The Birds Who Smile, a Batman fanfic by Raberba girl
Chapter 28 - "Either You or Me" (part 1)
[rough draft 2]
That evening, Bruce drugged John with something that would numb any pain and keep him asleep for most of the night. He and Alfred cleaned the boy up and applied durable makeup to hide the mask scars. Bruce then set out in a civilian car toward Gotham proper.
He had been planning this for a while. Two dentists had been paid to spend an entire night on John after signing nondisclosure agreements (ideally, they'd have nothing of substance to report on or gossip about, but it was better to be prepared).
To Bruce's relief, there seemed to be no complications. One of the dentists was a little chatty, but after too many awkward pauses, she gave up. They had been made wary of asking questions to begin with, and the few they did venture were easily deflected. Bruce muted his Brucie act so as to seem preoccupied and tired without actually seeming out of character. John remained peacefully asleep. The doctors took turns so that neither of them would get too worn out, and John's mouthful of human-shaped teeth at the end of the procedure was encouraging.
"Thank you," Bruce told them, gathering up his son. "I'm hoping to bring in Peter tomorrow night and Jack the one after next, but I'll let you know if plans change."
He went straight to the brownstone, where Cassandra was waiting, to drop off John. An exhausted Stephanie arrived just before he left. "How was patrol?"
"Better than this," Steph said, gesturing at the unconscious boy. "I need a hot shower. And more sleep than I know I'm going to get."
"...I'm sorry."
Stephanie waved her hand in a "Don't worry about it" gesture.
"I take care of people I love," Cassandra said in a way that was probably meant to be reassuring if her movements hadn't been filled with an undercurrent of "Sad tired sad." Bruce went over to gently cup the back of her head and rest his forehead against hers for a moment. She hummed in appreciation.
Stephanie, who had been discarding bits of her Spoiler uniform on her way to the bathroom, came back to stand in front of Bruce and put her hands on her hips. "I want a forehead-touch, too. I've earned it."
She had, but it was so awkward... There was something about Cassandra and Dick that made showing physical affection to them easier than it was with anyone else. Still, Bruce made himself do it, and relaxed a little when Stephanie sort of snuggled into him. "Can you, like, just be my dad? Can you adopt me without Mom terminating her parental rights?"
He carefully put an arm around her waist. "I don't need adoption papers for you to be my daughter, Stephanie."
"Oh- Oh! Okay. Okay!"
Cass wormed her way under Bruce's other arm, and for a long minute, he and his daughters just stood quietly, basking in each other's love.
Then John stirred. "I need to go," Bruce muttered, stepping away and practically fleeing the house.
He reached the manor without incident in the wee hours of the morning and went to bed immediately, feeling sad in the back of his mind that Damian, flying on Goliath, had headed straight to Titans Tower after patrol without even saying goodbye.
o.o.o
Tim sailed out of his bedroom at 7:00 a.m., rolling a suitcase behind him. He was DONE being sick and injured and bedridden, he'd had more sleep this past week than he knew what to do with, he felt physically better than he had in ages, and he needed to GET OUT.
The manor was very quiet with so many of its occupants gone or asleep. Tim dumped his suitcase in the trunk of his car and then came into the kitchen, where a depressed-looking Peter and Jack were halfway through breakfast.
"Good morning, Master Tim. Are you going into the office today?" Alfred asked, eyeing the young man's business suit.
"Yup." Tim poured himself a mug of coffee and then looked down when he felt a small arm wrap around his leg. It was Jack, sucking on his chew fidget and gazing off into the distance. "What's wrong, Jackie?"
No answer. When Tim tried to pull free, Jack squeezed tighter and shuffled after him when Tim made his way to the table. "What's up with the kids?" Tim asked.
"Well," Alfred said as he set a plate of eggs in front of the young man, "since they are convinced that Master Bruce means them harm and that anyone out of their sight is likely dead, they have no faith in our explanations, and they awakened this morning to find no sign of their brother, it logically follows that they are grieving the death of Master John."
Tim stared at the birds.
"[chirp-chirp] ddead, bbye-bye," Peter said defiantly, and shoved another piece of tofu bacon in his mouth.
Tim tried dialing Cassandra's number, knowing that Stephanie was likely still asleep. Cass didn't pick up, though she did text a string of angry emoji a minute later. Tim texted back an emoji message of his own, indicating that he wanted the younger birds to see John. His phone rang. He answered it, and when a screaming, crowing John appeared in the vidchat window, he held the phone toward Peter and Jack.
They looked unimpressed.
Tim sighed and gave up. "John is alive," he mumbled, scooping up a forkful of eggs. Jack climbed into his lap and buried his face in Tim's shoulder. Tim absently put an arm around him, but then, "OW, don't bite me! That's what your freaking pacifier is for!" There was a struggle over the chew fidget; Jack flung it away and bit Tim again, a little harder this time.
"Motherf-" Tim gritted his teeth, thinking uncharitable thoughts. "Alfreeeed!"
They got Jack detached, but by then, the little boy was throwing a tantrum, shrieking and throwing and hitting. "Oh my-"
A sharp thud startled them all. Peter, who had apparently just hurled the salt shaker, Joker-smiled and clapped his hands at the new crack in one of the windowpanes. He grabbed the pepper shaker to make another one.
"NO!" Tim bellowed, charging at him. Peter fled, cackling like the Joker. "EVIL-DICK IS RUBBING OFF ON THEM!"
Tim soon stopped the chase when he realized he didn't actually know what he would do with Peter if he caught the boy (also, running made his feet hurt, since they weren't 100% healed yet). Shaking his head, he returned to the kitchen, sensing Peter stalking him.
Alfred was sitting at the table, gripping a teacup in both hands. Jack was lying on the floor, screaming as he repeatedly kicked the wall with his little socked feet as hard as he could, exactly like a stereotypical bratty toddler. Tim shot an incredulous look at Alfred, who gazed back grimly.
Tim finally pointed at the six-year-old. "That is not me. I never did that when I was little."
"I blame you for nothing, Master Tim," Alfred said in a dead voice.
Tim's fists clenched. He had the impulse to stomp over there and make the little brat shut up, but he had a feeling he wasn't going to win that battle and might cross a line trying to fight it. He sat down at the table instead and stabbed a fork into a biscuit. Alfred didn't even bother to correct his caveman manners.
"BA' BOY BA' BOY BA' BOY!" Jack shrieked.
Peter, seeing that he wasn't going to be punished at the moment, climbed back into his chair. "Please give me eggs," he asked no one, and scooped a handful of food into his mouth.
"Who is he asking," Tim muttered under his breath, also to no one. "No one's making him ask, no one's answering, he's eating regardless, why is he asking? Why are you asking, Peter? Why are you screaming for absolutely no reason, Jack? Why is this my life? Why did we decide Bat Central was a great home for three little demon children from Batman's literal worst nightmare? Why, Bruce? Why, multiverse? Why?"
Alfred took a long sip of tea.
o.o.o
After a while, Jack's screams finally died away. Now he just lay on the floor crying his heart out. Tim wanted to comfort him, but he also didn't want to get bitten again, so he stayed where he was, washing down every bite of breakfast with generous gulps of coffee. Alfred continued to gaze stonily into the distance, taking a single sip of tea every few minutes.
It was Peter who soon left the table to go over and plop down on the floor, throwing his legs over the smaller boy.
Jack soon quieted. "I miss [chirp-chirp]."
"Yes."
"I miss [chirp-chirp]."
Peter patted his head.
"I miss [chirp-chirp] and [trill]. And Mama and Daddy and Fake-Daddy."
"Everyone dies except me and you. I will keep you alive."
"Master killed [chirp-chirp], now he will kill me."
"We will run away before he kills us."
"He will catch us and hurt us."
"No."
"Stupid [caw]."
Peter kicked him lightly in annoyance and went back to his plate.
When Tim finished eating, he sighed deeply and went to go change out of his bitten suit into a fresh one. When he came back out, he hesitated by the kitchen. "Jack. Peter."
The older boy glanced briefly at Tim and then away again in disinterest, but Jack looked worried and came trotting up to him.
Tim crouched down. "Jackie, let me see your phone for a minute."
"Mmy ph'one."
"I'll give it back. I just need to fix it." Jack watched closely until Tim had finished and handed it back. "It's a real phone now. Look..." He showed the little boy how to access the newly-filled contacts list, which had a photo next to each name. Jack eagerly pressed Tim's picture before the teen could even instruct him to, and the phone started dialing.
Smiling a little, Tim took his phone out of his pocket and answered it. "Hello."
Jack stared at him, mouth hanging open in surprise.
"Hello? Who is this? Is this Jackie? Did you just call me, Jackie?"
"Ttimmy?" Jack whispered breathlessly into his own phone.
"Hey, look at you, you called me. Now we can talk even if we're far away."
Jack took the phone away from his ear to stare at it a minute, then pressed it against the side of his face again. "Ttimmy~!"
"Yeah. Well, I have to go now, monster baby." Tim rose to his feet and started backing away. "I don't know if I'll see you again soon, but if you ever need help, or if you're scared, you can call me okay?"
Jack trailed after him, keeping him in sight but listening closely to the voice that remained in his ear.
"I'm gonna go to work now, okay? Bye, Jackie."
"No, no, Ttimmy."
"It's okay. Bye, Jack." Tim hung up. Jack ran to threshold of the mud room, staring as Tim got into his car. The garage door started to rise and the engine started.
Jack frantically stabbed at the phone screen.
"Hey, Jack," Tim said, heading down the front drive. "I'm going to work now."
"Ttimmy! Ccome bback! Ccome bback, Ttimmy!"
"Later, Jack. I'll see you later, but I have to go now."
[warble] started to cry, because [chirp-chirp] was dead and [big chirp-chirp] was dead and now Timmy was going away to be dead, too. [warble] was all alone, only [caw] was left, [caw] would protect him but he wasn't very smart so Master would kill him and then [warble] would be all alone, he would hide but Master would finally find him and kill him like he always killed everyone...!
TBC
A/N: It was supposed to go straight to the cute-sad Tim/Jack separation scene, I was totally not expecting Jack to bite him and throw a tantrum. *facepalm*