around at all the faces.
"And that is why—"
"Not quite," Kal said. "It was his parents' deaths that prompted him to become Batman, but there were dozens of other…incidents that make Bruce who he is today." Jason Todd, Barbara, Vicki, Helena, Selina, Joker. Kal shook his head. Take your pick and hear the heartache.
"Like what?" Dinah asked.
"Joker's the biggest I can think of," Kal said. "Mad-men like him who wreak havoc every time they're out of Arkham. Bruce fights them, but he won't kill them." (10)
"Why?" Indigo asked.
"It's just his way," Kal said. "After his parents' deaths, he vowed that he would do all he could to protect life in Gotham. To give everyone a chance. A chance to live, a chance to change. If he killed them he wouldn't be any better than they are." All those psychopaths, Kal thought. They're all the same, and none of them will ever change. They'll always kill people. (11)
"So that is why Batman is—"
"Is what?"
Every body in the room froze like they'd been shot with Freeze's Freeze-Ray, and Kal's baby-blue gaze snapped up to the voice. Framed in the doorway of the rec-room was the Dark Knight himself.(12)
"Oh, Bruce!"
"H-hey, Bats!"
"Batman."
"Bruce, hey!"
Everyone but Kal spoke as they all scrambled to their feet, eyes at the ground and muttering nervously, save Indigo, who merely stared at Bruce. Wally was the first to snap out of his surprised and frightened stupor.
"Big Blue did it!"(13) he said, then in a flash, true to his name, he was out of the other rec-room door and out of sight.
"Uh, yeah," Dinah quickly agreed, following Wally and dragging Kyle out of the room with her.
"I do not understand," Indigo said, pink eyebrows creased. "What is wrong?"
"Indigo," Bruce said. "Leave." The android frowned, but complied. When Bruce and Kal were alone, Gotham's Favorite Son spoke. "What was all that about?"
"Nothing," Kal said, not meeting Bruce's gaze.
"Kal. I know playing dumb isn't hard for you, but I also know you're lying." (14)
Ouch, Kal thought. "Indigo wanted to know about you."
"Know what about me?"
"Why you're different. Distant from everyone."
"So?"
"So I was telling her."
"And Wally, Kyle and Dinah were here for… what?"
"They wanted to know, too."
"My past is my business, Kal."
"Would you have told Indigo if she'd asked?" Kal looked up at Bruce finally, and his silence was all the answer the Kryptonian needed. "Of course not. It's not my fault I'm nicer than you and she asked me." (15)
"Am I supposed to be discouraged by that?" Bruce asked. "You know them better. Of course they think you're nicer. It's an irrelevant fact. Why were you telling them my life story?"
"Because Indigo wanted to know," Kal repeated. "I knew you wouldn't tell her, or the others for that matter, so I was going to. I didn't say anything that wasn't already common knowledge." This last sentence was quieter because, in reality, he had told them some things that weren't common knowledge.
But Bruce didn't need to know that.
The Dark Knight stood silent for several crawling seconds.
"It wasn't your place regardless," he said finally.
"I know."
There was an awkward, pregnant pause.
Bruce cleared his throat.
"No harm done," he said, moving forward toward Kal, his cape a wraith behind him. He took a seat on the lounge next to Kal. (16)
"I'm sorry, Bruce," Kal said. I shouldn't have told them anything.(17)
"Accepted," Bruce said. He put his hand on Kal's thigh, to let him know that his apology was, indeed, accepted.(18) "What did you tell them?" he asked.
"I told you," Kal said. "Nothing that wasn't common knowledge." He smiled his famous Kansas farmboy smile. "I told them you hate everyone."
"I don't hate everyone, Kal," Bruce said, his seemingly permanent frown deepening. "I can name one person I don't hate."
"Selina?" Kal asked jokingly. He was pretty sure there had been more bad times than good between Bruce and the Feline Fatale of Gotham. (19)
"Ha ha, Kal," Bruce said dryly. "Do me a favor. Lose the sense of humor."
"Do us all a favor, Bruce," Kal replied, grinning. "Buy one." (20)
FIN
Terms explained (look for the footnotes):
1. Social Psychology: The entirety of the story is a story within a story, with Kal, Indigo, Dinah, Wally, Kyle and Bruce interacting.
2. Attribution: Bruce Wayne is the way he is based on a situation, the death of his parents, and this explains his behavior toward everyone.
3. Attitude: Kal is forever a boy scout, and he doesn't want to compromise his trust with Bruce, but he wants to comply with Indigo's request.
4. Self-Disclosure: In this case, Kal isn't revealing things about himself, but seeing as he's the only true friend Bruce has, it would be the same as though Bruce himself were telling the story.
5. Altruism: Kal doesn't want to have Indigo and Wally suffer the repercussions of Dinah's Canary Shriek, so he doesn't' argue with her.
6. In-Group Bias: Kal and Pete were farm kids. They wouldn't want to play with a boring, rich, stick in the mud.
7. Informative Social Influence: Kyle doesn't know Bruce on a personal level. He just believes what he hears, that Bruce is mean, moody, detached, and crabby.
8. Group-think: Everyone is willing to accept Bruce as being the meanest, grumpiest League member without question. It's unanimous.
9. Foot-In-the-Door Phenomenon: Kal can't help but concede with the group. He's too much of a boy scout and a push-over to do anything to stop them, which means he'll let more people join, instead of just keeping the original one person.
10. Just-World Phenomenon: This is something Bruce doesn't believe in. Everyone thinks, and eye-for-an-eye, but Bruce believes in giving everyone a chance, even if everyone includes mad-men like the Joker.
11. Stereotype: Kal is making the gaping assumption that all mad-men kill. Calendar Man is a mad-man, yet he's never bloodied his hands.
12. Conflict: Bruce's arrival spells trouble for everyone.
13. Scapegoat: Poor Kal, soon to be the object of all of Bruce's anger.
14. Aggression: Bruce is also the king of aggression and aggressive comments.
15. Social Trap: Not mutually destructive behavior physically, but emotionally and relationship wise, bitter comments like that are destructive, and Bruce, by far, is the king of destructive comments.
16. Super-ordinate: Bruce and Kal are friends, despite their differences, and both would rather not go to bed that night hating the other. Thus a resolve must be reached.
17. Mere Exposure Effect: Kal feels genuinely bad for going behind Bruce' back like he did, seeing as he really considers himself Bruce's only true friend, mainly because he's known him for many, many years.
18. Companionate Love: Bruce and Kal are friends, and, as such, they act, well, friendly toward each other.
19. Deindividualization: Whenever Bruce is around Selina, he becomes a different person entirely, and an extremely…aroused, one could say, person at that. It's something about that skin-tight pleather that gets them every time…
20. Door-In-Face Phenomenon: Both heroes use this, because both know the other's request is a ridiculous one, but the friendship is mended, so other, more meaningful requests, may be yet made!
(Note: The last line is from the Superman/Batman: Public Enemies graphic novel.)
Thanks for reading!