Ch.30: Manor Visit
"Whatcha reading?" Artemis asked, dressed in a green one-piece bathing suit. She sat down on the other side of the table, facing Bruce as she did.
The two were sitting by the pool as Danny, his friend Sam, and his other friend Tucker swam. They were playing one game or another. Bruce could have sworn he heard something about 'floating Bob into the ocean' or something.
Bruce was also reading a book, for once in his life. The billionaire showed Artemis the cover and revealed it was one of her all-time favorite mystery books ever.
"OooOOOooo, have any ideas on who the culprit is?" Artemis asked, a sneaky smile on her face.
"It's Philip."
Artemis stared at him wide-eyed, smile wiped off her face. "H-How do you know?"
Bruce began listing all the reason why it was the character Philip, even though he was about twenty pages into the book.
Artemis glared. "You suck all the joy out of reading."
"He sucks the joy out of everything." Dick teased as he plopped down in a chair next to her. Bruce rolled his eyes and put the book down.
"I'd ask if you need a bookmark but something tells me you won't need it." Artemis said, still glowering. Bruce merely smirked at her amused. Dick patted the blonde's back sympathetically. "You get used to it."
Artemis continued to glower. "Anyone else going to show up?"
"Nah. Just Jason. I tried getting Tim to come but that idiot swears he has too much work, Damian's trying to train his new dog Titus Jr., and Cassie and Steph are busy with a movie marathon that they've had planned for months now." Dick answered.
"Ah Jason… Such a pleasant person to be around." Artemis said sarcastically.
"He's getting better… Kind of…" Dick muttered. Artemis gave him a questioning look.
"His swearing is still out of control. Danny asked me what the word 'fuck' meant yesterday." Bruce said, answering the unasked question while grimacing.
"You never answered!" Danny yelled from the pool.
"Maybe later, Raven. Just don't ever repeat it, ok?" Bruce called back. Danny groaned but nodded, easily getting reabsorbed in his game with Sam and Tucker again.
"You're not telling him later, are ya?" Dick asked with an amused grin on his face. Bruce mouthed a long 'nooooooo' to him, shaking his head.
"My cussing is not that bad." Jason said, walking in and falling into the seat next to Dick. They gave him a 'seriously?' look.
"You swear in another language." Dick said, looking at his younger brother astonished.
"Your point?" Jason asked. The other three adults at the table face-palmed.
"Jason!" Danny shouted and ran to his older brother and attacked him with a hug. The older raven-haired man tried keeping still with a smile on his face, as Danny had water dripping off him. "And he's wet…"
Danny pulled away, giggling behind his hands. "Dick told me to!"
Jason slowly turned his head towards his grinning older brother. "I'm going to fucking kill you…"
"JASON!" Artemis and Bruce yelled. Jason ignored them and lunged for Dick. The older black-haired male screamed and began running. Jason got out of his seat and began chasing Dick.
Bruce sighed through his nose, hands in his arms. Artemis just rubbed her temples.
"You." Bruce said, pointing to his youngest, who was still giggling. "Never repeat what Jason says ever, ok?"
"Why? Other Daddy used that kind of language all the time too." Danny asked.
Bruce face-palmed.
Artemis motioned for Danny to come to her. "You don't say them because they're bad words, ok?"
Danny, eyes wide, nodded. Artemis smiled. "Now go play with your friends."
Danny nodded and went to go join Sam and Tucker, who were waiting patiently on the steps.
"DICK, GET BACK HERE SO I CAN FUCKING KILL YOU!"
"JASON!"
"NEV-A!! YOU HAVEN'T KILLED ME YET AND I LIKE LIFE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"
"I bet I can hold my breath longer than you!" Danny said to his friends. They smirked at him playfully.
"Nu-uh! I can!" Tucker challenged.
"No! I can!" Sam continued.
The three kids took a deep breath before going under the water and sitting on the bottom. About ten seconds into the bet, Tucker came up gasping for air.
"AWWW!" He whined.
Sam quickly followed, gasping for air as well. "Aw man! Danny beat us!"
The raven-haired boy laughed as he came out of the water. His two friends gained smirks and tackled him.
"I'm guessing Jason." Danny said, sitting on the side of the pool with his feet in the water. Sam was sitting next to him with Tucker on her other side.
"I'm guessing Arty." Sam said. Tucker laughed. "And I guess Dick!"
"I'm guessing all of them." Bruce said, smiling as he kneeled behind the kids.
"You can't guess all of them!" Danny said, smacking his adopted father's arm. Bruce pushed him into the pool. "Yes, I can."
Sam and Tucker laughed loudly as Danny's head popped out of the water, sticking his tongue out at Bruce, who waved at him cheekily.
"You ready?" Dick asked the other two. Jason and Artemis both smirked before nodding.
"WE'RE READY!" Jason yelled at the top of his lungs, if only to tick the others off.
Bruce rolled his eyes. "We can hear you Jason. There's only a few yards separating us."
Jason smirked. "I know. I'm just being a jack-ass."
"JASON!"
Said adult rolled his eyes. "Just say 'go'."
"Go." Bruce said plainly, a frown on his face. The three young adults dove into the pool and began swimming as fast as they could. They swam three laps and ended in a three-way tie.
Danny, Sam, and Tucker stared, slack-jawed. Bruce smirked. "Told ya."
Pamela and Jeremy Manson and Angela and Maurice Foley entered the pool area. The Manson's looked like they had seen classier (which, secretly, they hadn't) while the Foley's were drinking in the sight with awe.
Bruce, seeing his friend's parents were there to get their kids, got out of the pool, grabbing a towel as he did. Danny, Sam, Tucker, Artemis, Dick, and Jason continued the water war they had started an hour ago.
Adults vs. Kids
Much to Bruce's amusement, the kids were winning.
"Hello Bruce." Pamela said, looking at the adults in the pool with disdain. The billionaire chose to ignore that.
"Hello Pamela, Jeremy, Angela, Maurice." Bruce greeted, smiling.
"JASON!"
Bruce continued smiling, even though he wanted to scream. Jason was going to have to put another dollar in Alfred's swear jar…
"We're just going to grab Sammy and then leave. She has to go to her piano lesson." Jeremy said smiling.
"Same here. We wouldn't want our son to burden you anymore." Angela said, politely.
"Oh, it's no trouble at all. Both kids are wonderful." Bruce said, equally as polite.
"JA-SON!"
And another dollar… Alfred's gonna be rich…
"If you don't mind me asking, who are those three playing with our children?" Pamela said, a strained smile on her face.
She never did like Danny all that much…
"Those are my other two adopted sons; Dick Grayson and Jason Todd. And a family friend; Artemis Crock." Bruce explained, pointing to each one as the adults got out to join Bruce. Danny, Sam, and Tucker were directed to dry off with towels Alfred had brought in earlier.
"Yeah, we're hoping it'll be Artemis West sometime soon." Dick said in a teasing way, elbowing the blonde, who rolled her eyes in amusement.
"Dick," Jason started, and there was a certain way he stressed the name that clued he wasn't calling Dick his name. "I'm telling you; you need to walk up to that son of a bitch-"
"JASON~!"
"and tell him to pop the fucking-"
"JASON~~~!"
"-question." Jason ended, while everyone else just face-palmed and groaned.
The Foley's looked surprised by the language Jason used while Jeremy and Pamela looked horrified and disgusted.
"Good going, Jason. Ruin any chance our Baby Raven will ever see his friends again." Dick mumbled, patting his brother on the back. The anti-hero rolled his eyes while the three children came over. Sam stood by her parents, sadly, while Tucker bounced over to his.
"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Jeremy questioned Jason. The raven-haired man frowned and flipped him off ("JASON!"). "My mother's six feet in the ground, you bastard."
Squirt, squirt.
"OW! What the fuck is that?!" Jason yelled, rubbing at his eyes. Danny, spray bottle in his hands, frowned up at his brother with a 'bad-dog' look. "Soapy water."
"DANNY!" Jason shouted, trying to open his eyes but couldn't.
"I was aiming for your mouth to wash out the bad language." Danny said.
Dick began laughing while Artemis grinned, pleased. Bruce, an amused smile on his face, hid his face in his hand. Sam and Tucker laughed while the Foleys hid it behind their hands. Pamela and Jeremy looked surprised by the young child's doing.
Opening his bloodshot eyes, Jason looked at Danny. "Don't ever fucking-"
Squirt, squirt.
"-frikkin-"
Squirt, squirt.
"-do it again!" Jason finished, rubbing his eyes again.
Dick began clapping. "It only took, like, ten years but we finally found someone who could possibly break his sailor's tongue!"
"That's amazing." Artemis commented, smirking and totally sarcastic.
Jason mumbled curses under his breath.
Squirt, squirt.
"DANNY, STOP IT!"
"You stop using bad words." Danny compromised.
"We'll see!" Jason yelled, pointing at the child. Danny grinned cheekily.
Eyes wide, Pamela began leading her daughter away. "Ok Sammy, it's time to go now." Jeremy followed briskly behind.
Dick and Artemis waved with fake smiles.
"We're never seeing them again, are we?"
"No. No, we are not. Thanks Jason."
"Oh shut up!"
Squirt, squirt.
"DANNY!"
Angela and Maurice chuckled and began leaving as well. "Hope to see you soon, Bruce."
"Likewise." The billionaire said and once they were gone, he patted Danny's head. "Good job, Raven."
Danny smiled cheekily and then hugged Jason around the waist. "I'm sorry I squirted you in the face with soapy water."
Jason fought with himself for a full minute on whether he should be mad or not before finally sighing and patting the kid's head. "Yeah, whatever."
Danny smiled cheekily up at him.
It can be so awkward writing Jason because I don't use cusses. At all. I'm, like, the only one my age that doesn't! I am just not comfortable with writing cusses. My good friend from REAL LIFE, Rainbowdash77 (Why?! I would've been happy with GatorGal!), knows this all too well.
Kadzait: And yet you're ok writing pedophilia?
...shut up...and if I screwed up on Jason, still new at him and all, please do tell where I can improve. I like to think I did him good though. It could honestly be a lot worse.
Kadzait: No kidding.
SHUT UP, NANCY.
Reviews:
GreenDrkness: You are an awesome idea giver. I'll probably do that when he gets older though... Yes... That's what I shall do... *evil grin*
Skymuse: Your parents forgot your birthday? Well that sucks. And I think everyone on this site has a name of 'randomness'. XD
Sina Xiel: Hahaha! Jazzy better be careful! XD And Jazz scolding her brother sounds interesting... *evil grin* (Kadzait: MY NAME ISN'T NANCY! *begins slamming head against wall*)
IWasNeverReal: Hahaha! Glad you loved my sense of humor! XDDDDD I love being called funny for whatever reason. :D
Hitomi-tama: Hilarious how that works... Tell you mom I said happy birthday. :)
BringbackDannyPhantom: No, that Bat does not know about Jazzy. Frankly, no one does besides Red Arror but he thinks he's crazy sooooooo... That would be hilarious. XD
Bibbledoo: Cause she only wants Danny to see her. Siblings... Always so secretive...
Supaherolena02: I love the pics... And yeah, Red's probably gonna admit himself and never leave. XD
The Keeper of Worlds: I shall PM you if I ever need help! That is for sure! You Lord of Chaos you! XD