When the Shadows Reach Gotham, a Batman / Kingdom Hearts / Final Fantasy VII crossover fanfic by Raberba girl

Alternate scenario: A Friend in the Attic - Part 2 (rough draft)

*If you're reading this on FFN, make sure you didn't miss the new chapter of the main story which I posted last night.

o.o.o

Sometimes Tim was the one who had to hide. The first time they heard a sound like an aerial vehicle descending outside, Riku gasped and grabbed Tim, who was staring curiously out the windows, trying to figure out the shape of the thing from the shadow it was casting. "Hide hide hide, Tim, don't come out, don't come out until I tell you...!"

"What-?"

Riku shoved his friend into the closest entrance to the servants' corridors and slammed the door shut before dragging a decorative table in front of it. He raced into the parlor, which was suitably elegant and not messed up from his and Tim's activities, and frantically stopped in front of the mirror to straighten up his appearance as best he could.

Yazoo came striding in a few minutes later. "Riku. Mother is angry that she can't find you."

"Is she?" Riku said loftily, his pounding heart at odds with the slow, careful way he'd started the first kata that came into his head.

Yazoo frowned judgmentally. "Why are you training in a guest reception room?"

"Too many pests in the garden," Riku invented on the spot. "I've arranged to have a menial come to exterminate them. Though I might get bored and eradicate them myself, to brush up on my skills."

Yazoo sighed in dismissal; he honestly couldn't care less. "Are you coming home, or do I have to force you?"

"What does Mother want this time?"

"Hojo has locked up Mother, Father does not feel inclined to rescue her, Kadaj has been arrested again, and Loz is injured. She wants you to get her out."

"Why don't you get her out?"

"My schedule is full, and even if it wasn't, I need time to relocate the rest of my headquarters in case she decides to destroy Midgar when she's free."

Riku knew better than to ask about all the people who would get hurt or killed if Jenova successfully vented her wrath on the city.

"I'm busy, too."

"Doing what?" Yazoo challenged. "You don't look busy to me." He looked around. "Whose house is this, anyway?"

"How should I know? They're gone now. This place suited me."

Yazoo sneered, unimpressed. "It's a very impractical base of operations. Why this world? Do you have any designs on it?"

"I'm still deciding whether it's worth my time."

His brother finally grew bored and lost interest. "Well, you have the message, do what you will with it. I'm not traversing worlds again just to be Mother's errand boy, so come home soon, you selfish ingrate."

Both of them knew that for all Yazoo's rebellious words, he would obey immediately whenever Mother or Father gave him an order. Riku did not mention that. "I prefer the opportunities here, but I'll consider it."

Without a goodbye, Yazoo turned and marched away. Riku went to the window and watched intently until his brother's ship vanished into the sky. He waited ten more minutes, just to be sure, then went to track down Tim in the servants' corridors.

"Who was that?" Tim asked. He'd been spying through a peephole in a portrait that had been designed for that specific purpose three generations before and then forgotten about, until he'd re-discovered it a few months ago.

"Someone I don't want knowing about you," Riku muttered. "Stay away from him, Tim, and anyone who looks like him. They're dangerous."

Tim tilted his head. "You look like him."

Riku grimaced. "I'm dangerous, too. The only difference is I don't want to hurt you."

"You're nice, Riku."

The comment, dropped so casually, gave Riku a half-ashamed, half-delighted glowing feeling.

"Can we get back to the game now?"

"Yes, but I have to leave for a while afterward."

Tim looked stricken.

"It's because of my family," Riku explained. "I promise I'll come back, Tim, okay?"

"Okay," Tim whispered.

They tried to resume their game, but Tim's heart obviously wasn't in it, and Riku seemed unhappy and preoccupied. Eventually they gave up and Riku packed a bag and called Zack. While they waited for the ship to arrive, they sat together on the back terrace, neither of them saying anything.

Eventually, a shadow blocked out the sun again, but Tim barely looked up. A few minutes later, a cheerful man with spiky black hair came striding toward them. "Riku!"

"Zack!"

"So this is where you've been all this time, huh?" the man chuckled, ruffling Riku's hair.

"Yes, Tim has been letting me stay here with him. I like it...better than home."

"Well, it's good to see you with a friend." Zack smiled at Tim. "I'm Zack Fair, SOLDIER First Class. Riku here is a buddy of mine."

"Hello," Tim said politely, holding out a hand to shake. "I'm Tim Drake."

They chatted for a few minutes longer, then the two Gaians boarded the ship and flew away. Tim sat back down at the table, put his head in his arms, and was sad.

He blinked when he realized that the sun was setting - he must have fallen asleep. He trudged inside, feeling heavy and fatigued despite his nap, and felt too depressed to warm up anything to eat. He put on a video game and played for hours, until his eyes felt gritty and his stomach was churning with hunger. He went to the kitchen and ate half a box of pre-packaged dessert cakes. He sat there on the floor of the pantry for a long time and cried, then fell asleep again.

He woke up because someone was shaking him. "Tim? Tim, are you okay?"

"Riku," Tim breathed. Riku's hands were on his shoulders. He grasped the other boy's arms and then just sat there for a while, feeling content.

"Are you okay?" Riku asked again, still worried. There were a few rips in his clothes, some sort of grime or oil streaked across his cheek and neck, and some minor but untreated cuts and bruises marring his pale flesh.

"Yeah. I'm glad you're back." Tim frowned a little. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I couldn't find you at first. Why were you sleeping in here?"

"I was..." Tim shifted uncomfortably. "Let's go get the first aid kit, you need some Band-Aids."

"I need a bath, too," Riku said.

When they finally went to bed, they slept closer together than usual, nearly touching. By the time they woke up late the next morning, Tim was nestled right into Riku, who had his arm flung across the smaller boy and his cheek pressed against Tim's hair. Both of them felt awkward at the physical closeness neither of them were accustomed to, but each also thought secretly to himself that it had also felt kind of nice, even safe.

"I'm glad you came back, Riku."

"Me, too."

o.o.o.o.o

Tim wasn't sure what had awakened him. He sat up abruptly and focused on the darkness of his bedroom, frowning as he listened and watched.

There was a faint clatter in the distance.

Tim scrambled out of bed, and Riku jerked awake. "What is it?!"

"Something's wrong." Tim hauled on the armor he'd made for combat games with Riku, and picked up his toy staff that was solid enough to work as a real staff.

Riku could hear it now, too, noises and faint voices from downstairs as if there were people in the house other than themselves. Burglars? "Shouldn't the alarm have gone off?"

"Yeah, I- I thought I checked it? Maybe I forgot to set it last night...?" Tim said doubtfully, knowing that he had set it. Schooled by all the lonely, scary nights he'd spent by himself before befriending Riku, it was an ingrained habit by now.

"I won't let anyone hurt you, Tim," Riku said, strapping on his belt of materia.

The boys crept downstairs. They followed the commotion and peered around the corner. Then a woman's laugh rang out, and Tim gasped. Riku caught a glimpse of a man and a woman (they didn't look like burglars) lounging around the kitchen, the man pouring them glasses of wine. Then his friend was shoving him back toward the stairs. "What is it?! Who are they?!"

"It's Mom and Dad! They didn't call, I thought they weren't coming until- Hide, Riku! The attic!"

Riku, realizing that this was like the times when the housekeeper came, pulled away and rushed up the rest of the stairs. Tim took a deep breath, hid his weapons and armor, tried to remember how to arrange his face, then crept shyly into the kitchen. "Mom? Dad?"

"Timothy, darling! What are you doing up?"

Tim ran to them, and basked in his mother's hug. She kissed the top of his head, then let go of him far sooner than he wanted to be. So he turned to his father, who stretched out an arm to ruffle his hair before he could get near, and Tim knew that a hug would be awkward and one-sided, so he stopped trying for one before even starting. "I couldn't sleep. I didn't know you were coming home!"

"Funding got cut, blast it... We're here to make a petition to the directors, maybe do some fundraising if that doesn't pan out. Don't worry, kiddo, we won't be home long. We'll be out of your hair soon; a month at the most, I'd figure."

Tim took a deep breath to steady his feelings and managed to smile. "Oh. Well, I wouldn't mind if you stayed longer. It's okay."

"Mm," his mother said, finishing off the last of her glass. "I doubt you'll even notice us leave, I saw how busy you've been while we were away, you rascal! You'll be cleaning up the living room tomorrow."

"Yes, Mother."

"I haven't checked your grades in a while; have you been keeping up with your schoolwork?"

"Yes, Mother."

"Top scores?"

"Yes, Mother. Would you like to see my medals?" he offered hopefully, referring to the digital awards received for perfect scores and special accomplishments.

"Oh, don't bother, I'll look it up when I get a chance." She yawned. "Goodness, that was a long flight, wasn't it! I'm bushed."

"Go on back to bed, son," Jack Drake said, patting Tim's shoulder. "We'll see you in the morning."

"Yes, Father."

Tim went up to his room and bundled pillows under the blankets to make it look like a child might be sleeping there. Then he crept out again and hid, watching, until his parents disappeared into their room for the night.

Tim exhaled and hurried up to the attic. "Riku?"

"Tim?"

"Sorry," Tim said, meeting the other boy halfway. "They...they might be here for a while, maybe a month. Do you...? Are you okay being in the attic for that long, or do you want to go home...?"

The corner of Riku's mouth quirked in a small, mirthless grin. "Honestly, I'd rather be bored in your attic for a month than go home."

"Oh." Tim was simultaneously relieved and worried that his friend's home was bad enough that he'd rather hide in an attic for weeks than return there. "Okay. Let's get everything set up for you, we might not get the chance when they're awake."

They carried up everything they could think of that Riku might need. Entertainment, of course, and also food, bedding, and Tim even thought to bring a bucket to use as an emergency toilet in case Riku didn't have the chance to sneak to the closest bathroom without being caught. "Maybe you can shower at night?" Tim suggested, thinking hard. "In my room, and I'll lock myself in the bathroom with you so my parents will think it's me if they check."

They tried it the next night, and everything went well. (In fact, they did it every night the whole week, and the Drakes never came to check.) "Tim, is there any more shampoo?" Riku asked, reaching around the edge of the shower curtain to wave the empty bottle.

"Oh, yes, I think so." Tim fished around in the cabinet until he found a full bottle. "What have you been doing for the last ten minutes?" he wondered as he handed it over.

Riku gave him an odd look. "Washing my hair."

"But...why would you need more shampoo if you already shampooed it...?"

"I only got to wash it twice with the old bottle."

"...You wash your hair twice?"

Riku was now matching Tim's mystified stare. "Don't...don't you wash your hair three times?"

"...No?"

"No?!" There was a long pause. "Why not...?"

Tim was now wondering if he'd gone his whole life not knowing how to bathe properly. "Because...when you wash it once, it's clean, so...there's no need to wash it more than that...? Until your next shower, I mean."

Riku stared at the bottle. Then he turned it over to read the directions. "It doesn't say anything about washing more than once," he said blankly.

"How come you wash your hair three times?"

"Because...Father told us to..." After a long pause, Riku's face suddenly hardened and his grip tightened. He practically slammed the shampoo down next to the other bottles. "What about conditioner?" he demanded. "How many times?"

"Just...just once," Tim said warily. "I think. Maybe I'm wrong. But you can definitely conditioner, I mean condition three times if you want! It's okay!"

"Do normal people only wash their hair once?" Riku stormed. "Are you the weird one, or is it ME?"

"I don't know!" Tim cried, nearly in tears. "Mom and Dad never told me to do it more than once when I was little, but they're probably wrong! I'm sorry, Riku!"

Riku, realizing belatedly that he was upsetting his friend, quickly softened. "I'm sorry, Tim, you're not the one I'm mad at. You're probably right. I am going to use all of these bottles only once, because I want to be NORMAL like you." He slammed the shower curtain closed.

Tim, tears starting to dribble down his cheeks, put his hand on the doorknob but then snatched it back again when he remembered that he was only in the bathroom in the first place to guard Riku in case his parents came in to see why there was water running. He spent the rest of Riku's shower crouched on the floor, wiping tears from his face and fiercely willing himself to stop crying. When the water finally shut off, he gasped and straightened, trying to breathe and look normal instead of like an idiot crybaby.

"May I please have a towel?" Riku asked.

"Mm-hm," Tim murmured, putting one in the hand reaching from behind the shower curtain. He made himself breathe deeply and actually managed to have a smile on his face by the time Riku pushed the shower curtain aside.

Riku stared. "Are you okay?"

"Mm-hm!" Tim hummed brightly, knowing he'd burst into stupid tears again if he tried to speak.

"I- I didn't mean to get angry. I was angry at my family, not at you."

"Mm-hm!"

Tim waited until Riku was dressed and safely settled in the attic. Then he returned downstairs and broke down crying again, sobbing freely and dismally as he walked to his father's study and turned on the computer. The tears wouldn't stop the whole time he was typing, until he finally stared at the screen, looking at the seventh confirmation he'd found that it was normal to wash one's hair only once during a shower.

Tim drew in shuddering breaths, trying to calm down. His body and emotions apparently refused to believe that everything was okay now and he wasn't in trouble, but at least he knew it with his mind. He turned the computer off again and went back to his room. He felt exhausted when he lay down and pulled the covers over his head, and he soon fell asleep.

TBC

A/N: The shampoo stuff in this chapter references my Kingdom Hearts one-shot Why I Ward Off Darkness.