Bruce Gets an Email

It was one of the rare days where Bruce stayed home from work. Last night's patrol was particularly brutal with a massive breakout at Arkham Asylum, which led to patrol becoming an all-night experience. He was able to capture most of the escapees by six this morning with help from Damian, but it left them both exhausted beyond belief. Upon their return to the manor, Alfred ordered them straight to bed before they collapsed. While if this were any other time, Bruce would have ignored Alfred, claiming to have case work to finish, but Bruce was just too tired. Due to Bruce's lack of rebellion to Alfred's orders, Damian also went to bed without much complaint.

Bruce woke around one in the afternoon, finding himself surprised that Alfred had allowed him to sleep in that long. He stumbled through his morning routine, and made his way down to the kitchen. The kitchen was empty except for a note placed on the counter. The note read:

Master Bruce,

I must apologize for not being here when you awoke, but I was called away to tend to some personal business this afternoon. (In other words, Alfred went to check on Jason, who is staying somewhere in the city unknown to Bruce.) I called Mr. Fox and informed him you will not be coming in to the office today due to an illness. (Lucius did not believe this excuse, but took it anyway.) Master Damian was up before I left, so he is fed and he went downstairs to "play". (Damian is in the Batcave, designing his own personal version of the Batman suit for his own use; Also unknown to Bruce.) I left a sandwich for you in the refrigerator. (In Alfred speak that means eat the sandwich or I will unleash my wrath upon you at your lack of personal care.) I should be back in time to prepare dinner.

Sincerely,

Alfred Pennyworth

After reading the note, Bruce crumpled it up in his fist, and tossed it away. Fearing Alfred's wrath, he made his way to the refrigerator to grab the required sandwich along with the optional bottle of water. Since Bruce was not one to simply sit and eat when he could multitask, he headed to his office to catch up on the paperwork he missed from his absence from work with his meal in tow.

Bruce sat down at his desk, and opened his laptop while chopping on his sandwich. Once the computer was on, he went to check his email to see if Lucius sent him the financial reports. However, another email caught his attention. It was from Dick, which was strange in itself as Dick never sent him emails. He would always call, or just drop by unannounced to attempt to normalize Damian with some mundane activities. Curiosity eating him alive, Bruce clicked on the email. It opened:

Bruce,

I heard you guys had a rough night last night. Sorry I couldn't help, but I was busy with my own stuff. Anyway, I thought this video would cheer you up.

Dick

Below Dick's name was a link. Throwing his usual caution into the wind, Bruce clicked on the link. He was taken to a video that showed Superman flying next to an airplane. Bruce started to wonder why Dick would send him a video of Superman until Superman started flying closer to the plane, which appeared to have a damaged wing that breaking off from the plane. Superman slowly flew to grasp the wing and began to use his heat vision to fuse the wing back to the plane. However, while Superman was paying all his attention to the wing, he failed to notice his cape being sucked up into the wing's engine. As soon as Superman finished, he was suddenly sucked into the engine after his cape with a look of terror on his face. The engine exploded with Superman popping out of the other side looking worst for wear. The plane, with a missing engine, began to plummet towards the earth, leaving a bewildered, tattered Superman behind. Seeming to recover his senses, Superman zoomed down to catch the plane, helping it make a safe decent towards ground.

Bruce was a tidal wave of emotions ranging from annoyance to the presence of Superman to all out fear for the innocents on the airplane. Once he absorbed that no one was hurt, a smile began to creep its way onto his face. A pressure began to build in his belly as he finds himself unable to shallow his sandwich. Forcing himself to shallow, his eyes tear up as a chuckle escapes him. Unable to hold it back any longer, Bruce guffaws, holding his stomach as he lost control over his laughter. Bruce couldn't remember the last time he had laughed. His chortles were so loud that they reached Damian who was in the Batcave.

Damian was immediately concerned about the sounds of laughter coming from upstairs. After all, the only one who was home was his father, who he had yet to see laugh throughout all the time he has lived with his father. Perhaps there is an intruder, Damian wondered as he made his way up the stairs to investigate. Upon opening the door behind the grandfather clock, Damian was greeted by the sight of his father, bend over laughing. He slowly approached his father.

"Father, what is wrong with you?" Damian asked with a partly scared and suspicious look on his face. Bruce unable to breathe or response due to his laugher simply shook his head. "Did you get sprayed with laughing gas; are there intruders in our home?"

"No, Damian," Bruce choked out, "It's just this video," pointing towards the laptop. Damian's eyes narrowed as he approached the laptop that Bruce indicated as Bruce dissolved into laughter once more. Expecting some kind of horrible, mind-warping video that would cause this type of behavior from his father, Damian peeked at the screen to see the video of Superman being played on repeat. Damian watched as Superman was sucked up into the airplane engine with a tiny smirk sneaking onto his face. Crushing his start of a smile, he looked at his father only to find him dissolved into a new fit of laughter.

"Father, who sent this video to you?" Damian demanded as wondered if his father lost his sanity and needed to be placed into Arkham.

"Dick…" Bruce gasped before falling into another fit of laughter. Damian's eyes narrowed as he picked up his phone. Muttering to himself, Damian began to search through his contacts. Finding the right number, he brought the phone up to his ear.

"Hey, Little D, what's up?" Dick asked as he answered right before the second ring. "Why do I hear laughing in the background?"

"This is entirely your fault, Grayson," Damian accused, "you broke Father. "

Thus was the beginning of a long day in the Wayne household. It was the day that Bruce laughed.