Tumblr: Breananslove or Brenaners
Masterpiece
Chapter One: Lullabye
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine;
You make me happy, when skies are gray.
You'll never know dear, how much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away
Dahliana Maria Stark: 9 ½
Peter Parker: 9
Time: Beginning of Summer
Location: Ron & Tom's Receptions. Queens, New York
Her tiny feet scrape and tap against the dark hardwood floor, kicking the fallen flower petals and paper pamphlets that fell underneath the table. Her throat is tight, eyes sting, and she can't seem to stop gnawing at her lip in a desperate attempt to not let out a strangled cry. Stay strong, stay tall, and do not fall. She repeats it over and over in her head. She won't let her tears fall, instead, she stays quiet and watches the last few hours of the funeral fly by with her best friend by her side.
Faceless people dressed in black walk by, clapping the short brunette boy to her left on his shoulder before whispering their condolences in his ear. Instead of nodding or opening his mouth to speak he grabs her hand as hard as he can - nearly making her yelp out in pain. She almost wants to tell him to let go but her heart knows that if she does he will crumble to the ground and she will fall shortly after.
So, for him, she will shoulder his pain as if it was her own and stand by his side as long as he needed. Dahliana squeezes his hand back and gives the brown eyed bow a shaky smile. Stay strong, stay tall, and do not fall. She repeats it and repeats it. A mantra her uncle has permanently wrote into her brain. Be strong, you are a Stark.
While her mind hums one tune, her lips sing another. Their favorite lullaby because she doesn't trust her voice to not crack. It's the only comfort she's strong enough to give to her friend.
Faceless people dressed in black walk by, clapping the short brunette boy to her left on his shoulder before whispering their condolences in his ear. Instead of nodding or opening his mouth to speak he grabs her hand as hard as he can - nearly making her yelp out in pain. She almost wants to tell him to let go but her heart knows that if she does he will crumble to the ground.
She hums louder.
His hold on her gets tighter and his other hand begin to form a first on top of his black slacks. She tries to hum louder. Louder. She wants to block out the chatter and the melody from the piano that's supposed to be soft but to her is deafening. Louder. She isn't loud enough. The scrapes of chairs and half told condolences become never ending.
His tears and whimpers gradually flow more and more. I'm so sorry, she thinks to herself as her shoulders begin to shake. She isn't strong enough to be the pillar he needs but she is willing to try. She's a Stark. She should be able to do something so simple as comforting a friend.
"Please don't take my sunshine away." A soft but unrecognizable voice cuts into her humming, silencing the room. Dahliana sags in relief. "That's the song right? It's a beautiful song. One of my favorite's actually."
Her friend turns his head, not interested to see what stranger wants to apologize for the death of his parents while Dahliana curiously glances at the red headed women in a wheelchair slowly rolling to a stop at her right. She seems to not mind that Peter bluntly ignored her, not even lifting his head up to spare her a glance.
"Hi, I'm Barbara Gordon." The redhead smiles. Dahliana, with wide and curious blue eyes, watches Barbara Gordon slowly reaches over and rests her pale hand lightly against her own tan one."I worked with Richard and Mary for a few years. Heck, they even babysitted me a few times. They would always be humming that song randomly throughout the day."
Still unsure if she can trust her voice to speak without crying, Dahliana nods. The heavy loss she feels in her heart is not something she wishes to share. Not while she's surrounded by strangers. Not when she's trying to be strong for Peter.
Stay strong, stay tall, and do not fall. You are a Stark. We do not fall.
Barbara begins to softly hum the lullaby, tapping her chipped nails against her armrest and suddenly, in the presence of this beautiful stranger, her best friend let's go of what was left of his composure. Screams rip through the air completely making any and all background noise come to an abrupt halt. The only sound to be heard in the dining room is the heart wrenching sobbing of an eight year old boy who had just become an orphan.
"Oh, please don't take my sunshine away." Barbra sings softly, reaching her hand over to gently pat the young boy on the shoulder. "I'll always love you and make you happy."
Peter's heart, in that moment, shattered into pieces.
Tap
Tap
Tap
Hours later when most people have left to travel back home to be away from the gloomy atmosphere, Dahliana found herself outside the funeral home sitting on the white porch swing gazing at the grey sky. Her flats tap heavily against the wood porch with impatience and untapped energy twisting inside her, encouraging her to move, to do something. To get rid of the cramps that pinch her back and legs from sitting too long.
The winds and raging rain have yet to die down as well as the song she holds close to her heart but her inner turmoil has yet to cease. But she doesn't move an inch. Her newly orphaned friend is inside saying his last goodbyes with his remaining family and her father.. She knows he needs that private time to grieve with his family and she isn't going to interrupt something so private and intimate.
"The world is a cruel place so you must stand tall and never fall." Her uncle, Jebediah, words float around in her head every time she questions why did Richard and Mary left their son. A plane explosion just seemed wrong. It didn't feel possible. It didn't make sense. Something inside her wouldn't settle with the fact they died in an explosion in the air.
Or maybe she's uneasy because right now she should be in the backyard of her godparent's house playing Prince and the Gymnast. Their bodies shouldn't be in a casket for everyone to view. They should be working upstairs by the bay window and looking down in the yard to see two children playing. Dahliana scrapped her flats against the wooden porch floor one more with a heavy sigh, hands curled against the edge of the porch swing
"The world is a cruel place so you must stand tall and never fall. Never bend or break, instead you must fight till your very last breath if you want to live another day."
"That's surprisingly good advice coming from a toddler."
Kalena jumped in her seat with a quiet squeak. She didn't think anyone was still here besides family. At the doorway stood an emerald eyed, black haired boy with his arms folded across his chest. She could tell he had no interest in being here or even this conversation. The air surrounding him almost choked her. She may be young but even she could feel the power and the demanding aura he has that forces you to look and listen. She is used to this feeling. To her, it's a comforting reminder of her dad. Her dad's presences demands attention every time he steps foot in a room. Just like this kid.
"My uncle tells me that every time I want to give up on gymnastics." She says. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here? You don't look like family." He's a strange boy, she thinks. She definitely would have remembered him if he was ever at Mary and Richard's house.
He almost has muscles of a grown man but he looks close to her age. He has a nasty scowl with this air around him that tries to squash her but his eyes hold a glimmer of amusement and curiosity and secrets that she wants to unveil. He's a strange boy indeed.
"I'm not." He tutted. "I'm just waiting for my father to finish giving his condolences." He didn't even glance at her. His eyes moved from side to side, surveying the area with a disinterested look. "For a Stark, you are ignorant about the world around you." And just like that, the attention she held from him was gone.
He put his hands clasped behind his back and began to turn away from her. The coils of tension in her stomach got tighter but Dahliana is not one for giving up. She stood from the bench. Mimicking his position with her hands behind her back, hidden in the ruffles of her dress. She begins humming again.
"Do you know the song You Are My Sunshine? It's my favorite. I even put together a routine for it. Well, barely...kind of but still." Dahliana softly says with a shrug, leaving her sentence unfinished.
Startled, the ebony haired boy did a double take at the young girl with his brows furrowed in confusion. "What on earth are you rambling about?"
The eight year old girl with chubby cheeks grins. "Do you have a sunshine?"
He looks away with a ttut. Arms crossed and hip leaning against the railing of the Ron and Tom's Funeral Home.
She isn't at all fazed how startled she made the strange boy. No, not startled. She annoyed him. He came out here expecting to be alone. Instead he got a surprise disguised as a short, brown haired, brown eyed girl who can't seem to take a hint.
"A song. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. Do you have a sunshine?" She asked slowly, as if he was too dumb to understand. It's an easy and simple fact of life in her opinion. Everyone has a sunshine and hers is Peter's.
He clicks his tongue. "That's absurd. Calling someone your sunshine."
The tightness and bundle of nerves finally start to slowly unravel. Her nerves and anxiety begin to melt away under his knowing smirk. "No it's not and I will prove it. Everyone has a sunshine. You just haven't found yours yet is all."
She takes a step towards him with a small smile on her face. "Mrs. Mary would say that having a sunshine is having a person in your life you can say is your best friend. A light in the dark times." Her eyes begin to burn and her throat starts to sting but it's ignored.
"Who is your sunshine?" Dahliana repeats.
He doesn't respond. Instead he slightly tilts his chin and looks at her with cool gauging interest.
"Everyone has a sunshine. You just don't know who it is yet is all." She repeats with a weak grin. Her warm brown eyes looding with hope and full of innocence but have a hidden tint of desolation he notices. A broken toy that struggles with every steps it takes when you wind them up. Never being able to finish its journey. Constantly having to rewind and restart. A weak and unfortunate toy, he thinks, but not quite yet broken.
Even then, she keeps walking and wobbling and fighting. Her hands are still fisted at her back, tangled in the ruffles of her black dress and with pure will power she holds her tears back. She has her chin held high and dares to look him straight in the eye. Although, he won't say it out loud, it is an impressive feat for a girl her age.
Thunder and lightning break apart the sky and a second later the rain falls for the third time today. Starting off with a slow sprinkle before transitioning into a shower. Droplets ricochet off the stone pathway and find themselves splattering onto his suit and her dress. Slowly but surely to drench the both of them despite standing underneath the wooden porch awning.
"Your sunshine will come one day. I'm sure of it. Just remember to never lose sight of the light once it does come. That's what Mary said to me all the time." She says wistfully, hands reaching up to play with the black bow in her hair.
Her sunshine is just hidden behind some dark clouds for today is all. That's okay though, because she can shine bright enough for the both of them to walk out of this dark storm raging over them.
"If you're so adamant on this," He muses, putting his hand in the air as if he was brushing off a fly. "Who is your sunshine?" He told himself he was asking to kill time and boredom. Not because this conversation intrigued him and neither did the girl. He was here out for responsibility not out of sympathy.
Her grin got bigger and her eyes got brighter. "That's a secret." She winks with a teasing smirk and a finger at her lips.
Her chest felt lighter and the pain she felt earlier drifted away with the storm.
Dahliana Stark found herself in a competition over who can do the best back handsprings with the strange boy she met just moments ago. She isn't even entirely sure how it all started. One slide remark turned into two and then three and then so on. Playful words with bites that led to a variety of challenges. Each one a bit more difficult than the last. Shoes slipping in mud making her fall in puddle after puddle with spots of mud decorating her face while her companion looked barely touched by the mud.
The emerald eyed boy, much to her dismay, barely looked touched by the mud. He did not fall once and unlike her, he only has mud decorating the bottom of his shoes and slacks. Dahliana pouts, her chubby cheeks puffed out, and looks down at her own messy attire.
They must look like an odd pair. All dressed in their Sunday best and doing flips and handstands on the front lawn of the funeral home, covered in mud.. Dirt managed to find its way underneath her nails and along her black tights from the roughhousing her new friend initiated. Her bow barely holding her hair together but feeling like this pit stop in the day is very much worth getting yelled at by her father.
Dahliana bent slightly backwards intending to do a backwards cartwheel away from the emerald eyed boy. He saw through her and swept her feet out from underneath her, making her land on her back with a loud oof.
"That's cheating!" She huffs out and gives him a scowl.
"Ttt. I didn't cheat." He smirked, head held high.
"What do you call it then, huh? Using your resources?" She grumbles, narrowing her honey brown eyes at the child towering above her.
He purses his mouth in a self-satisfying smirk. "Skill. Something you obviously lack." He drawls, outstretching a hand towards her.
Dahliana laughs and knocks his hand out of the way. "I have more than you!" Her leggings start to wear down in multiple places, on the brink of tearing, and she puffs out a breath of air. "Dad is so not going to like this." Dahliana grimaces, poking at a small hole above her knee.
Shuffling her feet and wincing at the shluuck noise the mud made as she went to stand up. Dahliana gives a wide toothy grin to the boy before her. "We never properly introduced each other."
She stands toe to toe with the emerald eyed boy with an amused glint in her chocolate colored eyes. "I'm Dahliana Maria Stark and I am not a toddler."
He smirks and holds out a hand. "Damian Wayne."
End of Chapter One
Created: 12.9.18 Published:
My first Batfic / Marvel fic and my first fic in a while so please please let me know what you think. I would love to know what all of you or anyone thinks of my jumbled up mess of words.
I am interested in having a proofreader for this so if you're interested let me know!
Tumblr: Breananslove or Brenaners. It's one of the two. Not sure which.
Disclaimer: I do now own Batman or DC or Marvel or the song, You Are My Sunshine.
Outtake / Unfinished Excerpt
"Dahliana Maria Stark! I take my eyes off you for thirty minutes and you look like you've been rolling around with pigs!"
Dahliana winces and gives a sheepish smile and digs the toe of her flats into the ground beneath her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I just...fell."
Tony Stark gives her an unimpressed look with crossed arms and a brow raised. Bruce Wayne stands besides her father, brows furrowed but and amused smile threatening to break across his almost stoic face.
"You fell? You expect me to believe that, young lady? I can't tell where your dress begins and the mud ends for God sakes." He waves his hands in the air at her in disbelief.
Dahliana smiles. "I fell a lot."
Tony rubs a hand down his face and roll his eyes to the sky. "You are sitting in the back seat of the car. On a towel. Far away from touching anything."
"Tony, May would like for Dahlia - What in the world? What happened to her? Tony, what did you do?" Pepper rushes down the steps with each heel clicking and hands flailing over Dahliana's clothes but not quite touching them.
"I fell." Dahliana smiles up to Pepper Potts. Hands in the air to show dirt and scuff marks. "But I'm okay."
"What did I do? Are you seeing what I'm seeing? She did more than just fell. She practically swam in the mud."
Pepper shakes her head and pulls baby wipes out of her purse. "We can't leave like this. The paparazzi will have a field day and you're taking her to court in a few days." Pepper lets out a puff of air and grabs Dahlianna's cheeks with two fingers as she uses the other hand to scrub at her face. "How are you expected to win custody when you can't even keep her clean?"
"Damian," Bruce Wayne cut in elegantly. "What happened?"
Damian clicks his tongue with a harsh tutt. "She did a cartwheel and fell."
Daliana tries to smile around Peppers fingers and laughs. "See? I fell. Mud makes doing cartwheels hard."
"If you were actually talented in the sport the mud would not have made a difference."
Pepper froze and let go of Dahliana as she shook with laughter. Bruce let out an exasperated sigh.
"I think there's steam coming out of dad's ears."
Don't forget to leave a review :)