The Birds Who Smile, a Batman fanfic by Raberba girl
Chapter 15.1 (rough draft 2)
Bruce jolted awake to the sound of screeching birds coming from a far corner behind a shelf. Neither Jack nor Dick were anywhere in sight, though a startled-looking Damian was hurrying down one of the library ladders as his cat fled the room.
They rushed toward the sound of the disturbance, where they found Jack trapped. Peter was sitting on him and John was pinning his hands, their bodies in animalistic poses like dogs cornering a kitten. Their faces were twisted with fury as they screamed at their younger brother, who was screaming back with tears streaming down his face.
"Stop this at once, you little savages!" Damian shouted, and was ignored.
"GET OFF OF HIM." At Bruce's bellow, John and Peter fled. Jack, still sobbing, lifted his arms to his father, and was immediately picked up and comforted. "What happened?" Bruce demanded of Damian.
"I don't know! They were perfectly fine when Grayson left us. I didn't even see them approach him."
Bruce turned his eyes to his youngest child and gentled his voice. "Jack, are you all right?"
"They mad at me!"
"Did they hurt you?" He set the little boy down and examined him closely for injuries. He had a few scratches, but nothing serious. "What happened? Why did they do that to you?"
"WRONG brothers! I good boy, they bad boys!"
Which was not exactly helpful. "Damian, take him for a minute, I have to find the others."
"Nno, Daddy!" Jack begged, clinging to him when Bruce tried to leave. "Daddy ss'tay!"
"Damian will protect you. I have to talk to your brothers."
Jack suddenly went quiet and solemn. "Brothers good boys, good boys, Daddy, no hurt."
"Jack, they attacked you. That is not acceptable. I have to teach them that hurting family is wrong." Damian squirmed a bit.
"Not hurt, good boys, good me, happy." In direct contrast to his last sign, Jack looked nervous.
Bruce exhaled. "Let's go find Dick."
Dick was in his room, chatting on the phone and carelessly tossing items in the general direction of an open suitcase. His face changed when he saw Bruce and Damian grimly marching in with a teary Jack huddled in Bruce's arms. "Crap, I have to go. I'll call you back later." He tapped to end the call in almost the same movement he used to toss his phone on the bed, and reached to stroke a hand over Jack's head soothingly. "What happened, Jackie?"
"[chirp-chirp] [caw] mmean to me," Jack said dolefully.
Bruce decided he was fine if he was able to ham it up like this. "The others attacked him, I don't know why." He transferred the little boy into Dick's arms. "I have to track them down and deal with this. Watch Jack for me."
"Damian can watch Jack," Dick pointed out in his 'stop making me do your job' voice.
"He doesn't want me," Damian said sourly, and Dick's face softened.
"Jack, are you being mean to Dami?"
"Nnoo!"
Bruce left them and followed the trackers until he found John and Peter huddled in a niche off the hall, twittering intently to each other. They didn't notice Bruce until he was blocking their escape, and it disturbed him that they reacted by Peter curling into a defensive ball and John planting himself protectively in front of him.
"Boys, I will not hit you. If I punish you, it will not be with hitting, and you will still have food. I need to know why you attacked your brother."
They stared at him, making no attempt at a response.
"Why did you hurt Jack?"
"...No hurt him," John finally signed.
"You were angry at him. Why were you angry?"
"Not angry." John smiled as if to prove it. The smile, too wide and Joker-like, was not in the least convincing.
"Why did you pull Jack behind the shelf? Why did you hold him down? Why did you shout at him?"
There was a pause. "Bad me," John said, looking resigned rather than repentant.
"You're not answering my question. Why were you angry at Jack?"
Peter twittered something.
"...Jjj'ackk say bad things to me," John said. "I angry, hurt him. You angry."
"I will not hit you, even if I am angry. What did Jack say that upset you?"
John looked blank until Peter twittered some more.
"He say I stupid bad. I angry, hurt him."
"Peter, are you coaching him?"
"Good me," Peter signed immediately.
"Are you telling John what to say? Are you two lying to me?"
They were both extremely tense. "...Bad me, bad me, bad me," John insisted. Peter looked like a deer in headlights.
"John, are you trying to get me to punish you so that I won't hurt Peter?"
John gave up all pretense and covered his brother's body with his own, lifting an arm to protect his head. Peter whimpered fearfully.
Bruce was exasperated. "I will not hit you. I will not hit either of you. It doesn't matter how badly you misbehave or how angry I am, I will not hit you, do you hear me? I just need to understand."
John didn't move. Peter suddenly bolted, and fought and screamed when he was caught. John was instantly snarling and clawing at Bruce, who had to let Peter escape in order to defend himself. He got John into a restraining hold, grasping the boy's wrists and crossing his arms over his chest firmly enough to immobilize him but not tight enough to hurt. The boy, though still tense, stopped fighting and went still.
"...John."
"crow"
"I will let you go, but if you try to hurt me or run, I will hold you like this again. If you stay still so I can talk to you, I will not hold you like this anymore. Do you understand?"
"..."
Very cautiously, Bruce let go. John dropped his arms and didn't move or speak. Bruce gently took hold of his shoulders to turn him around and felt a sick jolt when he saw the Joker smile on his son's face. "John."
"crow"
"Johnny, don't smile like that." Hesitantly, as if afraid he would break him, Bruce set his hands on John's face and gently rubbed his thumbs over the boy's cheeks until John's smile finally eased into a more natural expression. It was one that was difficult to read, intent but with no discernible emotion. "...John."
"crow"
"Don't do that. Use human words."
After a long time, John finally raised his hands. "Do something."
"I am waiting for you. Tell me why you attacked Jack."
"Bad me."
"No. You're a good boy, I know you love your brothers and you have reasons for what you do. Why did you attack Jack? Whatever the reason is, I won't get angry. I just want to know."
After a pause, John's mouth stretched into a defiant smile. If you want that, you're going to have to beat it out of me.
Bruce's mouth tightened. He reminded himself that he had promised to not get angry. "Fine. Since you're being rebellious, I'm going to take one of your toys away for a while. I will keep taking more until you decide to tell me." He took the boy firmly by the hand and led him to Dick's room. John went along quietly until they reached the threshold, where he suddenly stopped and went stiff. Jack, who'd been rambling to his big brother, gasped and hid behind Dick. Damian had already left.
"I have to find Peter," Bruce said shortly. "John wouldn't tell me anything; see if you can get more out of him, Dick." He pushed John a few steps farther into the room, perhaps not as gently as he should have, and left again.
Dick looked at John, who was staring intently at the cowering Jack. "Are you giving Bruce a hard time, Johnny?"
"[warble]."
"Can't hurt me can't hurt me [big chirp-chirp] protect me!" Jack twittered frantically.
John cocked his head. "...Dd'kk."
Dick was starting to feel uneasy. "Yeah?"
"Him asleep, alone, Bbooss."
"Yeah, I saw. It was cute."
Something in John's expression shut down. "Mmmm," he realized.
"Me him right, you [caw] wrong," Jack twittered, his voice shaking slightly.
John's birdsong was quiet. "No. [big chirp-chirp] Laughs." Jack sobbed. "Me and [caw] won't let you Laugh, too. Later," he promised ominously. He crossed the room and made a show of playing with Dick's luggage while Jack cried.
"Okay, Dickie, listen, cut it out," Dick said. "Jack is your baby brother. It's your job to take care of him, not scare him and hurt him."
John flashed a very pretty smile. "Yes~!" Jack whimpered at the coldness of his eyes.
"So why are you and Peter ganging up on him and bullying him?"
"We protect baby."
"You say that, but Jack looks like he doesn't feel safe with you at all."
"Sad."
"Come on, Dickie, I'm you. I know when you're full of crap."
"Poop you," John pouted, finally dropping the cutesy act but still refusing to explain.
Bruce's footsteps sounded outside, heavy with displeasure, and he leaned into the room. "Peter's hiding with Duke; I didn't make any headway with him, either. Boys, come here - let's see if we can get some lessons in before dinner."
For the first time, the three children were not acting in solidarity. They worked on their lessons and practiced with utensils during dinner and behaved themselves, but there was a tension between them. The older two had the air of cats patiently stalking their prey, even while they worked, and kept stealing intent glances at their younger brother. Jack was nervous, keeping his distance from the other birds and clinging to the nearest adult whenever his brothers made a move or a look that was a little too threatening.
"Looks like I packed my bags too early," Dick sighed.
"Are you staying another night?" Bruce asked, carefully keeping all trace of relief out of his voice.
"Guess so."
Afterward, as the children were getting ready for bed in their own room, Jack disappeared into the shower stall like it was a refuge, and the older boys were less playful in the bath than usual. The children were helped into their pajamas and pointedly sat on opposite sides of Dick while he read to them.
"''[*censored because FFN is stupid*],'" Dick finished, and closed the book.
Peter made a questioning, melodic sound.
"You know," Dick said coolly, "since certain little birds aren't being very nice tonight, I don't really feel like singing."
Jack made a small hurt sound and Peter hissed in displeasure, but John looked Dick right in the eye and lifted his chin defiantly.
Dick huffed out a breath. "Dang, it really is annoying being on the other side of it..." He started to leave the room and paused when he passed Bruce, who had been watching from the armchair near the door. "I don't feel comfortable letting them sleep together when they're like this," he murmured.
Jack was already huddled on the edge of the bed, gazing fearfully at his brothers, who were crouched in a tangle together and fixing him with those eerie hunting cat gazes.
"I'll figure something out. Don't let it keep you from patrol if you want to go."
Once Dick was gone, Bruce called Duke, the only household member who'd be available to help him with this. The teen had warmed up to the birds enough that he agreed to stay in the children's room for the night, and he soon came in with a backpack full of things to work on until he felt like going to sleep.
"Thanks for keeping an eye on them," Bruce said, clapping him on the shoulder. "I'll take Jack tonight. Dick might be able to relieve you when he comes in from patrol."
"It's fine," Duke said easily. "No point in waking up at four in the morning or whatever. I don't mind sleeping in here."
"All right. Call me if there's any trouble." He went over and took Jack by the hand. The little boy immediately scooted out of bed and trotted along with him to the door.
John and Peter climbed off the bed to follow them.
"No," Bruce said. "You two will sleep in here tonight, with Duke. Jack will sleep with me."
"No," John signed.
"Yes," Bruce said forcefully. "You're staying here. Get back into bed."
Peter slowly sat back on the bed. John looked like he was deciding whether to obey or not.
"Or," Bruce suggested, "Duke can take Jack with him back to his room, and I'll sleep in here tonight."
John and Peter both scrambled to get under the covers.
"Good. Good night, boys. I'll see you tomorrow." He felt the children's eyes on his back even after he was several steps down the hall.
In the bathroom of the master suite, Jack watched him getting ready for bed. "You good Daddy?" he asked.
"I'm doing my best."
"You hurt us?"
"I will never hurt you like the Man Who Laughs did. ...I hate him."
"Me too," Jack said in satisfaction. "You love me?"
"Yes."
Jack hopped a little in excitement. "I good they bad, yes!"
"Jack, your brothers are not bad. It was wrong of them to mistreat you, but I want all three of you to know that you are good boys and I love you."
"I love Daddy."
"Jack, why did John and Peter attack you?"
"They scared. They say I scared. WRONG."
Bruce suppressed a sigh at how unhelpful the answer was again. "Why are they afraid?"
"Bad Laugh Man."
"I'm not him."
"Yes."
"Do they still think I'm him?"
"You not him."
"Do they still think I'll hurt them?"
"You not hurt."
"But do they think I will?"
"Stupid brothers."
"Jack, don't call your brothers stupid." Even if John and Peter still thought that Bruce would hurt them the way their abuser had, it didn't explain why they had and were still threatening to attack Jack, who surely couldn't have done anything to hurt them. He wished he knew how to ask it in a way that would get him answers.
When Bruce was finished in the bathroom and turned out the light, Jack climbed onto his bed rather than the nest in the corner. Bruce lay down a prudent distance away, but Jack crawled right up to him and snuggled against him, as he was accustomed to doing with his brothers. "Good night, Jack," Bruce murmured, tugging the blanket up to cover him better.
"Ggoonnai, Daddy," the boy mumbled back, and was asleep within minutes. Bruce laid a soft kiss against his hair and soon fell asleep, too.
He woke up a couple of hours later because of his phone chiming with a Bat-related notification from one of his agents in the field. The matter was quickly resolved, and he soon set his phone back down.
Bruce found himself staring at the sleeping child at his side, wondering at how tiny and trusting he was. Bruce loved all his children and would do anything for them, but the feeling didn't often strike him as deeply as it did now. He was nearly overwhelmed by how precious Jack was to him in that moment. He found himself hovering, almost encircling the little boy in a vague, dragonish effort to protect or claim him, yet also not daring to touch him and accidentally wake him.
Jack suddenly stiffened in his sleep, then whimpered and kicked a little. Bruce made shushing sounds which seemed to help for a minute or two, then Jack suddenly gasped and jerked awake. Finding himself in bed with Bruce rather than in a nest with his flockmates, he scrambled away and stared.
"It's all right, Jack. You're safe. It was only a nightmare."
"D-Daddy?" the boy quavered.
There was already a night light glowing on the wall near the floor, but Bruce reached over and turned on the bedside lamp. "Yes, it's me. You're safe."
Jack stared at him for a long moment. "Good Daddy?"
"I'm here."
"Don't hurt me."
"I will not. Do you want to move to the other bed?" He indicated the mattress in the corner that the boys usually used when they slept in his room.
"N...Nnoo," Jack said uncertainly.
"Do you want to talk about your dream?"
Jack shook his head vehemently.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry someone hurt you so badly that you have nightmares about it."
"...Sing?"
"Lie back down, and I will."
After a moment, Jack set his head on a pillow and watched as Bruce sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" to him. Before the end of the song, Jack's eyes fluttered closed, and he was soon asleep again, if not as much at ease as he had been before. 'Mine,' Bruce caught himself thinking, again in that dragonish way.
TBC