Philia part XII

Helena blew all ten of her birthday candles as camera flashes showered her with light and the clicks captured the moment forever.

They were having a small privet party, only the Wayne household, Selina, the Gordons, Barbara, Harvey and Lucius Fox with his six years old son, Luke. Holly had already left for college but she facetimed Helena in the morning.

'Congratulations, kitten, what did you wish for?'

'Can't say mommy, won't come true if I do.' But she and Dick exchanged a look, Bruce followed the small interaction with suspicion.

Turns out that after the first odd days Helena and Dick got on like a house on fire and Bruce feared that the house in question would be his.

Although the trauma was so similar, Dick couldn't handle it more differently than Bruce at the same age. On the first days, before Bruce decided that he wanted to conquer fear, he slept and slept and slept always dreaming that reality was a mistake, or that his parents had to forge their own deaths for some reason, but they were back and everything would be fine. Dick didn't spend a single day like that. He woke up early, almost as early as Alfred, and he would try to make himself useful, helping on the kitchen even though Alfred continually telling him that there was no need. He smiled a lot, cracked silly jokes and showed off his acrobatic skills so much that he broke several pieces of décor until Bruce decide to take the boy to the Manor's Gym before Alfred lost his patience.

Bruce was more concerned about this behaviour than if he cried all day, but he couldn't see what to do. He told Alfred his worries but the butler just said the boy would eventually be okay and Bruce trusted him. And then he enrolled Dick in the same school Helena went, he was two grades above her but they might have been seeing each other everyday on recess because Dick was always back with stories about her and Barbara Lee. But Bruce only was able to measure how things were going between them when Helena was at the Manor and Dick and her started a prank contest.

'If you keep falling for the children's pranks how can you possible anticipate you enemies moves, Master Bruce?'

Bruce didn't respond to that, just gave the smug butler a nasty look. They never pranked him.

'What's the score?' Asked Barbara Lee, the cake was served but she was chewing her favourite bubble gum, every now and then she would make a huge bubble and Dick was wondered how it didn't stick to her hair or glasses.

'Ten to Eleven, I'm winning.' Said Dick with a cocky grin.

'Not true! I told you that last point wasn't valid because I was not here.'

'I can't keep waiting for you to come! What am I supposed to do in the meantime? This house is so booooooring.'

'Awwwn boohoo. Poor Dickie is bored in his huge mansion.' Said Barbara Lee tormenting him, she did that a lot.

'Don't call me that!'

And it wasn't just the pranks, they made everything a competition. Even eating and dressing themselves. Alfred was always begging them to do things slowly and properly, but they just became a little better when Alfred was self-appointed the referee. For everything they had to do twice because the first one was made in such a haste that they made a poor job, two points was lost. The problem was that it was also valid for the pranks, that made their work become more meticulous and deadly.

Sometimes they would also cooperate instead of compete, but Bruce didn't know if that was better because he once was surprised to find Dick and Helena hanging on the ballroom's chandelier as he was teaching her to do somersaults. But it wasn't as terrifying as walking into a blindfolded Helena trying to hit an apple on Dick's head with a crossbow. Even though it wasn't horned arrows she could have hit an eye or something. He learned later that was Dick's idea of a bet and Helena accepted, Bruce gave them a massive scold for not knowing any better.

'Gather around' Commanded Babs. 'I have a present for you, Lena.'

'You already gave me a present.' Said Helena confused, but she joined Dick getting close to Babs anyway.

'Not that. That was my mom's present. This is just from me. Well, not quite.' She picked an old photo from her pocket, and showed to the other two.

'That's mom!' Exclaimed Helena excited.

'And the short boy is your dad.' Informed Babs.

'Boy, he was short! How come he's so tall now?' Said Dick hugely impressed.

'See, Dickie, you have hope.' Helena said in her sweetest voice.

'Shut up, Lena.' He softly elbowed her, Helena avoided him and giggled taking the photo to exam it properly. Her mother was a little older than she was in the picture. She was wearing a satin party dress, it was a light beige and had beautiful black embroidery. Her dad's hair was parted on the side in a very old-fashioned way, he was a little inch or so smaller than her mom, Helena looked up from the photo and over her friend's head finding her parents chatting with Mr. Fox, even in high heels her father towered above her mom now.

'How did you find this?'

'I was helping my mother to move some old stuff, found pictures of this party and you parents. I asked her about it. She gushed about how cute your parents were together. Mom was the one who took her shopping and to the hairdresser to dress auntie Sel like that.'

'What? Your mother was already a grownup when Helena's mom was a kid? How old are you mother? Is she a fairy?'

Helena and Babs burst into laughter.

'No silly, my mom got pregnant with me in her teens.'

They could visualize Dick's mind exploding.

'How old is Bruce?'

'I don't know? I think twenty something.'

'TWENTY? Like, college kid twenty? I thought he was a lot older than that.'

'Who you're calling old, chum?' Asked Bruce approaching to see what the kids were doing glued heads to each other, in his experience, never a good sign.

'B!' He messed up Dick's hair and bowed a bit to look at what Helena was holding.

'What is that you have there, princess?'

'Look, daddy. It's you and mom.'

Helena's heart jumped when her father's face morphed in a rare full smile when he saw the picture.

'Oh… This was ages ago. How did you find this?'

'My mom had it.' Said Babs making a bubble and popping it.

'It was Selina's first gala, she was beautiful...' His eyebrows rise to the top of his forehead. 'I was short.'

The kids exchanged looks and laughed.

ooo

'How's life as a single father of two?' Asked Selina sitting next to Bruce on the bar. She was clearly tipsy, Bruce gave her a half-amused, half-surprised look, deeply puzzled by her sudden civility. They had silently agreed to be nicer at least in front of Helena, and they had small chats when Bruce called Helena or when he visited, but the topic of conversation was their kid only.

'Who are you? A pap? Vicky Vale?'

'Pfff You'd like that, wouldn't you?'

'I have no idea of what you are talking about,' said him completely aware of the rumours about him and the young reporter. 'And answering your question, it has been terrifying.'

'Really?' She asked sceptical.

'Why the surprise?'

'Because you seem to make it effortless. Do you know how completely infuriating is to watch you just waltz into fatherhood with Helena when I've been breaking my back for ten years?'

'What? Selina are you crazy? I'm so scared all the time I'll do something or say something and ruin all your work, and she will never want to see me again. Our daughter… I have no words. I have never met a child like her. I'm afraid every day she will decide that she was better off without me in her life.'

Selina rolled her eyes.

'How can someone be a genius and still completely stupid? Helena adores you. Sometimes it makes me sick at the stomach just how she lights up when the phone rings and she thinks it might be you.' Selina ignored Bruce's pleased expression. 'But how are things with little Ricky?'

'Do not call him that… He gets really angry.' He pleaded.

'But Dick is fine?'

'Let it go, Selina.'

'Circus freaks. Call a kid that.'

'Anyway… He's fine, I guess. He is nothing like I was in that age. Remember? Scared at my shadow, feeling sorry for myself.'

Selina smiled fondly.

'I remember of you asking me to teach you do dangerous stuff.'

'Alfred hated your guts for teaching me.' Said Bruce reciprocating her act with a little smile of himself.

'We're even now. Since I gave him a grandchild he has been so much nicer, should have done that earlier.'

'Yeah? How would do that?' He decided he liked tipsy Selina very much.

'The regular way. Get you drunk and have my wicked way with ya.'

Bruce closed his eyes in silent laughter.

'That's sexual assault.' Informed him amused.

'Pfff. I remember billionaire brat Brucie. He was eeeeeeeeeasy.' She said the last word crunching her whole face for emphasis.

'I am not easy, Selina. How dare you.' He said in mock-offense and bumped her on her on the side. Then he sobered up a little before continuing in a more serious tone. 'But as we're saying, Dick is doing a lot better than I did back in the day. He has some fits of anger sometimes, and nightmares, but not every night. I'm not good at talking about it with him. But his social agent appointed one counsellor and he seems to like her.'

'A Wayne doing therapy?' She looked honestly surprised. 'My, times change!'

'Not Wayne yet.'

'So you are thinking about adopting?'

'If he wants, eventually.' He looked down to his drink, the amber liquid swirling slowly. 'I don't want him to think that I'm trying to replace his parents.'

'Did you think Alfred was trying to replace yours?'

'It was different. Alfred was already kind of my parent before. When I was five I was really surprised to find out that not everyone had a mom, a dad and a butler.'

'What?' Selina dropped her head on her crossed arms over the bar counter and laughed her shoulders shaking.

'That's why I never told you that before.'

'Ohmigosh Bruce' She said between fits of laughter. 'You can't be real, you just can't.'

Bruce's humiliation session was interrupted by Helena and Dick.

'What did you say that was so funny, daddy?' The girl asked as she climbed over Bruce's lap.

'I didn't even know B was capable of making jokes.' Said Dick cheekily.

'Hey, watch it!'

Selina lifted her head to look at the little boy, she had tears of laughter in her eyes.

'Kid, I like you. And you're right he can't, I was laughing of him not at him.'

'Mommy, that's not nice.'

'I'm not nice, kitten.'

'You're nice to me.'

'That's because you're a very special kitten.' She booped Helena's nose.

'You're nice to Dick too.'

'That's because I've heard he gives Bruce and Jeeves hell and that earned my respect.' She winked at Dick. 'Also you have some sick moves, kid.'

'Thanks, Miss.' He said blushing.

'I mean it, Helena showed me the videos, that triple somersault was very impressive.'

'Lena told me you can do a lot of cool moves too. '

'Well, I'm not a pro like you, I had sort of an unorthodox training, and what I do is closer to parkour than acrobatics.'

'Ohhh I always wanted to try that! Can you show me some moves later?'

'I can show you now!' She jumped to a standing position drunk the rest of what was in her cup and was ready to go, when she felt Bruce pulling her arm, she wobbled almost falling and crushing Helena comically.

'Maybe some other time, chum.'

'Why? I'm not drunk, Bruce!'

'Famous last words.'

Selina argued back, Dick and Helena just exchanged an amused look and watched them very entertained.

Since this chapter just didn't want to end I'm forcing it. And I took a really large chunk of it and dumped in the next one believe or not. So you have, all the interactions I was owing you. I hope you enjoyed it. See you next time!