Chapter 33: Demon's Birthday
A/N: So we just have to let you know that we changed the ages of everyone, well more of clarified them. So they are different in this chapter than what we have mentioned in previous chapters (although we have gone back and changed most of the ages in the past chapters already). And just to make things even clearer, the main ages you need to know for now are Damian (8th grade, keep reading for his age...), Chris (14, freshman), and Tim (15, sophomore). We just got super confused that we actually took a while sorting this entire thing out. The struggles of creating an AU. So sorry for the confusion. Hope you like our story and please review!
Bruce's POV
The first birthday I forgot about was Dick's. I woke up and my bed was bouncing. I blinked my eyes open. "Bruce. Wake up! Wake up!" I heard Dick's cheerful voice. When I opened my eyes, I saw big medium blue sparkling eyes staring right into mine. The young acrobat jumped off of me, flipped in the air and landed on his two feet right by my bed.
I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. "Get up! Get up!" I watched Dick excitedly bounce in his spot.
"What are you so excited about, kiddo?" I asked him, still groggy from the night before. Dick gave me a pout and big puppy dog eyes, and I gave him a questioned look.
His pout faded and his happy grin returned. "It's my birthday!" He jumped up happily. I chuckled and ruffled his hair. "You forgot." Dick said, trying to fix his hair again.
"Sorry chum. How old are you now? Nine?"
He rolled his eyes. "No Dad. I'm ten now!" He said, still grinning. I smiled.
"You're pretty small for a ten year old." I chuckled.
He ignored the comment and kept bouncing in his place. "Come on Bruce!" He turned around, facing the door. "I want cake! And I can't have any until you come with me!" He ran out the door and I smiled, following right behind him. "Don't you just feel the aster?" He yelled, running down the stairs. I went down with him and sure enough, there was cake.
I never forgot Dick's birthday after that one.
But the second and the last birthday I forgot about was Jason's fifteenth birthday. I never forgot any of his birthdays before his fifteenth, but that year, his birthday just slipped my mind.
I walked down the stairs. It was quiet and cloudy that day, and I went in the dining room, where I heard Dick's voice. The first thing that caught my attention was the cake, a round chocolate cake, with 15 blue candles on top of it. The cake was placed right in front of Jason, who was examining it, his eyebrows furrowed and a frown pulling at his lips.
"Alfred, don't you think it's a little early to have chocolate cake?" I asked. Alfred put down a plate of eggs and bacon and a glass of orange juice in front of the teenager. "Of course Master Bruce. That is why you, Master Jason, must take breakfast before your cake." Jason just stared at the cake, as if he was pulled into a memory, but it was hard for me to tell whether it was a good memory or a bad one. It was quiet. Dick quietly ate his breakfast while observing the younger boy. I sighed and decided to get to my point. "Why is there a cake at the table?" I asked curiously.
Jason gave a tight shrug and he started eating. He knew the answer, he just didn't want to tell me. I looked at Dick, and he rolled his eyes. "You forgot." He implied.
I furrowed my eyebrows. "Forgot what?"
"It doesn't matter, Dickie-bird." Jason retorted, not looking up from his plate. I turned my head back to Dick's.
"It's the kid's birthday today." Dick said, a small smile tugging at his lips. Alfred raised a british eyebrow at me, and my eyes fell on the boy who just looked down, stabbing his food.
"Oh, sorry kid. Happy birthday." I said.
"Yeah…" He mumbled.
My face brightened. "Hey, after this, we can go to the amusement park, ride the rides, get some chili dogs, and do whatever you want." Jason looked up at me and smiled.
"Yeah, Little Wing. It will be fun…" Dick smiled.
When Jason died...that same age...the next year...I never forgot his, or anyone's birthday ever again...I remembered Dick's birthday every year it passed, and we celebrated it. I remembered Tim's, and I always woke up early to greet him no matter how tired I was. I always remembered Chris' and gave her the gift she asked for. I never forgot Jason's, and I visited his grave every year.
Today is Damian's thirteenth birthday. He was ten when I found out he was my son, so it has been almost three years since he came home. It's his birthday again today. The world may end today, but I will not miss his birthday.
Just around a week ago...he would have died at the hands of Heretic. And I would have had to bury another son, my blood son. I would have to visit his grave every time his birthday came along. I would never be able to take that ever again...Especially because Damian is my son.
Damian's POV
"Wakey, wakey Little D." I grunt and open my eyes, and the first thing I see is the lense of a camera and the sound of a shutter. Grayson pulls the camera away from my face and chuckles.
Drake stands right beside him, laughing. "Aw...this is cute. The Demon Spawn and the Jay Bird."
"Oh hell." I look behind me and see that Todd is awake and sitting up.
"That's so adorable!" Grayson says and Drake chuckles.
"Just adorable." He mocks. "What, the Demon had a nightmare so he went to the toughest guy in the Manor in the middle of the night? I'm surprised you two didn't kill each other!" Drake continues to laugh.
Suddenly, Grayson pulls Todd and me into a hug. I look to the left and see Carter standing by the door laughing her ass off. I glare in her direction, but she's too busy laughing to see my glare. "Awww. I'm so proud of you two!" Grayson squeezes us harder. "That's so cute."
I glare at Drake and Grayson. "Listen." Todd says from behind me. "You are dead…" he threatens. Grayson lets go and laughs.
"I will give you all five seconds to run." I glare.
"C'mon Timmy!" Grayson, still laughing, grabs Drake and throws the camera to Carter.
"Five." I announce, still glaring at them all.
"Four." Todd says.
They all start running out of the room. "Three." Todd grins devilishly while putting on his shirt.
"Two." I continue and we walk towards the doorway. I look at him and grin. "You take the camera and erase it all." I tell him and he nods, still grinning.
"One!" We both run out the door, after everyone else, listening to the laughter and the screams down the hall.
"I'm going to kill you all!" I yell, targeting Drake.
***Break****
Cake. I have no idea what flavor. I don't care. I never asked for it. I feel a warm hand on my shoulder, and I look up and see Father smiling at me. "Happy birthday son." I'm surprised he remembered. He walks passed me and takes a seat in his usual spot at the end of the table.
We are all seated down at the table, Drake glaring at his crushed camera, Carter seated beside him. Todd is upstairs taking a shower after trying to take the camera from Grayson. And Grayson is - wait, where is he? I look at his empty seat where he's supposed to be seated, but he isn't there.
Suddenly I feel arms wrapped around me. "Grayson get off of me." I grunt and try to pull his arms away from me but he doesn't let go.
"Happy birthday!" He laughs and finally lets go. He moves back to his seat, still grinning.
"Tt." I frown. The cake has thirteen candles on top of it.
"Why is there a cake at the table?" I turn around to see Todd looking at the cake, his hair still wet. I look back at the cake.
"You forgot." Grayson says, pouting at Todd.
"It doesn't matter Grayson."
A long silence and I look at Father, who seems to be pulled into a memory. I look at Todd, who just stands there, swaying, and at Grayson, who has suddenly looked down at the table. Me, Carter, and Drake look at the three of them, confused.
"Hey uh, Dick. You okay?" Drake looks at Grayson.
He shakes his head and puts on that grin of his again. "Yeah. Woah. Deja vu. Right Jason?"
I look at Todd, who smiles a toothless smile. "Yeah…So wait." He says. "Today is-"
"Damian's birthday." I look at the doorway to see Autumn standing by the doorway. She looks at me and gives me a small smile. "Happy birthday Dami."
"Oh, I never knew it was your birthday…" Todd says, looking at me. He walks to his usual seat beside me. "Happy birthday kid." He gives me one of his usual cocky smiles. Cross sits down and Pennyworth puts down the plates for breakfast.
We eat our breakfast while Grayson has his usual chatter every morning. "You know it's a tradition to eat breakfast first and then cake in the morning." He says as we continue to eat.
"It is?" Todd asks.
Drake nods. "Yeah. It's become a tradition to have cake in the morning after breakfast."
"Wait. We didn't have cake in the morning for my birthday." Carter says.
Grayson looks at her. "Well you woke up late!"
I smile. "Carter broke the tradition."
"You know this wasn't always the tradition before." Father interjects.
Grayson shrugs. "Yeah, I started it because I am awesome."
"No. Technically Pennyworth did." I tell him, and he glares at me but lets go of it quickly.
"Same thing." He says. "So it's official. This must be a tradition." Grayson declares. They all smile, and I try my best to hide mine.
There is a short silence before Grayson starts talking again, "You're lucky your birthday falls on a Saturday, or you'd have to go to school."
I scowl. "I hate school. It is pointless. I already know the lessons they're teaching me." I tell them all.
"Don't get too confident. You're head's big enough already." Todd jokes. "Well in this case, we wouldn't know. Your hair is just too spiky." They all chuckle lightly.
"Shut up Todd."
"So anyways. Little D. What do you wanna do today?" Grayson asks as Pennyworth begins to cut the cake. "Aside from...fight."
I shrug. "I don't know. I was thinking on going on patrol tonight and-"
"And forcefully 'convince' a dealer that dealing is wrong?" Drake says and I glare at him. He just smiles and eats his slice of cake.
"That sounds boring!" Grayson says, rolling his eyes.
Carter nods. "That is boring."
"Do you want a party, son?"
"There's no one to invite."
"What about a small one?" Grayson grins.
"What?" I ask.
"You know, just the seven of us. Al, Dad, me, you, Timmy, Jason, Chris...just us." My eyes fall on Pennyworth who's eyebrow is raised.
"Master Richard, you might have forgotten somebody."
"Who, Al?" Grayson asks. "I've covered about the whole family."
"Miss Autumn." We all look at Autumn, who is frozen in her seat.
"You wanna join the party Autumn?" Todd asks.
I look at her plate which is already empty. Her eyes are on Father. She smiles and shakes her head. "No thanks." She stands up. "You guys have fun." She tucks her seat in and takes her plate and glass. "Excuse me." She says softly, walking to the kitchen to put her plate down in the sink.
"Too bad." I look at Carter, who just shrugged and is finishing up her slice of cake.
Suddenly, Grayson's face lights up as he finishes the last of his cake. He quickly gets up. "I'll be back." He runs out of the dining room, and a few seconds later I hear the slam of the front door.
****Break****
Dick's POV
I'm back. This is going to be fun, and I don't mean the kind of fun as in taking down the evil baddies kind of fun. I mean actual fun.
I'm wearing my blue T-shirt, denim jeans, a gray jacket, and rubber shoes that I don't mind getting dirty. I hold the balloons in my hands and quietly move down the hallways, searching for everyone else. I wonder what they have been doing while I was gone. First things first.
I silently open the door and poke my head in. The room is dark and the window is open, making the room cold. Autumn is looking out the window, seated on the floor, as if she's waiting for something. I open the door wider and grin. Quietly, I throw the water balloon at her, but she catches it with her right hand in mid air.
She looks at me. "I said no thanks." She throws the water balloon back at me and it hits me right in the head. I didn't even bother dodging it. It ruins the fun.
My hair gets drenched in cold water. "I'm gonna start a fight. Wanna join?"
She glares at me and takes a book from beside her. "No thanks."
"Aww, but it'll be fun."
"It's not my birthday, not my family. I'm not joining."
I sigh. "Fine." I turn around and leave the door open ajar to make sure I don't leave her in complete darkness.
I quietly move down the hallway to the next room and hold onto more water balloons. I move to Chris' room who listens to music on her phone while reading. I grin and throw a balloon to her. She looks at me. "Dick!" I run to the next room and throw one at Jason, and before he can wipe his eyes I move onto the next room and splash Tim then Damian!
"Haha!" I laugh as I run down the hall way with everyone after me. I run down the stairs and then out to the back yard where I placed four buckets of water balloons and a running hose on the floor. I turn around and find them all glaring at me in the doorway.
"No way Dickie-bird." Jason shakes his head.
I grin and throw a water balloon at his chest. He gets angry and runs towards me but almost slips in the mud. The sky is getting darker and the wind is no longer blowing so hard.
Boom! The thunder sounds and I feel droplets on my head. I laugh and throw water balloons at Damian and Tim. Jason takes the water hose and shoots water at my face and I throw a water balloon to Chris.
"Grayson!" I walk in the mud as the rain pours harder. I grab Damian and pull him in. I laugh once he trips and falls face flat into the mud. I throw a balloon at Tim, who just slipped and has his hands on mud and is trying to get up.
"Haha!" Chris laughs and throws more water balloons at Jason. He takes a water balloon and throws it at my face.
Damian starts to get up and suddenly I see a wad of mud hurtling towards my face. The mud hits me right in the cheek. I wipe the mud out of my face and throw mud at Chris. "Oh it's on!" She says, throwing a water balloon in Tim's direction.
"Guys! We're not pigs!" He says. I just laugh.
"Drake has a point! This is stupid!" Damian turns around and walks towards the door. "I'm going back in!"
I grin and get ready to pounce. "Oh no you don't!" I jump on him before he gets to the pavement and we both roll in the mud as the rain continues to fall.
Laughter and the sound of splashing water echoes behind me. "Uhh Jason, gross!" Chris says.
"Grayson get off me!"
"No Little D!"
"Guys we should stop this before-" Tim begins but gets cut off when Chris throws a water balloon at him.
Bruce's POV
I watch them all through the window. The sky is dark and the wind is blowing. On days like these, it's always quiet. But today, even in the heavy rain, I hear laughter, not cackling like The Joker's but genuine laughter.
A small smile tugs at my lips as I watch them all. "Good job Dick." I mumble to myself. For once, the family is complete...and I never thought that this day would come.
I watch Damian, and even from here, I can see that he is trying to hide a smile. Damian...he's my son, and today is his birthday. "Alfred." I hear the door behind me shut quietly. "We are going to eat out later, at his favorite restaurant for dinner." He hums in response.
"And I suggest you come." I tell him, not turning around.
"Of course not Master Bruce. I have my duties to fulfil here in Wayne Manor."
I turn around and smile. "Come on old friend. We can't be a complete family without you." It's true. Alfred has been like a father figure to me, and he glues this family together.
Autumn's POV
I close my eyes and close my book. I still sit on the floor by the window. I'm left in the dark, and I try to concentrate. I open my eyes and I'm in a warehouse. I hear the familiar laughter then the shut of the door. I look down, and I see Robin, his arms tied back, lying helplessly in a puddle of blood.
"Robin?" I ask. I don't know which Robin.
He tries to get up, but falls, so he crawls to the door, leaving a trail of blood. He finally get's to the door. Then my eyes widen and I know which Robin this is.
"Beaten to death with a crowbar then blown up!"
I cover my ears and get down. "No! No! NO! I don't want to see this! I don't want your pain!"
I open my eyes and get up. I'm standing on the tip of a mountain, a freezing cold mountain, coated with snow. I look down and see a four year old boy with hard blue eyes and spiky dark hair almost to the top. He struggles to get to the top, but eventually, he touches the peak of the mountain with his left hand and climbs up to the top. I smile.
"Finally." He says.
I look up and find myself in the Bat Cave. I look around and I see the Batmobile, but it looks like an older version of the of the vehicle. "No. No. No." I turn around to see Tim wearing a denim jacket and brown pants. He takes off his sun shades revealing his soft, sky blue eyes.
He's standing right behind Batman. "Bruce! You can't just give the little brat the mantle!" He says. 'I can't just be replaced just like that.' I hear his thoughts. "He can't just replace me, Batman."
Batman turns around and looks down at Tim. "Didn't you hear me?" A long silence. "You are fired." Tim stays quiet, pursing his lips. He turns around and walks into the manor. "Fine. I don't need your permission. I don't need to be Robin to fight crime."
Then the memory fades. I feel cold and trapped at the same time. I look away. "This is not what I'm looking for…"
I look back, and I see The Joker, laughing, and laughing, and laughing. I don't understand how he is still able to breathe after all that cackling. Then I see a girl with tan skin and straight, short black hair. She looks scared, trying to get away from the madman. "Christine." I cross my arms over my chest.
I watch her, but then The Joker pulls out a tiny knife from his sleeve and stabs her right in the side. Her face contorts in pain. I raise an eyebrow. "Not as tough as you think." Then at that moment, The Batman comes crashing through the ceiling.
Then the fight skips and I see Chris hold onto Batman's cape as she passes out. I roll my eyes.
Then I walk away, and everything changes. I'm in a hospital room, and I can hear the beeping of a monitor. The patient on the bed has olive skin and ginger hair. He looks about twenty something. A visitor sits right beside him, her head down on top of her arms as she sleeps on the chair, waiting for him to wake up. Her blonde hair is tied back and kinda messy.
Then the door opens and I see Dick and a young woman with red hair, who is slightly shorter than him. Artemis looks up.
"Oh sorry Artemis. Didn't mean to wake you." The red headed one says.
"It's fine." Artemis sits up straight.
"We just wanted to see how he's doing." Richard tells her. "What really happened anyways?" He moves to her.
Artemis shrugs. "We aren't so sure yet. The League is on it."
The redhead walks closer to Wally. "He's going to be okay…" She assures Artemis.
"I know Barbara. I know...it's just...I still can't believe he's-"
"Alive?" Richard finishes her sentence. "Me neither…"
Then I hear Barbara's thoughts. 'It's amazing...how in this world...people can just come back from the dead. Not that Wally was really dead. But we all believed he was…'
"We don't know when he'll wake up…" Artemis whispers. "What if he...doesn't…"
"Don't say that Artemis." Richard puts a hand on her shoulder and squeezes it. "He'll wake up. It'll get better. Don't worry." Artemis nods and turns her head back to Wally West. Slowly, I walk to Wally.
I stare at him. "You gotta wake up man. No one is rushing you...but you gotta wake up. For your friends, your family, and a girlfriend that will cry herself to sleep everyday if you don't wake up." I mumble.
Then everything changes and darkens. I'm in an alley, a dark alley. I know this street like the back of my hand. Crime Alley.
I turn around towards the end of the alley when I hear taking. I see a woman with brown hair and sweet blue eyes, red lipstick, expensive clothing, and a necklace of pearls. Then a well dressed man appears with neatly combed jet black hair and deep blue eyes. Then I notice a young boy that has a face that looks very much like his father. He happily walks down the alley talking to his mom. "Now stay close Bruce."
I furrow my eyebrows and mumble, "Bruce…" Damn...what the hell is this?
Suddenly they stop in the middle of the alley, frozen, their eyes wide. I turn around and see a man wearing a brown coat and a hat covering his eyes.
"Give me your money." He says in a gruff voice.
I am standing in the center of this, so I move back towards the wall of the alley. I look at the man that I saw in a portrait once in the manor. "Alright." He pulls out his wallet. "We don't want any trouble. Just-" But then gun shots fill my ears as I watch the bullet go right through Thomas Wayne. "No!" The boy screams.
The man in a coat points the gun to the woman and shoots without hesitating. I cover my ears. "I don't wanna…" I mutter. The woman falls to the floor and I see the pearls from her necklace fall and bounce in the puddle of blood. The gun points to the crying boy, but then the man puts the gun down and walks past him.
He cries, holding his dead parents. "NOOOOOO!" He screams. I hold my ears. "Stop it! Stop it! I don't want to feel your pain!" I cry. Then I open my eyes.
I'm back in my room, but I can still hear the gun shots ringing in my ears and feel that cold icy feeling of realizing that your parents are dead.
I can feel the pain...and….that man...shot them...for no reason...and he left the boy alive...he was a coward...and that boy...turned into The Bat.
I can feel the pain of Tim being replaced by a boy who had tried to kill him numerous times...the pain of Jason when he felt alone in the warehouse...the fear that Christine felt when that mad man cackled and cackled.
All their stories turned them into something...heroes...vigilantes...their stories gave them friends, family...it starts out as pain...but would they have made it without each other?
Would Bruce would have made it through without Richard in his life...would Richard would have made it without his friends or his dad? Would Jason would have made it without Bruce or Dick there to help him out? Would Tim have been alone without Bruce to adopt him? Would Christine have rotted in an orphanage without Bruce around? Would Damian have turned into a horrible, blood thirsty assassin and stayed that way without his family?
The pain they all felt...I can only imagine. Yet, they continue to fight.
I lean back on the wall and wipe my face with my hands. Damn...The Bat Family is strong…
While I just sit here, being weak. I sigh, then laughing catches my attention and I look out the window.
I stare out the window, watching them all laugh and fight and roll in the mud and water as the rain falls. A heavy smile tugs at my lips as I watch the family mess around. "Way to go Richard. You're getting them all closer."
I stand up and run out the door and down the stairs to Alfred. "Alfred, we're gonna need a lot of towels." I smile at him. "And extra clothes."
****Break****
They came in just a few minutes ago, muddy and wet. Alfred scolded them, but he was trying to hide a small smile when he saw that they got along fine. They're taking a shower now.
Alfred walks down the stairs holding a hamper full of dirty clothes. I help him out with the hamper and we both walk in the laundry room. He puts the clothes in the washing machine in silence.
I look at a small hamper full of fresh clothes. "I'll bring these up Alfred." I tell him, already holding onto the hamper.
"Those are Master Damian's." He says. Alfred used to protest every time I helped him out with chores, but he's getting used to it. Besides it's what I wanna do. No one is forcing me in anyway.
"And be careful going up the stairs." He says.
I smile. "Of course." I carry the hamper out the laundry room, then up the stairs.
I walk down the hall, holding onto the hamper with a pile of overflowing clothes. Man, how many clothes does a thirteen year old really need? I stop by Damian's room. His door is wide open and I can hear the shower turn off as I walk in. Then the bathroom door opens, and I stop by the doorway.
Damian walks out of the bathroom as I stand by the doorway, carrying a hamper full of clothes. His eyes widen as he stands there, frozen, in front of his bathroom doorway. I'm surprised he didn't even hear anyone come into his room. Must have been because of the shower. He shouldn't have left the door to his room wide open. Boys.
He just stands there, staring at me with wide deep blue eyes much like his father's, wearing only blue boxers, water still dripping down from his hair and to his bare chest.
I just stand here, wearing a yellow shirt and black shorts, my hair tied and resting on my shoulder, my usual black slippers and a few strands of my deep brown dark hair covering my face.
His sharp jet black eyebrow twitches a bit, and I can see his cheeks turning slightly pink and he looks down, trying to hide it. "It is called knocking, Cross." He must be embarassed.
He's grown taller and bigger than when we were training together. I can't believe it has taken me some time to realize that.
I cock my head a bit, with an emotionless face, holding the hamper with one arm, holding it to my hip for more support. "Sorry man."
"What part of the word knocking don't you understand?" He still looks down, but his voice sounds tough.
I roll my eyes. "You're a dude, so it's fine."
"But you're a girl."
"So? You're wearing boxers." He tries to hide his face away from me even more. "I'm used to it." I used to help my little brother get dressed all the time, well except this is Damian and he's not like 5 years old...same thing! I throw him some denim pants. "I overheard your father talking to Alfred earlier. He said that you guys are going to eat out for dinner later at your favorite restaurant, Japanese right?" He catches the pants and quickly puts them on. He looks at me, the blush fading.
His face brightens a bit. "You still remember my favorite kind of food?"
I put the laundry down on his bed and start putting his clothes neatly in his closet "Well, yeah. Why the hell would I forget it?" I continue putting them in his closet.
"After all these years…" he trails off.
"I'm a forgetful person. A lot of...stuff has happened in my life after I left, after three years." I left at nine years old...and my dad died when I was ten...and things just fell a part from that point, not that it was fixed in the first place.
"But I never forgot you." I don't look at him as I say this. But I'm not lying...for once...
I find a good shirt that would suit him for the night and I throw it to him. He catches it and looks at it while I continue tucking his clothes away.
A long silence. "Autumn…" he calls. I turn around and look into his deep blue eyes. He looks down, in deep thought.
"Yeah?" I ask.
He shakes his head. "Never mind."
I shrug. "Well. All done." I take the hamper and walk out of his room, closing the door behind me.
Tim's POV
I put on a presentable polo as Alfred instructed me and I walk out my room and down the hallway. Autumn passes by me in her yellow shirt and shorts, holding a laundry hamper.
She glances at me. "Nice polo," she says, and I look down, blushing, as I keep walking. Then I stop, and look at her.
"Hey."
She stops and twists her body halfway to look at me, holding the hamper to her hip. "Yeah?" She asks, looking at me innocently.
"What are you doing?" I ask her.
She looks confused at this question. "What do you think I'm doing? I'm helping Alfred out. Can't let one man do all the work in this castle full of people, ya know." She says, giving me a toothless smile.
I'm almost taken aback at how she looks so much like her older brother when she smiles like that or when she smirks. I've seen pictures of him when he was fifteen, and there are big differences and big similarities between the two of them. For instance, Jason has light ivory skin while Autumn has pale, and yet they both have teal green eyes. And their personalities...I can't really describe. They're both messed up for one thing, they're both street kids, although Jason has more experience on that while Autumn seems more traumatized, and they're both orphans. And according to some stories I've heard, and I played connect the dots with them, I learned that Jason's mom was a druggie and Jason's dad was a criminal...so…
Oh, and they have the same morals...I think...
These two blood siblings are somewhat similar...but different at the same time.
I don't realize that I'm just frozen here until she moves her lips again, "Dude, what are you just standing there for?"
That's when I suddenly remember why I called her attention. "Why aren't you dressed? Aren't you coming?"
Her eyes drop to the floor and closes her mouth. Then she looks back at me and smiles. "Nah, I'll just ruin the evening. It's not like any of you would want me to come." She smiles. Sometimes, it's hard to believe this is the girl who tried to rule Gotham with crime, the girl who killed a lot of people, the girl who tried to kill us, the same girl who messed with our minds and broke our family.
She turns around, not letting me say another word and she quickly walks away and down the stairs without another word.
Jason's door swings open and he walks out wearing a black shirt, a leather jacket, and cargo pants. He glances at me. "Hey Replacement." He mumbles.
I furrow my eyebrows. "I'm not your replacement anymore, remember? Lost that title…" I mutter.
"Hm." He hums quickly. "Not so fun being replaced, huh?"
I roll my eyes. "Long time ago. I'm over it."
He grins with that usual toothless grin of his, except his is more original. "Yeah, 'course you are." He walks past me.
Dick walks out his door and smiles at me. "Hey Timmy!" He says with his usual cheerful tone.
I smile back at him.
"Dick, what time are we coming back home?"
He just shrugs, "I don't know." Because I would like to get to work as quickly as possible. As if he is reading my mind he smiles. "Relax, stop being such a nerdy workaholic okay?"
"Fine, Dick." I grumble. As he walks past me he mumbles, "We already have too many 'holics' in this family, and one of them is 'alcoholic.'" I just shake my head and move on to Chris' room.
Before I knock the door opens. She's wearing a blue skirt that matches her eyes, a grey sweater, her sleeves pushed up to her elbows, black leggings, and a pair of black Converse. She keeps tugging at her skirt. Chris is somewhat of a tomboy. She's not exactly happy with wearing skirts a lot, but she's gotten used to it...sorta.
"Hey." I smile at her.
She smiles back. "Let's go." I continue smiling.
We both walk down the hallway together and Damian walks along with us after exiting his room. "Alfred isn't coming along." Chris tells us.
"No matter." Damian says, keeping his chin high.
I just roll my eyes at the Demon Spawn. "Then it's really no fun…" I comment.
"It is my date of birth, Drake. It is my decision on what is fun and what isn't." I glare in his direction. Damian can be such a...hole…even if it's his birthday.
****Break****
Autumn's POV
Quiet night, huh. "You sure you don't wanna come?" Richard asks Alfred, the old man's steady hands secured on my shoulders. We both stand here, in front of the manor's front door watching Richard get into the SUV, holding the door.
Alfred just gives the eldest of Bat kids a smile. "As I have told Master Bruce, I have many things to do."
Richard gives him a slight pout. "But it just isn't the same without you, Al."
"Now hurry, or you will be late for your reservation." Alfred tells him.
Richard sighs and finally agrees. He looks down at me. "Be good." His eyes flicker with slight threat. He obviously still doesn't completely trust me.
I sigh, "Yeah, yeah. Just go." He glares at me and I give him a slight smirk.
He finally gets in and closes the door, and the car zooms off, leaving a small trail of dust behind. I watch as the black gates open up for the car to pass through them and then they close up again.
"Come now Miss Autumn. I have work to get done." Alfred lets go of my shoulders and turns around and opens the door. I walk in with behind him.
"Alfred?" I ask once he's closed the door behind him. I just realize...now that the manor is empty, it's gotten so much bigger...which seems quite impossible. "Isn't it so lonely...in this place?" I ask him as he walks into the kitchen.
"Quite." He answers. "But maybe you wouldn't have felt lonely if you had went along with them."
I look down as I follow him into the kitchen, "They wouldn't want me to come with 'em, you know that. It's not like they said they wanted me to come with them…" I tell him, taking the mop.
"None of them said that they didn't want you to come along, either." Alfred tells me.
I sigh even harder. Well it's too late now. "I'm gonna mop the floors of the bathrooms and clean their rooms if you need me."
"Miss Autumn. That is my job for tonight." He scolds, and I look up. "Well I'm taking it. It's not hard anyways."
His eyes soften. "No one is forcing you to do any of this…" he says softly.
"I know. I just want to...it's what I'm used to…"
He raises a british, gray eyebrow at me. I look up at him and decide to explain. "When I was nine, dad was never home, so I was in charge of the chores: cooking for myself, washing my own laundry, cleaning the house. With my foster mom and brother, I was also in charge of cleaning our apartment up…" Mostly removing my own blood stains splattered all over the floor... "And when my little brother...left. I was still in charge. No one took charge, so I did…"
"I believe the expression is 'man of the house,' Miss Autumn." He says, telling me that I shouldn't have been the one in charge.
At that, I snap. "Well the boyfriend didn't do nothin' but beat me up all day and steal to satisfy his greed! The only boy in the house was killed and my mom was sick! I had to take charge! Or the apartment was going to collapse on our heads!" My voice gets louder, but I snap it shut, clasping my hand on my mouth.
Alfred has his back straightened and his lips pursed, the lines on his face so much more visible. "Miss Autumn..." He says quietly, and my eyes fall to the ground and I look at the scars on my ankles. I guess it's just a way of connecting with the past.
I look up at him and smile. "But, you know what Alfred. The past is in the past! And you gotta move on!" I smile and hold onto the mop. "Now, I am going to go now if you don't mind." I walk out the kitchen door, but stop once I lean on the wall just beside the door. I take a deep breath.
I don't have good memories, only bad ones. What was once 'good' memories are just simply...memories.
I shake my head and smile. But those memories make me who I am. Those memories make a person who he or she is. Without memories, I'd end up like the madman who murdered my father and brother, the mad man who ruined every occupant of this manor, including me.
I walk up the stairs, holding the cleaning supplies.
Damian's POV
Grayson goes on with his pointless chattering, Drake doesn't stop looking at Father as if to say 'there might be crime tonight,' Carter whispers comments to me, and Todd is no where in sight.
We are in a nice Japanese restaurant. Carter sits beside me, Grayson beside Father, and Drake and Todd's empty chair beside Carter. Suddenly Carter elbows me slightly. I turn my head to her. "What?" I whisper, sounding annoyed.
She hands me a gift neatly wrapped in a birthday wrapper. She smiles at me. "Just what you wanted."
My face brightens already knowing what the gift is. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
I look at her. "Thanks." I mumble.
"It's a good thing I came to the store in time." She smiles back.
Tim's POV
I excuse myself from the table and walk out of the restaurant. In front of the restaurant, Jason stands smoking a cigarette, watching the cars pass by. "Alfred isn't going to be happy." I say as I walk beside him.
He's so much taller and bigger compared to me. No wonder I almost lost those fights everytime he tried to kill me. Well he is the strongest out of the Wayne kids, the tallest, and the one with the biggest build, almost as big as Bruce.
I've seen pictures of him when he was younger. He was thin because of malnutrition, but I saw as he grew in the pictures. He was bound to get bigger.
"Hm." A short hum coming from his breath, but he doesn't turn around to look at me. "Neither is Bruce or Autumn." I can imagine the Phoenix getting mad at the Red Hood for smoking, the two ex-crime lords fighting for a box of cigarettes.
"It's hard to get rid of old habits, huh?" A car passes by and the October air blows.
He shrugs. "It's not as easy as you think." He takes the cigarette out of his mouth and throws it on the ground. He steps on it to snuff out the light.
"You mean like sneaking out almost every night for a drink?"
He sighs, "Of course you would know about that…"
I frown, "Well, yeah...I'm a detective."
"It doesn't matter, Replacement. You can't make me stop." He says, still looking forward.
"Listen...Jason. I never wanted to-"
"Stop." He turns around and faces me.
"You know I never meant to replace you."
He clenches his fists, and he lowers his voice. he narrows his eyes at me, it's not a well practiced batglare like we all use, but it's a glare alright, a very, very angry, blood red glare that could blow my own head if he concentrated harder. "You don't know how it's like, Tim. To be forgotten, to just be tossed aside like a piece of junk and replaced by a new toy." His eyes harden. "You don't know what it's like to try and make them proud only to be thrown away. I don't know what's worse...that…" His fists unclench, and his eyes falls down as if the ground is going to eat him up and the anger washes away and gets turned into, sadness.
"That I was replaced by you...or that you're better than I was…" He looks away. "You don't understand that…"
"More than you think…" My eyes move to the left. "I know how it's like...to be...replaced…" A short silence.
"Guess you do…"
Jason shrugs and tucks his box of cigarettes in his back pocket. "Today is the Demon's birthday...let's get back in, it's gettin' cold out here." He puts his hand on my shoulder and leads me back into the restaurant.
****Break****
Jason's POV
The rest of the dinner was spent in silence for me. Now we're back at home…
Golden Boy, Nightingale, Red Robin, and Batman are out on patrol, while I decided not to come along and neither did the Demon Spawn.
It's around 8:30 pm. It's already dark out and when I walk into my room, I find it cleaner than I left it. Everything is placed neatly and easy to find. Alfred must have come in here. My eyes widen and I move towards my bed and take my pillow.
My eyelids drop slightly as I calm down when I see the pistol still under my pillow. I furrow my eyebrows when I see a yellow sticky note taped to it. I take the sticky note and read it.
Don't shoot yourself.
I roll my eyes. Autumn. Figures, but I wonder why she let me keep it if she doesn't want me to shoot myself. I crumple the sticky note and put the pillow back down.
I stand up and walk down the hallway. Tonight maybe I'll go to the bar. I continue to walk down the hallway until flashes of a blunt object block my vision. I shake my head and blink.
I see a small girl, carrying a whole bunch of books down the hallway to the library. She grunts and I stop her.
"Autumn?"
She mutters something to herself. "Can you get out of the way? These books aren't light you know." Then she mumbles to herself, "as heavy as those buckets…"
I raise an eyebrow and take half of the stack. "Library." She says without so much a thanks to m. Together, we walk to the library.
"What are these books anyways?" I ask.
"Alfred found some books. He said they belonged in the library. Just finished cleaning them and wrapping them all." I look at the books, and they are neatly wrapped in book covers.
"Is this what you were doing while we were gone?"
"No. I've been helping Alfred out with the chores, cleaning the backyard, keeping tabs on the crime rate, watching a few random shows and the news,and talking to a few friends on the phone for a while. I was bored, so I decided to multitask, even though I'm not very good at it."
"Why didn't you come along?" It takes some time for her to answer my question.
"Just wanted to keep Alfred company." For some reason, I don't believe her, but I let it slide. We walk into the library where Damian is sitting on one of the seats, playing with his phone.
I just roll my eyes. "Hey Demon." I start to help Autumn stack the books on the shelf.
"You opened your gifts?"
He nods, "Yes, I have, Todd."
"How was the Call of Duty game?"
He shrugs, "I haven't played the game, yet."
"Why not?" I ask, looking at him as I put a book in the shelf.
"No one to play with."
I chuckle. "Just play single player." I suggest, but he just grumbles.
I look back at the books I'm stacking. I'm almost done. I'm about to put in the last book, when the title catches my eye. I move away from the shelf and hold the book in my hands.
The Little Prince.
I used to have this book...a long, long time ago...it was my mom's favorite book. Catherine Todd…
I used to read it to her. Sometimes she listened, sometimes she didn't...when I read to her, she would lie down on the couch and keep her mouth shut, and her clouded eyes started dropping, but as I read to her...sometimes, I saw her smile slightly...her smile was so happy, but so sad.
She was my mom, my real mom...and even if she never told me...she cared about me. She loved me, and I loved my mom...she never hurt me, and she never wanted me to get hurt…
I read her this book over and over again even if I knew the story like the back of my palm. And even if she didn't talk as she listened to me read, I heard the words "thank you" and "I love you" coming from her.
When she died...I never stopped reading books like these, It was a way for me to get closer to her. When I held my mom's cold, frozen body closer to me...and sobbed, hoping that she was just a sleep like she always was…
This book is unlike my old one, which is the only book I left behind in that old apartment in Crime Alley. This book has a clean cover on it, obviously kept safe and taken care of.
"Jase?" I snap out of my thoughts when Autumn calls my name. I look at her and she looks at the book.
"Want me to read it to you?" My tongue works without my mind's consent. I feel like slapping myself now but it's too late. The words already left my mouth.
"Hmph." Damian scoffs from behind me.
Autumn puts her last book in the shelf and she looks up at me, arching her eyebrows. Then she gives me a sweet smile. "Yeah," she nods, and walks to one of the armchairs and flops down. She removes her slippers and places her clean feet on the chair and hugs her knees closer to her chest.
Damian sits on his chair with his phone, frowning and furrowing his eyebrows. "This is stupid." He says, but he doesn't get up and walk out.
I smile at my little sister, and for once, I can see her eyes shine, no longer so sad, or cold, or hard, or empty, or full of anger. They're just shining, with an unknown emotion. I walk towards the other seat beside her and start reading, flipping the pages carefully and reading the book out loud as if I'm reading it to my mom.
I stop hearing the notifications of Damian's phone and I know that he's listening too. And I know that my mom is listening too, smiling, but this time with bright eyes instead of clouded ones.
****Break****
Autumn's POV
I had fallen asleep for, I do not know for how long, but when I wake up, I'm still on this chair in the library. I look around and see Jason, asleep with the book on his lap, on the seat next to me. Then my eyes fall on an empty seat where Damian should be.
I push the blanket off of my lap. I mentally thank Alfred for his concern.
I stand up and take a look at the clock. It's around 11:43, almost midnight, and I discretely walk out of the library and down the silent, dark hallway. I look around the other rooms and see that they are empty. They aren't back from patrol yet, duh. I walk quietly and open the door to Damian's room just to check if he's there, but I find the room completely empty, the bed still made and a little wrinkled. The lights are off and the only the light coming from the moon outside the open window illuminates the room.
I sigh. I wonder where he went. I walk to the window. Might as well close it. But when I am about to close the wide open window, I hear a soft shuffling from the roof. I look up and see a way to get to the roof.
I smile when I see Damian staring out at the sky, but not minding me. I climb up to the roof and sit beside him.
He doesn't move. He just sits here as I shuffle right beside him. "Cross." He acknowledges my presence, but I keep my eyes on the dark, empty sky.
The bright, big moon is out, seen in the open, clouds surrounding it but not covering our view of our only light in the night. "Couldn't sleep?" I ask him, but he doesn't answer.
A small star reveals itself as the cloud moves away from it. "A star." I say, as if it's unusual.
"So?" He spits back at me, holding onto his legs and placing his chin on his knees.
"You don't see any stars around Gotham." I say, lifting one knee up and placing my elbow on that knee. "It's rare." I whisper.
"It will disappear. It will be covered by the clouds either way." He says, but he doesn't take his eyes off of that small, dying star.
A sad smile tugs at my lips. "But it's there right now. Flickering, dying, about to go out, no longer so bright...but it's still there." My words deepen into his ears.
It's not a bright night, but it's not a dark one either. Silence dances with the howling of the cold wind and the swaying trees. The crickets sing in the dark forest just by the road and the clouds move along to the right.
Finally, he speaks. "What you said earlier…" My eyes drop to my barefeet. "About...never forgetting me…" He looks at me, with sad blue eyes. "You really mean that?"
I look at him. "Well duh." I give him a half hearted smile, but I can feel the heaviness in my eyes.
He looks down. "Why?" He mumbles.
"I think you're going to have to be more specific than that, dude." I look at him and he looks back at me.
"Why do you care? Why did you remember me, when I nearly forgot about you? Why did you risk your life trying to save me from the clone, knowing that Batman would have nearly killed you for decapitating him?"
I smile. "I find it funny how you're so confused with that." I smile, lift my other knee up, and hug both my legs the same way Damian does. I look at the moon. "Because I care Damian. Do you really think I have changed that much, that I would stop caring?"
"Well...you did murder those people."
I sigh. "Remember when I told you...I always got your back?"
Damian's POV
I look down. "Yeah."
She smiles at me. "Well I meant that." She says and I look at her.
"Before you left...you said you'd never forget me." I recall.
"I meant that too." She nods. Her eyes brighten. "Hold on, wait here. I have to give you something." She gets up and walks back into the manor.
I look up at the sky. Maybe Autumn hasn't fully changed...I don't know.
She comes back, holding something behind her. She sits back down beside me. "Remember the battle? To test if we have trained well."
I nod. "Quite well. Mother had us fight against each other, and whoever won would win her sword. It was not much of a battle for the sword. It was for honor."
"Yeah, aggressive fight. You obviously wanted to make your mother proud, so you didn't hold back."
I nod, "I recall...it was supposed to be a battle to the death."
She looks down, still holding whatever it was behind her. "Yeah, and since we're both alive, neither of us killed each other."
"But much blood was drawn."
"Yeah. You wanted to make Talia so proud. You would have killed me…" I stay silent, nearly guilty for almost murdering my own friend. "But you know...Dami…" I look into her sad teal eyes. "I held back…"
I raise an eyebrow. "Didn't seem like it…"
"I did not wanna kill you, just for some stupid sword or just for honor. Besides, it's not like my dad ever cared about honor...much…" She looks down.
"You held back...was that why it was easier for me to win?"
"Everything I did was self defense. I never wanted to kill you though." The fight was quick, because she held back, so it was easier for me to win. "But you know...even if I didn't hold back, you would have won against me either way."
I look away from her. "But...Dami...you refused to kill me, even when you pinned me down and had your sword to my throat and when I closed my eyes, you didn't kill me."
My eyes lower. "And so Talia didn't give me the sword. She told me it was sign of weakness. She told me I was a coward..."
"My dad would have told me the same…"
"And instead of keeping the sword, she gave it to you." I can feel anger bubble in my blood. "You lost, and yet, she gave you the sword and the honor. You say you held back, but Mother didn't see that. She said you fought with no mercy and so she declared you the winner. And even Grandfather agreed!" I look at her, and I can feel rage flicker in my eyes.
She looks into my eyes, with sad ones. "I know Damian. It wasn't fair. No offense to my mentor and your mother, but you deserved it more than I did. You deserved the sword. Talia should have been proud of you. I know she was...I saw Ra's talking to her before giving me the sword and I read his lips. Talia wanted to give the sword to you but Ra's said otherwise...it wasn't fair."
I turn away from her and suppress a shiver. I look at the star and see that it is slowly going out. "No. It wasn't." I say in a harsh tone.
"So...I guess I should just hand over to you what you deserve." I furrow my eyebrows and turn to her. She has the same sword that was given to her a long time ago in her hand.
"I kept it all this time, and I used it once...to kill Heretic. And it belongs to you." He hands the shiny silver sword to me, just like that. "I should have given it to you before I left, but there was too much on my mind."
I hold the sword, then swing it around in the night. The sword is so light in my hands. "It belongs to you." I put it down beside me and look at her. "The sword that was used to kill Heretic…" She nods and smiles.
She looks up at the sky, and I look down. "Your life must suck…" she says, sounding sad.
I scoff. "It does." I say, still trying to keep my chin up.
"I mean, all your life you were trained by assassins, to become the heir to the throne. You're trained and trained to make them proud and all of a sudden you were given to your father. And then your mother didn't want you so she wanted to kill you." Her voice is soft, and hurt, and the thought of my life hurts as well.
"We have established that my life sucks." I look at her and furrow my eyebrows. "Hmph, compared to my life, you had it the easy way." She tenses at my comment. "Compared to all our lives, you had it easy." I glare in her direction.
She sighs in defeat, "I guess you could say that. I never watched my parents fall to their deaths right in front of me, like Richard did when he was younger. Tim wasn't given any attention by his father and then his father died. He became Robin only to be tossed aside and replaced. Jason lived on the streets, was adopted by Bruce Wayne, became Robin then died, only to be resurrected later on and find out he was replaced too. Christine never knew her parents and I remember watching her bullied in an orphanage I stayed in once in my life. Mister Wayne watched his parents die in a dark alley and couldn't do anything about it. And you weren't wanted by your own mother."
I furrow my eyebrows. "As I have said, whatever you think you went through was easy." I glare daggers at her, boring a hole through her forehead and making sure each word I spit out bites her. "You told us we went through nothing, that we were like princes and princesses. But it turns out you know what we've all been through, and how could you tell us that?" I bark in a hushed tone.
She sighs, but she doesn't look at me, and she chooses not to answer the question. But she doesn't look very affected by my anger. "It will get better, Dami. It always does." She says, trying to convince herself more than me.
"Right." I bark sarcastically.
"Your life has already gotten better. If your father did not take you in and accept you, you would have been training and be stuck as a bloodthirsty murderer. Things got better in your life."
"How can you tell me that things get better when you yourself doesn't even believe that?"
She sighs and I can see that she's slightly shivering. "My life is pretty much bulls*** to me, but compared to you guys, to your life. It's nothing." She smiles but I can see that it is clearly not a smile of joy, but a smile of rage. A smile telling me that she's doing what she can to keep her emotions bottled up. "I've only been through, abandonment, loss, abuse, I've only lived on the streets of Gotham and drank that bitter drink called Crime Alley. I only worked so hard just to lose it all. I've worked so hard to make my father proud, to help my friends, to help my adoptive mother, to protect my adoptive brother from Mom's boyfriend. All that happened in my life was that I just saw some traumatizing s*** and met a few motherf****ers along the road as well. Yeah, my life has been perfect." She smiles at me, her eyes shimmering with wrath and an angry smile crawling on her lips.
A long silence, but then she looks at me and her smile melts away, her eyebrows arched and her eye glassy as if her barriers were tarred down.
"But you know...that's when I met my big brother, Jason. He is the best big brother to me." Huh, Grayson is not the best to her.
"You think it all got better from there?"
"No. But there were a few good things in my life. And that's what I'm...trying to count."
I look down. "Hmph." Her posture changes to a more comfortable form/
Then her eyes glisten. "I have an idea. You can't sleep right?" I shake my head. "Have you watched any rated R movies lately?" She smirks in an attempt to lighten the mood.
****Break****
I sit on the couch as she sits on the floor as we watch a movie called 22 Jump Street. I chuckle slightly at the humor of the movie and she just smiles as we watch.
"Hey." My eyes widen and I turn around to see Todd, his eyes squinted and his hair messy. Then Autumn pauses the movie and Todd looks at us both and suddenly he grins wickedly. "You two are not 18."
"So?" I bite back. He looks down at me, still with a devilish grin. "That isn't for kids. Where did you even get the copy?"
Autumn shrugs, looking calm. "Bought it. We're having a movie marathon full of rated R movies."
I shoot my eyes towards her. "Cross!" I say. She rolls her eyes.
She looks at Todd. "You aren't gonna ratt us out, now are you?" He just grins and jumps on the couch beside me. "Nah. Now play the movie." He just continues to grin as he says this.
Autumn smiles and plays the movie.
****Break****
We move onto the next movie, Bad Neighbors. We watch in silence, our eyes glued to the TV. Then I notice footsteps coming towards us and I turn my head to see Drake and Carter, their arms crossed over their chest and smirks across their faces.
"You aren't supposed to be watching those movies you know." Drake says.
"Hey c'mon, we've got a dude over 18." Cross gestures to Todd, who's holding the bowl of popcorn.
"Let me guess, you're going to go on and tell Father now." Drake just glares in my direction while I glare back.
Carter sits beside me on the other side which breaks my glare. "Want?" Todd offers Carter and she shrugs and takes some.
"Wha-Chris!"
She looks at Drake and shrugs. "What? I like popcorn! Besides, I've never watched an R rated movie." She says with a mouth full of food.
Drake rolls his eyes and sits beside Todd. "What's the movie?" He asks.
"Bad Neighbors." Autumn says casually.
****Break****
And so, we move onto the next movie, Lucy. It's not the best movie, but it's okay.
Although Autumn wanted to watch Annabelle, we all disagreed (I did not say anything of course and Todd only smirked). Considering the fact that it is around three in the morning and it is very dark.
We watch and I get annoyed when Carter makes side comments to herself. I told her to "shut up" once, but all she did was look at me then continued making side comments. I just made an annoyed face at her, but I got used to it.
"What are you wa-oh." We all turn around to see Grayson, who probably just came back from patrol or the Cave. He raises an eyebrow.
"When Dad finds out-"
"You better not Golden Boy."
"Uh oh." Drake mumbles.
Grayson grins devilishly. "I wonder what his reaction will be…" he threatens.
"Grayson." I glare at him but he is completely unfazed.
"Dick, don't you dare." Carter threatens.
We all start to get up as he slowly backs away with that grin of his. He turns around and we all pounce on him. All of us boys wrestle to get Grayson down, and finally, we pin him down as we all grin. Drake holds one hand down and I hold the other while Todd holds both his legs down on the ground.
"Carter, get the blanket!" She runs to us and ties Grayson up with the blanket, holding him together and surprisingly, he doesn't struggle. He only grins. "So, you guys would seriously gang up on me just so you won't get in trouble."
Drake nods. "Yup."
Carter gets the empty buttery bowl of popcorn and dumps it on Grayson's head. Todd drags him to the floor in front of the couch.
"Come on guys." He struggles this time as he talks. "Let me out of this, I won't run."
"Shut up Golden Boy. We all know that's a lie."
"Aww…"
Autumn gives us all a toothless smile and Drake shrugs innocently and I turn my head to him and glare at him. I place myself on the floor and move closer to Cross. I notice Drake stare but Autumn does not, and she plays the movie again.
****Break****
At 4 am, our eyes start dropping and Grayson has already gotten out of the blanket but hasn't made a run for it. Instead, he watches with us, sitting on the ground.
He has his arms wrapped around me in a lock, and I have given up trying to get out moments ago. Carter, Todd, and Drake have their asses on the couch eating chips and from time to time, Grayson and I would reach up and get some chips from the bag of junk food.
Cross hasn't moved from the spot she was in since midnight. She hasn't even flinched when something disgusting or...uncomfortable would show up. She has become immovable and I can tell that she is trying to become invisible, being overwhelmed that almost the entire family is in one room.
Grayson would cover my eyes during these 'uncomfortable' moments and I would try to pry his hands off of my face but it would never work. And he yells at Drake and Carter to shut their eyes and sometimes they do and Todd simply advises them to do so as well and agrees with Grayson.
And for some unknown reason, Grayson doesn't do the same with Cross who is two months younger than me. He might think that Cross is mature enough to watch the characters being horny, or he wants to ignore her and doesn't care if she becomes corrupt, or, the least likely possibility is that he has forgotten that she has existed and thus, he doesn't bother to cover her eyes like he does with me. And Todd doesn't say anything as well to her, which probably means that he knows that she's fine.
Which is completely unfair because I am obviously more mature than her!
"So, what are we watching?" All of our eyes widen and, slowly (except for Autumn), we all turn our head to see Father standing right behind the couch staring at the TV.
"Uhhhhh..." Grayson staggers.
"How long have you been watching?" He asks, eyes still pinned on the TV.
"A few hours." Todd answers fearlessly.
"Since midnight." I answer more specifically.
"So what's the movie about?"
Cross turns around. "It's about a horny husband and a horny wife," she says casually, looking at Father with no fear, "taking a video of themselves having-"
"Autumn!" We all scold her at the same time.
She just shrugs. "He asked, I answered."
"Change the movie." He demands, looking at Cross.
"Okay." She nods, and looks through the movies that we have. Suddenly she stops looking through the movies and I can almost hear her grin. "What about The Dark Knigh-"
"No!" We all yell and I pounce towards her and grab the disk from her hand. "No. No. No. No." I say over and over again.
"Wait, what was she going to say?" Father asks, moving towards me.
My eyes widen and my hands freeze. I turn around and throw the disc case to Todd, "Catch!" He catches it with no problem at all and runs away from the couch and to the washroom. He takes a lighter he keeps in his pocket for some reason (personally I think it's to burn down the house one day), and holds the disk for everyone to see. He lights the disk on fire and lets the fire melt the disk in his hand for a while. Then he drops it in the toilet and flushes it down. Smoke comes out of the toilet hole.
We all look back at Father who has an eyebrow raised. "Okay...I do not want to know what that was, do I?"
Drake shakes his head. "Noooooo."
But Carter smiles devilishly. "Maybe he should have told him."
"NO!" We all yell at her and she just gives us all a mischievous smile and shrugs.
We all look back at Autumn who is just searching for more movies that isn't rated R.
"How 'bout this one?" She asks and holds the disk up for everyone to see. "Or this one? Pick one of the two." She says holding two disks up.
We all look at the disks. "Are those the only PG-13 ones we've got?" I scoff. "It's either these two or the one you just burned and flushed down the toilet. Or The Fault in Our Stars."
"I pick The Fault in Our Stars!" We all turn to Carter and glare a hole through her head.
"Let's all just watch Dawn of The Planet of The Apes." Todd decides, leaning back.
"No! I want The Winter Soldier!" Grayson says, and we all stare at him. "Bucky!" He grins.
I turn to Cross and get my mouth closer to her ear, and I see Drake twitch. "I'd rather watch Apes than agree with Grayson."
"Smartass apes it is." Cross puts the disks down.
"What! That's not fair!" Grayson says.
"Life's not fair!" I growl at him.
"Who else wants to see a man in star spangled pants?" Autumn asks, not looking back anymore. No one answers.
Grayson lies on his back and gorans. "Marvel is awesome."
"True." Cross agrees, nodding. "It's pretty cool. But everyone agrees on Apes instead because no one wants Captain America and his mighty shield."
"Awww."
"Dick, majority wins." Carter says.
"Apes it is." Drake says.
Cross plays the movie and Father turns off the lights again and sits beside Jason.
We watch as Grayson quietly moans, "When Captain America throws his mighty shield."
I glare at him. "Shut up, we're trying to watch. Get over it." He sticks his tongue out at me and then watches.
****Break****
Alfred's POV
Five in the morning and it is a Sunday. The sun is hardly up in the sky but I must start working this early.
I move towards the TV room knowing that they are all there.
The sight of the entire family, sleeping soundly, makes me smile. Master Bruce is seated on one end of the couch, his back leaning on the armrest, with Miss Christine and Master Tim leaning on him. Master Jason leans on the armrest on the other side though, further away from his father.
Master Dick is seated on the floor, his head leaning on Master Bruce's lap, and even in his sleep, he holds onto Master Damian, careful not to crush the young master as he sleeps.
Miss Autumn lies on the carpeted floor, crawled up in a ball, facing the TV, unmoving and pale as usual. But even from this angle, only being able to see her back, I know that she is awake up until now.
I walk towards the TV remote and turn it off. Miss Autumn's eyes move up to me from the floor and she stands up, dark circles under her eyes.
"Come now, Miss Autumn. Time to get some rest."
"But Alfred…" her voice is soft and tired. "I'm not sleepy, I can't sleep."
"Well having your eyes glued to the TV for hours obviously won't help you sleep." I tell her as we walk out of the television room.
"It's not that." She stops and turns around to look at the family and her eyes fall to the ground. "I used to have short movie nights, with my dad. Sometimes with my little brother and mom. And...I miss my family."
Her eyes tear up and I bend down to look at her. "I want my family."
I smile at her and wipe the tear rolling down her eye. "Miss Autumn. You already have one." I stand up straight as her eyes widen slightly, wondering what I meant by that. I smile at her. "Now come, time to get some rest."
I look back at the family behind me. It is a shame that Miss Autumn thinks she is not a part of it, and it is an even bigger shame that the family excludes her from it.
Last night I wondered. How much worse will things get until they all open their eyes? How much will it cause? What will it cause for their eyes to be pried open.
I lead her out of the room, turn the lights off, but leave the door open to let some light from the halls seep in.