Gifts From the Sea, a Batman fanfic by Raberba girl

Batfam Bingo 2019: AU: Zoo

Chapter 44 - Reconciliation (part 3) [rough draft 2]

Bruce had always thought it odd that childish, impulsive Dick was the leader of the Titans, but now that he was at last seeing it firsthand, he understood.

By the time he'd turned around, half panicking, Dick already had a comm in his ear and was speaking decisively. "Wally, Tim's gone. Tower sweep?" He waited, and Jason fumbled to get his own comm in place. A few seconds later, Dick grimaced and Jason cursed.

"He's not in the Tower?" Bruce asked urgently.

"No." Dick's tone softened slightly when he turned to his brother and asked, "Jay, wheelchair?"

Jason ran to find the closest one. Dick, in the meantime, crawled purposefully, and when Bruce picked him up, he ordered without missing a beat, "Scooter."

There were many scattered throughout the Tower, and currently a couple were in the hall outside Bruce's room. Dick practically fell out of Bruce's arms in his haste to drop onto one. He propelled himself quickly down the corridor as he ordered into his comm, "Jay, go east with Dami." He glanced over his shoulder. "Da- Raptor, with Jay, okay?"

"I don't need a chaperone," Raptor insisted.

"Please." Dick's tone was quiet but firm, his eyes serious as he gazed at the younger boy.

Raptor fidgeted. "Fine."

Dick nodded and turned back to his comm. "Gar, west; I'll go south; Garth, you're north. Okay?"

Jason came hurrying up with the wheelchair and helped hoist Dick into it. Dick looked at Raptor. "What are you wearing?"

"Nothing," Raptor snapped, his face turning red.

"What are you wearing?" Dick repeated harshly, and the younger boy flinched.

"Octopus," he muttered.

"Get a mer."

Raptor nodded once and hurried off. Bruce frowned after him in confusion. "What was all that about?"

"We don't have time," Jason said, nearly running as he headed in a different direction. Bruce uncertainly stuck with Dick.

Outside, Kori was ready to scoop up Dick the moment he ripped off his tail sleeve and fly him out past the southern pier so he could dive out of her arms. Bruce saw Garfield fly out toward the open sea in bird form before dropping into the water as a mako shark. Garth and Jason were presumably following their own assignments, and Bruce suddenly realized with a jolt that Raptor - Dami? - could apparently travel underwater as well. Perhaps the boy was also a selkie...?

The non-swimmers gathered with Bruce on the beach, and it got very quiet.

Bruce started to pace. He hated being so useless when the need was so urgent. He could take one of the boats out, but that was pretty much it.

He abruptly turned toward the Titans and asked, "Are any of you wearing comms?" They indicated in various ways that all of them were. "Ask them if they'll need a boat."

Donna started speaking, then relayed that no, Dick and the others did not need a boat.

"He says maybe if the kid's really far out," Vic added, "but other than that, no."

Bruce resumed pacing, clenching his fists.

He wasn't sure how long they waited. It felt like hours, though judging by the sun, it couldn't have been more than one at most. Then the Titans on the beach, now sprawled around killing time, suddenly straightened up in unison.

"What is it?" Bruce demanded.

"They found him!"

Bruce abruptly sat down, his legs giving out.

There was more waiting, and Bruce pestered the Titans for more news even though there wasn't really any, just that the swimmers were on their way back. At one point, Gar came flying by again and dropped back into the water toward Dick's quarter, which at least gave some indication of how far away they were and which direction they were coming from.

Bruce stood up again and watched intently.

At long last, Garth's head emerged from the water, then Jason's and Garfield's. Bruce started wading out to them. The boys continued making their way closer to shore, then paused. After some underwater flailing, Garth dipped down and then came up again with Dick on his back. Raptor's head broke the surface, and then-

And there was Tim, being dragged along by Garth's and Jason's grip on his arms, Garfield struggling to get his lashing tentacles under control, Raptor storming away from them all in disgust. The octo-mer was hissing, his fingers crooked like claws.

"Timothy," Bruce exhaled in pained relief, and pushed farther through the waves.

He was afraid that the child might flee again, but as soon as Tim was released, the others careful to block his way back into deeper water, he shot straight to Bruce and squirmed into the man's shirt. Bruce stood still, shaking, tears slipping down his face, arms wrapped around the child's trembling body.

"Found 'im," Garfield announced with a weary smile.

Dick hid his face in Garth's shoulder and reached around to sign, "Sorry."

"I'm hungry!" Jason yelled.

Ten minutes later, everyone was gathered in the common room as Wally, Donna, and Vic brought in all the food they had that could be eaten with no or minimal preparation. Someone turned on the TV, though no one watched it. The background noise was helpful since everyone was completely silent for a while as they ate, the exhausted swimmers leaning against their friends.

Bruce picked at the bowl of chips someone had handed him, keeping an arm around Tim and trying to manage the pain of the boy's grip, which was tight enough to leave more bruises. Bruce was shivering with cold now instead of relief, but he knew without trying that Tim wouldn't be parted from him long enough for him to get into dry clothes. The other boys had changed, at least, Dick now in a tail sleeve and Jason wrapped in his pelt, which was currently a bright red cloak instead of the usual hoodie.

At last, Speedy broke the quiet. "Why did he run?"

"Dunno," Dick mumbled. "Just kept yelling 'Be happy' and 'Don't let B die.' "

"Yelling?"

"With his hands," Dick clarified.

"Right before trying to flee like a coward," Raptor grumbled. He made a gagging noise. "Octopus ink is terrible."

"It's a defense mechanism," Jason snapped. "Leave him alone."

Raptor huffed. "An ineffective defense."

"It would have been effective if we hadn't all ganged up on him!"

It was gratifying but also a little strange to hear Jason hotly defending his youngest brother, and Bruce realized that before now, his older sons had barely even acknowledged Tim's existence other than bitterly resenting him for carving out a place in their father's life.

"Isn't he hungry?" Garth asked Bruce, looking worried and a little guilty. Tim hadn't touched any of the fish that had been set near him.

Everyone looked at the lump under Bruce's shirt. Bruce pulled back his collar and peered inside, but Tim's face was hidden against his chest. "Tim," he tried to coax, "come out and eat something."

At first it seemed like it would be a struggle to even get one of Tim's limbs free long enough to make him aware of the food. Then Tim abruptly let go, tumbled to the ground, and tried to crawl away, his camouflage activating. When Garth tried to reach out to him, the mer shielded his head with his arms, coiled in all eight of his tentacles, and went perfectly still, now the exact same color as the floor beneath him. He seemed impossibly small, and even though everyone was looking right at him, he didn't actually look like a creature anymore, just an odd lump that anyone who didn't know better might have easily overlooked.

Dick swallowed. Then he shifted out of Kori's lap, lay down on a scooter board, and approached, though he soon slipped off and crawled the rest of the way. He settled near the smaller mer and coiled his tail in a nearly perfect circle, careful not to touch Tim but making his body a barrier between the little one and the outside world. Jason crouched nearby and laid a blanket over Tim. Bruce had never seen such an expression on Jason's face before, unhappy but very soft as he gazed down at the now hidden child.

Wally and Garfield awkwardly started up some small talk, and the murmur of teen voices eventually rose into something lighter and louder. Someone changed the TV from the soothing fine arts channel it had been on to a soccer game. There was some argument between that and a ridiculous old action movie, and they ended up taking turns, switching back and forth during commercial breaks and getting into a friendly argument about comic books in the meantime.

The Waynes remained quietly in their corner, with Raptor sulking in a nearby armchair like a disgruntled cat. Eventually, Tim started to peek out from under the blanket, but retreated again every time he confirmed that he wasn't alone.

His tentacles, however, soon got bored and started exploring, fiddling with Jason's toes and Dick's fingers. Tim actually reached to pull his own tentacles back under the blanket, but didn't have enough hands to keep them all corralled when he wasn't frightened enough to override his usual curiosity. Bruce rummaged in his pockets for the fidgets and toys he always kept handy and put them into the remaining tentacles, which immediately set to work clicking and spinning.

Dick rested a hand on top of the blanket. Tim went still for a moment, then shifted. Dick gently poked, then the shape under the blanket nudged back.

"Can you hold it up so I can sign?" Bruce murmured. "Just a little bit."

Dick took the edge of the blanket, and Jason crawled around to hold the other side. Bruce peered in at Tim, who gazed back warily. "Why did you run away?" Bruce asked. Dick quietly interpreted for Jason, who mumbled "I got that much" but nodded in thanks.

There was a long pause. "You love Dick," Tim finally said. "You love Jason. They love you. Goodbye, me."

"No, not goodbye you. I love you. I love Dick and Jason and you."

There was a long, perplexed pause. "Dick and Jason home. You are happy."

"Dick and Jason and you home. I am happy."

Tim rose up, forcing his brothers to lift the blanket higher, and his tentacles writhed. "Dick and Jason go away. You are sad, angry, you try to die. I come. You are alive. Dick and Jason come, everyone is angry. I stay. You try to die. I stay. Dick and Jason are happy, you are happy, I go."

They all stared at him, finally understanding. "What the hell, kid!" Jason choked. "You're not a-! You're B's kid! I was so fucking mad at you for stealing my place, but all this fucking time, you just-! You didn't know?!"

Tim had gone very still again, tentacles and all.

"Jason isn't angry at you," Bruce said, out loud because the child wasn't looking at him anymore. "Jason is not mad at you. You're safe, Tim. Jason will not hurt you."

Jason swore. "Kid, I didn't- Hey, Tim. I'm sorry. I didn't- B's right, I wouldn't hurt you. I'm not-" He dropped his side of the blanket and looked depressed. "I'd never hurt you," he whispered.

Dick set aside his part of the blanket, far enough that it was nested around Tim but left him exposed. Dick pulled Jason close and very gently rested a hand on Tim's head. Then he signed, "We love you. We're sorry. We're dumb. We were angry at Bruce and-" He paused, his face twisting. "We wanted to hurt Bruce, so we hurt you. We were wrong. Sorry. Please." He held out a hand.

Tim stared at the offered hand for a long time, eyes narrow. Then a tentacle laid itself in the hand. Tim snatched it back and stuffed it under his own body, but then two more tentacles snaked around Dick's arm. Dick touched them curiously. Tim hid his head under his arms again, but his tentacles had gone back to busying themselves with fidgets and the bowl of chips.

Bruce got all the way down on the ground so that he and his youngest were as physically equal as he could get. Tim warily peeked out at him. "Tim, I love you. I treated you badly when you first came to me, and that was wrong, and I'm sorry. I want you in my family. I see you as my son, just as much as Dick and Jason are. All three of them, Dick and Jason and you, you are my children. I don't want you to go away. I want you to stay. I don't care if I'm sad or happy, I want you to stay. I...I hope you want to stay, too."

They looked at each other for what felt like a very long time. Then liquid started to trickle out of Tim's eyes. The little mer touched his own face and then stared at the tears on his hand in bewilderment.

Dick tried to pull Tim into his arms, but the smaller mer struggled free and crawled over to Jason. They looked at each other. "I...I want you to stay, too," Jason said awkwardly. "I'm really sorry. And...sorry for, like...ignoring you when you came here. You're, you know. A person. Not a toy, or...whatever. Sorry for being a dick to you." He glanced at Dick. "I mean- whatever."

"You mean, sorry for being a Richard," Dick said with a grin, and Jason made a face at him.

Tim was staring at the pelt, which had gone back to being a hoodie by now. He delicately hooked his fingertips into the edge of the front pocket and peered in. Then he started to climb inside even though he didn't really fit.

Jason's eyes widened. "Whoa, uh-!" He grabbed the top edges of the pocket and started tugging, causing the pocket to expand. Tim wriggled deeper in, his tentacles thrashing enthusiastically for a moment, but then his upper half popped out the other side and slid down. He looked miffed as he watched his tentacles bunch up in the pocket.

"Yeah, I'm not Bruce, you're not gonna fit in my clothes while I'm wearing 'em," Jason said, carefully pressing the pocket small enough that the rest of Tim's body was forced out. The tentacles flicked in annoyance and Tim crawled over to Bruce.

"What did he even do?!" Raptor suddenly demanded, looking outraged and frustrated. He was loud enough that the other Titans paused their conversation to look over in surprise. "He didn't even do anything except run away and hide, yet that somehow entitles him to the Wayne name?!"

"We love you, too, Dami," Dick said, then exchanged a quick, odd glance with Jason. "Dami. Dad loves you, too."

Dami suddenly sat bolt upright. "You gave your word!"

Jason threw back his head and made a noise like "Gaaaaaagh." Then he straightened up. "Damian, Bruce doesn't give a crap about your honor or how worthy you are or whatever. He picked me up off the freaking street, he stole Dick out of a fish tank, Tim's some rando who crawled out of the ocean. He doesn't care."

He turned to Bruce. "By the way, B, did you know you'd knocked up that ninja lady, or did she just never tell you about Damian? I thought you were an asshole who'd let your kid grow up in a cult because I was mad, but now I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt that you just didn't know. Or maybe you did know but Mr. Thinks He Owns The Planet Demon's Head kidnapped him or something and you couldn't find him. It was one of those, right?"

Bruce stared, gobsmacked. He tentatively identified as asexual (not that he'd ever had reason or interest enough to try to pin down his orientation, he'd been far too preoccupied ever since starting that fateful internship at the zoo). He had never done anything in his life that would result in 'knocking up' anyone, much less a...ninja? He had no idea where this was coming from, why Jason was...implying what he sounded like he was implying.

"What?" Bruce said blankly.

TBC

A/N: To clarify about Tim's tentacles, if he's scared enough to flood his whole body with "HIDE" signals, then everything will be in sync. However, if the threat appears to recede, his logical/forefront mind might be going "I don't like this, I should stay hidden," but if his subconscious mind is like "I'm so boooored, what interesting things might be within reach to explore?", his tentacles will listen to that instead.