AN: OMIGOSH OMIGOSH OMIGOSH! Look up 'DC Nation Trailer (*2013*)' on YouTube right NOW! At the four second mark, it shows Flash running somewhere icy and he says, "I got this," and I am 99.9% darn sure that that is BART ALLEN saying that! Listen to the video! BART ALLEN IS IN THE FLASH SUIT! I'M GONNA DIE!
Aaaaannnndddd scene!
I'm serious though, look at the video.
And if you disagree with the Zeta Tube numbers in this chapter, you're an idiot, 'cause I looked it up on Wiki AND double-checked it with the shows. (But the Team's numbers will be slightly different 'cause Robin never existed, yata yata yata.)
And I was rereading Issue 11 of Young Justice and Robin said that Ra's Al Ghul was the only enemy of the Dynamic Duo that knew their secret identities.
So that means either Selina Kyle isn't considered an enemy and/or doesn't know their secret IDs...
...or...
Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman have their heads up their butts and their ISN'T A CATWOMAN ON EARTH 16!
What is going on here? Is there a Selina Kyle but no Catwoman or does she just not exist altogether?! I must knoooowww!
Wow, two rants in ten minutes. I am feeling the aster. BTW, this takes place in 'Downtime', 'kay?
Whisper decided that he detested being covered in slime, goop, mud-anything of the sort. But, right now, he really hated clay. The Team had just gotten their behinds handed to them by a new villain calling himself 'Clayface'. Apparently, Batman had to step in and save them, he wasn't quite sure what happened because he had been unconscious at the time. Yeah, he really hated clay.
So five hours and three showers later, Whisper was sitting in the living room watching TV. Wally and Artemis had gone home, apparently having 'tons' of homework, and Kaldur had gone to visit friends in Atlantis. Superboy and M'gann had gone grocery shopping, but it was pretty obvious that they were making out at some park bench. So, the teen was stuck alone, completely bored out of his mind.
That is, until the Zeta Tubes announced, "Batman 0-2."
Whisper instantly flipped off the couch and cartwheeled through the hallways into the Mission Room. When he came into sight of the Dark Knight, Whisper stopped his constant tumbling and stood straight...with his feet in the air and his hands on the floor.
Looking up (or is it down?) at Batman, the adolescent smirked and said, "'Sup Bats? Need something?"
'Bats' raised an eyebrow at Whisper from under the cowl before asking, "Is any other members of the Team here?"
Whisper flipped to his feet, crossed his arms, and shook his head ruefully. "Nope. Artemis and Wally are at home, Kaldur's in Atlantis, and the two alien love-birds are making out somewhere near the grocery store."
Amused at the descriptions given to him, and having already guessed as much, Batman launched into the real reason he had come to the Cave. "It seems as if you're all alone and rather bored." He paused, waiting to see what Whisper would do next.
The teen narrowed his eyes and inquired, "Aaaannnnd?"
"I was wondering if you would like to visit my house."
If Whisper had been drinking water, he definitely would've done a spit-take. His arms fell limply to his sides, dark brown eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. Yes, it literally fell open. "You...wait, WHAT!?"
A small sigh escaped the hero's lips as he said, "Since you obviously know my identity, there isn't any harm in allowing you to see my house." Batman left out that he wanted to make sure that Whisper was adjusting okay. He made grown men cry; he couldn't afford to look comforting and caring.
After a few seconds, Whisper managed to compose himself and let out a shaky, "Sure. Yeah...that'd be great actually." He hadn't been in an actual house since...wow. He didn't even remember. Does an abandoned apartment or a circus' train car count?
The Dark Knight didn't respond; he merely turned on his heel and headed back towards the tubes. Whisper followed, and soon, they were being sent to a run-down telephone box in a Gotham alley. The pair approached a large object hidden in the shadows, and when Whisper recognized the angular design of the Batmobile, a crazed smile broke across his face.
"Awesome."
The Caped Crusader's car pulled smoothly in the Batcave, stopping only feet away from the elderly butler waiting for it's return. After Batman jumped from the car, Alfred began to speak. "Master Bruce, I assume your trip to Mount Justice was-." His sentence was cut short when he noticed the second passenger vault from the seat onto the cave floor. A whispered, "Whoa," could be heard and the unfamiliar sound alone startled the Batcave's inhabitants.
Needless to say, Whisper was not expecting to be immediately bombarded by bats upon his entrance to Batman's secret lair. When he saw a dark mass moving towards him, he instinctively put his arms up to protect his head. However, a purely joyous smile broke across his face as he felt their leathery wings whip past his hair. As he turned to follow the nocturnal mammals' flight pattern, a light-hearted cackle echoed throughout the cavern. Whisper turned his attention back to the other humans in the cave when an accented voice proclaimed, "You must be young Mr. Whisper. Master Bruce had told me so much about you."
The person in question turned to face Alfred, before smirking and saying, "So Bruce talks about me, huh."
Oblivious to the now de-cowled hero's glare, the butler replied, "But of course, he finds it infuriating that he doesn't know who you are." Amused by the teen's grin growing bigger, Alfred continued. "Now, unless you two would like to wait until this evening to eat, I suggest you head towards the main section of the house. Lunch is on the table."
Batman proceeded to dress in civvies and ride in the elevator with Whisper at his side. Neither of them were stupid enough to pass up a chance to enjoy Alfred's cooking, even though the younger had never had it.
One lasagna later, Bruce and Whisper were sitting at the dining room table, stomach's content. Bruce was skimming the paper while Whisper stared off into space. The silence was broken when Bruce found a small article about the 'voice from the rooftops' having seemingly disappeared. Glancing at Whisper, the Dark Knight recalled the video of him singing, and let his curiosity get the best of him.
"You know, there's an article in here about someone that used to sit on a ledge and sing at night. He hasn't been seen for a few days though."
Whisper stiffens the slightest bit, and cautiously says, "That's interesting."
"Kinda funny how you used to stay in Gotham, and when you moved to the mountain, the singing stopped."
"Sure, yeah, funny."
"Almost like you were connected to it."
"Don't know what you're talking about."
"Then how did you get money for food?"
"I-," the teen paused, closed his mouth, then opened it again and replied with a question. "Are you always this infuriating?"
"Usually more so with Superman."
"Good to know."
A short silence came between the two, but was once again broken by the resident billionaire. "So, you sing."
Whisper blushed slightly before looking down. "A little; you know, here and there."
"The newspaper seems to think much more highly of you."
"At least I'm not affiliated with rumors about having a glare that can cause men to go insane."
"My glare does cause men to go insane."
"Oh please, that glare couldn't scare a kitten."
"I find that highly offending."
"The Dark Knight of Gotham is actually feeling emotion? I'm shocked."
"I'm a man of many surprises."
"Sure you are."
"I can prove it to you."
"Just try to."
"How would you like to go shopping for some new clothes?"
For the second time during the conversation, Whisper was caught off guard. "Excuse me?"
Bruce leaned his elbows on the table and steepled his hands. "So far, I've only seen you in one outfit. You need more than that to wear."
Hesitantly, the adolescent nodded. "I guess you're right."
Ten minutes later, the pair were riding in Bruce's Lamborghini, heading for Gotham City Mall.
"Just come out."
"No."
"Why not?"
"I look like an idiot."
"It can't be that bad."
"I'm wearing bright yellow! Of course it's that bad!"
Whisper stood in the changing stall, staring at the mirror before him. Bruce, the 'clothing genius' that he was, had helped him pick out some outfits. He had already tried on a few hoodies and jeans, but then he had gotten to the jacket. It was red with yellow designs, and even though he complained it was too bright, he knew that wasn't the real problem. What really bothered him was how similar the coloring was to his old costume. He didn't think about his family much if he could help it, but when he did, it wasn't exactly a 'fun' event.
Whisper took a deep breath before calling over the door, "Look, I don't like it. End of story, okay?"
A resigned sigh could be heard right before a barely audible, "Fine."
Releasing a breath in relief, he shed the jacket and hung it back on its hanger. Whisper turned back to the mirror and visibly winced at his bare chest.
Scars adorned every visible area of skin, the work of the Talons. He tried to keep his arms covered at all times around the Team; if they saw just the cicatrixes on his forearms, they would overreact. He didn't even want to think about what they would say about the ones on his torso. Composing himself once again, he continued trying on various articles of clothing, checking with Bruce occasionally on wether or not he should get it.
It was a new experience to say the least. Back with the circus, he had never gone shopping. Most of his clothes had consisted of hand-me-downs and hand-sewn garments, but here he was, at a mall, shopping with a billionaire. Truth be told, it was nice having Bruce around. He may be rough and tough as Batman, but in public the two exchanged friendly banter and bonded quickly. Both males were surprised at just how quickly they bonded.
Bruce found himself feeling protective of his companion. He's never felt like that with anyone other than Alfred, and it was never to this degree. That this boy had impacted him so immensely in such a short time, it was almost miraculous.
Whisper discovered he was much more at ease with Bruce than with others. He joked around, actually joked, which was something he hadn't truly done since his parents were still alive. Even though happiness was an almost forgotten feeling, Whisper was glad he was experiencing it, even if it was to a small degree.
After the modeling ceased and Bruce bought around $200 dollars worth of clothes (He was a billionaire, why not?), they headed to the food court. They each got a bottle of water and sat at a table in the corner, glancing around them every now and then out of paranoia.
Bruce was explaining his reluctance to get a pet when Whisper spoke a question that had been bothering him for days.
"Hey, if someone can be overwhelmed, and someone can be underwhelmed, why can't anyone just be whelmed?"
Bruce choked lightly on the water he had been drinking before regaining control of his lungs. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me. Why isn't anyone just whelmed?"
Marveling at the boy's antics, Bruce shrugged and took another swig of water.
"Humph." Whisper momentarily slouched down in his seat before popping right back up again. "Alright, then what about this? If dislike is the opposite of like, then is the disaster the opposite of aster? You know, instead of things going wrong, they go right!"
"An aster is a flower," Bruce deadpanned.
Whisper frowned before looking at the food court's clock. "Hey, it's almost 5. We better head back to the Manor."
Bruce mentally let out a sigh of relief that the matter of made up words was dropped. He didn't know how wrong he was.
AN: Wow, this is like, really long for me. I was going to continue it into the rest of the episode, but I just love leaving it at this, so oh well. Can I just say that if Bruce seems OOC, it's because in YJ, they portray him as human, so I'm following that trend. Also, he's feeling love (Not that kind, the fatherly kind) for someone other than his stoic, British butler.
And I used the thing with the bats in the Batcave as foreshadowing, and because I love that scene from the Dark Knight Rises. MOST EPICEST MOVIE EVER! So, yeah, symbolism and all that crud.
And OMG, did y'all SEE the episode 'Fix'? Wow, just wow. I decided I'm gonna start another story soon that has a bunch of oneshots about what I thing Dick was thinking or feeling at certain points in the series. (Like, for example, when he's falling in Performance or when he tells L'gann about Kaldur and Artemis.) So yeah, be on the look out for that.
Uuuum, I think that's it. Soooo, yeah. Bye!
-GSDLover