Gifts From the Sea, a Batman fanfic by Raberba girl
Batfam Bingo 2019: AU: Zoo
Chapter 20 - Retry (rough draft 2)
The next morning, Bruce blinked in the sunlight streaming through the windows and realized that Jason's cot was empty, blankets neatly folded. Dick was still fast asleep in the water. Bruce checked the kitchen first, where Alfred was warming up a simple breakfast, then tried Jason's room.
"Who is it?" a voice called sharply from the closet.
"Just me, lad," Bruce called back.
Jason rushed out. "Bruce, help! I can't get these stupid clothes to work..."
Bruce frowned in confusion at the formal suit Jason was half-dressed in. "Aren't there jeans and shorts and things in there?"
"I'm not going to wear shorts in a mansion," the boy protested.
"I used to wear shorts all the time," Bruce pointed out. Mostly as part of his elementary school uniform, but still. "You wore shorts here yesterday."
"Go away if you're not going to help me!"
"I'll help you, lad, calm down." Jason, once fully dressed in the suit with his hair carefully slicked back, looked incongruous for the occasion but very nice, and Bruce told him so. "Alfred will probably want more pictures. Come on, let's go downstairs."
Thomas was up by then, dressed for work and sitting in the Small Dining Room with coffee and a newspaper. Jason took a deep breath and said very politely, in a British accent, "Good morning, Mr. Wayne."
"Good mor-" Thomas glanced up and then blinked in surprise. "I say! What's the occasion?"
"I apologize for my rudeness yesterday," Jason said stiffly, still in Received Pronunciation, "and would like to get off on the right foot this time."
"Well, no harm done, my boy, and we're glad to have you all the same. Come sit down; do you like eggs?"
"Yes, please. They look delicious."
Bruce was mystified. Yesterday, Jason had gone out of his way to present himself as uncouth as possible, yet now he was acting like a Jane Austen character in a middle school theater production.
Martha commented on the same thing a little later, after Thomas had left for the day. "My goodness, you sound just like Mr. Darcy!"
"From Pride and Prejudice? Yes, that was an excellent book," Jason said.
"Actually," Bruce put in, wondering if he ought to make the correction or not, "what you read back at home was an adaptation for younger readers. It was a pretty faithful one, though, and-" He started speaking more hastily, guilty at the mortified look on Jason's face. "-the original version is excellent. I'm sure you'll enjoy it very much when you're older."
"Yes, I'm...sure I shall," Jason choked out, looking like he wanted to die.
"Jason, it's an advanced book even for some adults nowadays, and you're ten. No one would expect you to-"
"I'M THIRTEEN!" Jason screamed, then his face flooded with color. "Pardon me, Mrs. Wayne. I-I am thirteen years of age."
Bruce gaped at his tiny little baby son. "You're thirteen?!"
"Would you like me to show you the copies we have in the library?" Martha offered. "You can pick your favorite and we'll read it together. I remember when my father used to read me French novels when I was a very young girl, long before I actually learned French, and I still enjoyed them."
"You have copies in the library?" Jason asked, looking confused.
"The mansion's private collection," Bruce clarified. "You know how we have our own little library at home? The one here is much bigger."
When Jason saw the vast room, with couches and a fireplace and sunlight from the high windows and shelves and shelves and shelves of books and a partial second floor with even more books, he gasped, "Holy sh-! I mean, good heavens, this is- absolutely GRAND!"
"Why are you talking like that?" Bruce mouthed in utter perplexity, but Jason was scampering between the bookcases by then, with Martha leading the way like a book fairy.
He eventually left the two of them cuddled on a couch together with an illustrated version of Pride and Prejudice. He was heading toward the pool when he heard the familiar sound of wheels on hardwood and a voice despondently calling, "Daaaad...Jaaaay...nobody loves meeeeee..."
Bruce turned a corner and set his hand on his hip. "Excuse me, you little drama queen, I love you very much."
Dick's face lit up at the sight of Bruce, but then he rolled off his scooter board and flopped on the floor in a show of pathetic helplessness. "You left poor little fish boy all ALONE!" he signed upside-down. "Everybody is gone, I am hungry and sad!"
"I left a full fish tank and a pack of sleeves and your scooter and your wheelchair all within reach of the pool," Bruce reminded him, "I left all the doors open behind me, the rugs were all removed before we even arrived, and the servants are all gone, so the only voices you'd have heard were ours. I am not falling for this."
"I am so lonely~ Dad doesn't love me~"
"Oh, come here, brat." Bruce scooped up his fish son and cuddled him (Dick was...not light; he was certainly more of a young man than a child nowadays, not that he usually acted like it) and Dick cuddled back, crooning. "Jason and Mother are in the library, and Father has left for work. I'm taking Jay into the city later today, but I think you'll be better off staying here at the house. We're going to be spending most of our time in offices, it will be very boring."
"Grandma will play with me?"
"I'm sure she will."
"Okay." Dick squirmed to get down, then hopped onto his scooter and rolled purposefully toward the soft sound of his grandmother's voice.
o.o.o
To Bruce's shock, when he finally got confirmation of Jason's birth date, not only was the boy indeed thirteen years old, but he would be turning fourteen in just a couple of months. Bruce could have sworn the boy was no older than ten when they'd first met, and was maybe eleven by now. "I'm scheduling a doctor's appointment for you," he declared. "You shouldn't be this small at your age."
"I'm not that small," Jason said defensively.
"Jay, when was the last time you had any real interaction with boys your own age?"
"Who cares!"
"I haven't heard your voice start breaking or seen any evidence of facial hair. It's-"
"Were you looking for that, you creep?!"
"-still within the realm of possibility," Bruce continued, "that you'll start puberty at the far end of the spectrum, but at this point, it's really far."
"Screw you!"
"I just want to make sure that everything is okay."
"You know what doctors do to people, Bruce? They look at bodies! They look at FEET! They're going to look at MY feet and then guess what will happen, Bruce!"
"Jay, I would never take you to a doctor I don't trust. I know someone, a friend of the family, whom I would trust with my life or anyone's else's, and I will be present during the entire exam if you want. I will keep you safe, Jason."
"There's nothing wrong with me!"
"You could be healthy as a horse and I'd still need to take you in for a checkup, Jason. You haven't seen a doctor the entire time I've known you, and am I right in guessing that you hadn't seen one for quite a while before that as well?"
"I'm fine," Jason sulked.
TBC
