Welcome, welcome all!
I finally decided to post this yeah, go me! I reread the last chapter and it was so cute I didn't know what should follow it so I hope this is okay.
Have you ever noticed that although Joe is always surrounded by women he has only ever been in a one clear, loving relationship? (from what I can tell) I always found that weird. anyway back to the story, Con!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, because then it would imply that I have money.
So what are doing today Dad?
"What do you want to do? I had today booked for training but if you to do more school work to catch up we could work on that instead."
No that's… fine I guess.
"You don't sound too sure."
Dad I was hoping we could take a break for a day you know; a weekend. We don't always have to be working you know.
The two men were sitting at the table in the dining room; they were across from one another instead of at either end of the table. It was early morning and Joey was sitting in from of a bowl of cereal. This was how mornings usually played out now after Joey's last escape attempt.
They had both stepped out of the woods with puffy eyes and to Wintergreens surprise as he had been waiting to rescues the boy from his father whom he had expected to be furious. He had thought that it would be back to square one like with every time Slade had caught Robin trying to escape. That wasn't the case. Slade had been kinder to his son after that which surprised everyone. They had both bonded in a positive way.
Joey had been calmer then before and didn't flinch when his father went to give him a pat on the back or ruffle his hair. In Slade's mind this was exactly what it should have been like with Robin: the boy would have rough patches and fight back but ultimately they would both find their place and grow closer to one another.
Inside Joey feared what this would make him become; if his father would ask him to do something that he didn't want to do and he would do it anyway because he was forced. He still felt the same way about everything that his father didn't without telling him. He was going out in his Deathstroke uniform and when he came home he would have Joey go to his room so that he didn't have to explain himself to the boy. He would say to the boy that he wasn't lying but in Joey's mind a lie of omission is still a lie. He didn't want to know what his father did when he went out because he already knew and he hated not being able to lift a finger to stop him, by the time he knew his father was on a job it was already too late; the contact was either died or as good as died.
The man stared over at the boy with his one eye analysing everything about him; his hair, his, expression, his posture and his choice of clothing. The boy, much to his father's dismay, had a tendency to wear the clothes that most closely resembled his little hero costume that Adaline had help him make when she was still around, a white, collared shirt with a purple vest and blue denim jeans. His messy hair was shone wetly from the shower that he had had before coming down to the dining room and brilliant sea green eyes stared back at him, with baited breath for his Father's answer.
It seemed that despite the fact that they had been making progress in leaps and bounds the boy still didn't trust him enough to remain civil while asking him a question that should be a somewhat easy question to ask. Yes, he would have turned Robin's words against him so that by the time he was done with the boy he would be begging him to train and forget that he had ever asked him such a stupid question that he should he know the answer to. But that was Robin and he knew now that that was not the right way to go about manipulating the boy. He was constantly making mental notes on what to do in every situation and found that he was able to do and say a lot of the right things around his son with causing him to not break down emotionally which was what he had wanted with Robin in the first place.
He realised now that he was treating Robin like Grant, like he was strong enough to take any mental lacerations that Slade gave him but in truth the hero had been more like the younger of the two boys: emotionally unable to sustain a health relationship with someone who hurt him at any point in his life.
"Sure, we could do a lot of things that isn't training or schoolwork; we could go out hunting together, how does that sound?"
The boy flinched violently and shut his eyes tight, hunching over as though to ward off a horrible thought or memory. He shook his head violently not looking up for a long time. Slade didn't speak, he knew he had said the wrong thing; it really was a trial and error exercise at this point in time. He was constantly afraid that this would happen; that his son would shut down and not move after Slade had said something or done something that he didn't like. He had first meant it as a joke but his voice made it sound look he really wanted to go on a hunting trip with his son who not only hated guns but hated to see anything get hurt be it an animal or a human. Truthfully Slade was scared to take him out on a hunting trip simply because he would probably try to jump in front of the gun if his father tried to shoot anything living.
"Joey, I didn't mean that, I wasn't going take you hunting, not unless you really wanted to."
The boy didn't move so with a sigh Slade stood up and walked into the kitchen. After a few minutes he could hear the clink of a metal spoon on china. The boy stepped into the kitchen and put the bowl in the sink silently. He looked up at Slade.
Can't we just have a normal day, like we used to, when we were a family? That's all I want; a family. It's all I've ever wanted and I almost got it with the Titans but you didn't let me have it.
Slade hated it when his son brought up the Titans. It was really the only thing that made him uncontrollably angry. Why didn't the boy understand that he didn't want the Titans anywhere near him? They were a bad influence and he couldn't have that.
He grabbed the boy's upper arm, with a stronger grip than he meant to as the boy let out a silent scream of pain, and pulled him close, bending down so they were looking eye to eye.
"Stop! Just stop talking about those stupid kids. They're no longer part of your life, you shouldn't be thinking of them with everything you do anymore. You've been here for two months now and it's not like I'm hiding, if they wanted you back they would have come to knock the doors down by now. They don't care about you anymore, they don't want to have you on their team because in their eyes you're a liability you're a direct relation to their greatest enemy and for the first time in a long time I'm doing the legal thing; the right thing." Slade said, shaking the boy roughly to make him listen. "I don't want you to talk about them ever again. They are insignificant to you, to us. Do I make myself clear?"
He let the boy go and watched as he stumbled back, crashing into the counter top with a dull thud. The boy looked scared as though he thought Slade would attack him right then and there. He was wrong. Slade hadn't really meant to scare the boy but… Shit! How could anyone do this without screwing up? It was impossible and despite the fact that Slade loved a challenge he also hated to lose and at the moment he was losing terribly.
"How about… How about we watch a movie? I can get popcorn if you want?"
Joey shook his head, pressing his thumb and forefingers together into the sign for 'no'. This was so frustrating. What did the boy want? Grant was far easier to satisfy, why couldn't the boy just be like his brother?
"Then what do you want? You could just go work on studying for this biology test that's coming up next week but then you say you want to do something else that doesn't involve training or learning but you won't offer up any suggestions so what do you want me to do? Read your mind? I can't do that Joey; I can't read your damn mind."
You would like that won't you Dad? To be able to read my mind and know how to control me? Well you can't, Dad. You can't do that because if you did you would know what it's like for me here. I try and talk about something that makes me feel happy and you shut me down!
"Joey, stop this now."
There you go again. Telling me that I can't say something because you didn't want to hear about it, but I do. They made me so happy, I felt safe there. But here I feel like if I say the wrong thing at the right moment you could go off the deep end and do something we could both regret. I'm not Robin Dad. You don't need to train me and you can't control me because I'm not afraid of some mysterious man in a mask, you can't use my fears against them because I live in the some house as the very thing I've always feared.
"Me?"
Loneliness.
"Joey, I-"
You still don't get it, everything won't be all fine and dandy if you say something 'heartfelt' like 'I'm learning how to be a father again' that crap won't work on me for a second time. You still haven't changed. I can see you're trying but you're not trying hard enough. I'm not like the others Dad I won't stand here and let you manipulate me.
Slade smiled faintly.
"You sound just like your mother; I guess you got a mix of our determination and her bullshit-radar."
It must have broken when she met you; it took a knife to the throat of her favourite son for that radar to be fixed but I'm glad it did. I'm glad she wised up before you got us all killed.
The silence was deafening. They just stared, or rather, Slade stared and Joe glared, at each other not daring to move or even speak to one another until finally Joey broke the silence.
I'm going to study for this test, if you need me I'll be in the study.
He pushed off from the table and walked out of the room. Slade made no move to stop him from leaving; he was still too shocked to move.
Teenagers! Why did they always have to go against what they're told? Slade stood there for a long time, going over the conversation in his head again and again; he couldn't see where it had gone so wrong. He had tried to be nice to the boy, why didn't he see that? The boy was still angry at the fact that Slade had told him not to talk about the damn Titans. The Titans, it always came back to them, why didn't they always have to get in his way? Why couldn't they just let him do his damn job? Even the Justice League wasn't that nosey, that was because many of the smaller members had asked him to do a job for them. But the kids didn't see that he was a vital part of their existence they saw the world in black and white and if anyone opposed them as he had they would fight like the childish fools they were.
Slade couldn't stand the fact that although he had moved out of the line of site of the brats he still had do put up with them corrupting his kid.
His phone buzzed and before it could repeat itself he pulled it out of his pocket and put it up his ear.
"What is it Wintergreen?"
'Sir, the Titans there here, in Steel, the call that Joey put out must have worked to some extent.'
"Are they all here?"
'Not all of them. From what I can tell from my source is only Robin, Starfire and the Kole girl. The rest of them are the resident Titans.'
"God they follow us like a bad smell."
'Do you want me to start packing, sir?'
"No, I don't want Joe to become alarmed. Keep a low profile, Will, I don't want Robin to see you."
'What's your plan?'
"I think I'll how to call up an old friend for a favour, will."
'Just don't take it too far sir.'
"I can't make away promises."
'That's what worries me.'
The phone shut off and Slade put it back in his pocket. He could work with this, or make it work for him.
If it wasn't against his code he would torture, gut and burn all of their bodies in front of his son just to show him that the Titans weren't worth his time. But he wouldn't because killing children directly with no reason to do so isn't what he did and other then having them out of his hair he would have nothing to gain in doing so.
He made his way to the study only to see Joey sitting then bent over his work furiously writing only the assignment paper.
"Which question are you doing?"
He lifted up the paper so Slade could read the bold title: 'Explain your chosen physical (phenotype) or genetic constitution (genotype) trait using a Punnett Square to explain how your parents' genetics led to the way you look or act.'
"Good. What have you written so far?"
It's not finished.
"I want to read it anyway."
Fine, take the damn thing. He through the piece of paper at the man but he was able to catch it easily with his enhanced reflexes.
'I don't know how to write this but I'm really sorry Dad. Oh it's already getting cheesy as hell! I over reacted and I shouldn't have said thoughs things about Mum. I know that's not what it was like. We were happy but oblivious. We were a family. I just wish Jackal had never come after you but it wasn't your fault, you just over estimated your skills. That's what the Titans do all the time. They know they have flaws and they work on them until they don't have them anymore. I know you hate me talking about them but I'm sure that I would talk about anyone who left a lasting impression on me like they have. Deathstroke left a lasting impression on me; not a good one, but I'm sure if things had worked out differently I would have looked up to him like I do the Titans.
'I guess what I'm trying to say in a round-about way is that I'm lonely and I just want to hang out with someone today, not someone to hunt with, someone to talk to. I know I've said this before but I'm not Grant and I'm not Robin, I'm me and no amount of training will change that. You can train me all you like and I will learn but I won't use what you teach me because I won't care enough to do that, so there's no reason for you to teach me. But I know you'll try.
'What I said to you was true; I won't be bullied into anything that I don't want to do because I know now that you won't force me to do things that go against my code. And yes, I do have a code, it's stricter than yours but it's still valid. Mum once asked me to do something that would go against my code and when I didn't do it she didn't understand why but she still let me stand by what I did. She didn't try and change me like you are now.
'I'm not saying that Mum was the best person in the world, she had her flaws and she didn't understand why I wasn't like the rest of you but she was my Mum and I loved her.
'You're probably coming to yell at me now; you won't raise a hand against me though because that would be counterproductive. I just want you to know that I'm sorry for all the bad things I said to you, I meant them at the time but I also understand where you were coming from now that I have a level head I just want you to know that…'
Slade looked up; there were tears in the boy's eyes.
"This isn't what the question asked you to do. You didn't put in a Punnett Square" Slade said smiling down at the boy. He bent down and wrapped the boy in a big hug, he didn't cry this time he just smiled back.
I want to try and be your son again.
"It's still early, you go pick out a few movies; I'll get the popcorn."
Yes, sir! Joey put a hand to his forehead in a mock salute and headed for the lounge room.
This made Slade laugh loudly as the boy scurried away, his son could be so cute sometimes. He had won this round and that made him extremely happy.
After getting the promised popcorn he settled down in front of the flat screen TV. It was almost as big as the wall and the room itself was set up like a cinema. Joey already had the movie going and was sitting in the sit next to him.
"Haven't we seen this movie before?" He asked after a few minutes.
So? It's a good movie; good movies deserve being watched again. Joey signed, reaching over for a handful of popcorn and stuffing it into his mouth.
"Isn't this movie sad?"
Maybe… Joey said sheepishly.
"Are you sure you want to…"
Dad, shut up and watch the movie!
"Okay."
I'll probably cry anyway because I'm a sissy.
"Don't say that, you only cry when you believe it's necessary, if you don't think want to cry then you won't and I won't judge if you do."
Thanks.
"For what?"
For this. Joey leaned over and hugged his father and after a few moments Slade hugged back.
