A/N: Special thanks to Erin and Kim for the beta.
“What Happened in Vegas…”
There was no way Bruce was missing this one.
When Dick turned twenty-one, he’d
watched from a
When Jason turned twenty-one, Bruce fought the boy to save the life of the man who killed his son while across the river, Bludhaven was dying and so was Nightwing.
So, when Dick came and asked to
take his second-youngest to
“No way in Hell.”
“Oh, come on, Dad,” Dick argued somehow without whining. “Tim’s only going to turn twenty-one once, and you’ve known what these past couple years have been like for him.”
Bruce needed no reminder. In the past five years, the boy lost his father, girlfriend, and best friend, only to have his girlfriend come back from the dead and his best friend recloned. Meanwhile, he lived with his demonic little brother, and though they formed an easy truce eventually, Bruce knew Tim was never completely comfortable around Damian. Coupled with the disbandment of the Teen Titans, Dick’s succession to Batman and Jason’s subsequent one to Nightwing, and Tim’s decision to tell Dana of his nightly activities, which once more threw her into a mentally unstable state, the boy was wound tighter than a Wall Street employee with no bailout in sight.
“Look,” Dick continued, “Tim really needs to cut loose and for once not care about anything else but having fun. Vegas can do that to a person even if it is Timothy Jackson Drake Wayne.” Dick leaned against Bruce’s desk and cocked his head to the side. “I’ll even let you pay,” he coaxed in a singsong voice.
Thus, Bruce
marveled almost a week later at how much Dick had learned to manipulate him.
Not only did he eventually condone his sons partying in “
How did that happen?
“To any bar!” Dick announced as they disembarked from the private jet, but Bruce put up a hand first. “No. We had a deal, and you’re sticking to it.”
Jason shook his head and handed his and Selina’s bags to the limo driver. “Seriously, did you have to agree to let General Buzzkill come? He’s totally cramping our style.”
“He said dinner, and then we’re free,” Dick muttered, “with fifty grand a piece to spend.”
Jason immediately whirled and put out his hand. “I want to see this upfront.”
All he received was a slap to the back of the head.
Handing his bag to the driver, Tim said nothing, only made his way toward the back seat. Thankfully, Dick caught him before he entered, throwing an arm around the boy and motioned toward the Strip, which was ablaze with life. “Hey, come on, Tim! I don’t hear any whooping or wolf whistles! We’re in Vegas! What happens in Vegas—”
“Please do not finish it,” the boy pleaded. “Please do not—”
“—stays in Vegas!” Jason adjoined with a high-five.
Shaking his head mournfully, Tim ducked into the Limo. Only after Bruce, Selina, and Alfred entered did Jason turn to Dick. “He has only until eleven o’clock before I’m on a phone with a pimp.”
“As long as it’s not an iPhone, I don’t care,” Bruce grumbled.
Tim, Dick, and Jason blinked at their father but said nothing.
Less than
an hour later, the
When they finally sat down, Bruce raised his glass of merlot, followed by his family, his eyes upon his youngest present. They made sure Damian would be with his mother, so everything would go off without a hitch.
“Timothy,” he began, “I know life for you has not been easy during your first twenty-one years, but I would be lying to say it has not been my privilege and honor to have seen almost half of them. You had made me proud not by what you do but by whom you have become. Though I wish you have not grown up so quickly, I cannot honestly say I can’t wait for the next twenty-one years. I can only imagine what you can accomplish in that time and the man you will be.
“I love you, son.”
Tim’s smile was more reserved than it should have been, Bruce noticed, and after they finished the last course, he slapped Dick on the back. “Go.”
Dick needed
no other prompt. He jumped up before Tim took his last bite of filet mignon, yanking
the boy out of his chair by his tie.
“Whoa! What the—”
“Proper manners,” Alfred interjected, but two out of three boys ignored him as Dick and Jason each took one arm and tugged Tim after them.
Less than fifteen minutes later, they left the Villa on the golf course and entered XS, the newest nightclub in the resorts. The place jammed to the thundering music with all types of women dressed scantily, dancing around the pool with drinks in their hands. The beat came alive within Dick and Jason, the younger whose head moved with each passing blonde. Tim, however, stuffed his hands in his jean pockets and let out a drawled sigh.
“What are we doing here again?”
Dick never met his eyes, instead scoped for the bar. “WHAT?”
“I SEE AWESOME TARGETS!” Jason screamed.
“YOU PEE IN ALL MARKETS?” Dick asked, the lighting too dark for them to read lips.
Tim slammed his palm into his forehead.
Dick noticed his little brother’s disconcertion and threw his arm about the boy’s shoulders. “I’m going to get us some drinks, all right? Jason, you scope Tim out his target.”
Jason waved his hand, though Dick doubted his little brother heard, while Tim rolled his eyes. “I DON’T WANT A TARGET!”
“I DON’T KNOW RICK TOCCHET!” Dick shouted as he disappeared into the crowd.
Sighing, Tim fell onto one of the stools as Jason came behind a redhead and wrapped his arms about the woman’s bare midriff. Within a few seconds, they were grinding, and Tim propped his head up with his hand. This was what Vegas was all about?
He felt the person approach, and before a hand massaged his shoulder, he had the person’s arm twisted behind her back.
Oh, God. He really had to get out more often.
He immediately let the person go, and when she turned, a horrible, angry scowl contorted her beautiful, youthful face. She looked younger than him, which couldn’t have been possible, with long, blonde hair that framed her face, her eyes an ocean blue. Her expression quickly switched to pouting as she rubbed her bicep.
“YOU LIKE S and M?”
He couldn’t have heard that right.
“NO! SORRY! REFLEX!”
“IF THAT’S A REFLEX FOR A TOUCH ON A SHOULDER,” she drew him closer to whisper in her ear, “I wonder what you’ll do when I touch your—”
“WHAAAAT?” Jason shouted less than ten minutes later when a hard slap started at his neck and ended at the top of his spiky hair.
“WHERE’S TIM?” Dick demanded.
“BEAR SIN? WHAT?”
Dick smiled politely at the girl wrapped about Jason and ducked his head to whisper in her ear. Repulsion contorted her once beautiful face, and she uncoiled from the younger brother to hurry into the crowd.
“DUDE!” Jason complained, but Dick simply motioned back at the table where he’d left his little brother, which blonde ambitions now occupied.
“More chicks!” Jason cheered.
Dick shook his head. “TIM!”
“FIN?”
“YOUR BROTHER!”
“MY MOTHER? THAT’S JUST CRUEL!”
Rolling his eyes, Dick abandoned the cause and flicked back his head to down the shot he’d brought for Tim. Once more gaining his equilibrium, he headed off to the table.
“So, she said he just took off?” Jason said louder than usual five minutes later as they made their way down the strip.
Dick couldn’t even notice. “Yeah, apparently, Tim didn’t like her plans for the night.”
“Which were?” Jason asked absently as he pulled out his phone.
A hand immediately clamped over the dialing thumb. “Jase, no.”
“Dick, I’m sorry. I can’t abide by the eleven-o’clock rule. I just can’t. If Timmy’s going to fly away from the clan, then I’m going to reel him in.”
“Okay, fine, but not that way.” Stopping short at before the Fashion Mall, Dick let out a short breath. “We’re trained by the Batman, Jase. Let’s think this out.”
“Isn’t thinking what got us in this mess to begin with?”
“We’ve got Timmy here. Guy who doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, doesn’t want a one-night stand—”
“—doesn’t know he wants a one-night stand—until he meets Firestar, the Vegas version of Starfire.” Jason motioned toward a passing billboard on a flatbed with a human form of Kory, the girl even in a replica of Starfire’s uniform.
Dick ignored the billboard. “Where would you—Jason, do not make that pimp’s number a contact!”
Jason growled.
Glancing down the Strip, Dick scanned for potential hiding places for his brother before he gasped and dashed down the street. “Come on!”
“Man, Dick, will you calm down?” Jason shouted as he followed at a slower pace. “We need to get you a prostitute, too!”
*^*^*
“How’d you find me?” Tim grumbled from a bench, his elbows upon his thighs.
Dick collapsed next to him and looked up at the rotating statues. He shrugged. “I tried to think of the place least fun on the whole entire Strip. The only thing that came to mind is the statutes at Caesar’s Forum. It’s educational even. Had to be the only place you’d go.”
Letting out a growling sigh, Tim winced as he sat back before slapping a hand over his eyes. “Any way I can get you to lay off? Maybe actually leave me alone for a change?”
“Not until you tell me what has your short pants in a bind.”
Tim stuck out his leg as he watched Jason circumnavigate the area, find a pretty redhead, and somehow strike up a conversation. “Why can’t you be more like Jason?”
“Insulting me isn’t helping your cause.”
“That’s insulting you? He’s your brother—”
“—who does everything that moves.”
“As opposed to you, who does everything that’s female and moves in a costume.”
“Used to!” Dick reminded, flashing his wedding ring. “And growing up with Bruce as a role model didn’t exactly teach abstinence.”
“He brought people home?”
“Let’s just say I went on a lot of scouting missions during his ‘chases’ with Catwoman.”
Tim smirked. “There’s something I’ve always wondered—Starfire. I mean, she’s cool, and I see why you two hooked up. But seriously, you started dating her just to annoy Bruce, didn’t you?”
“No.”
An arched eyebrow. “Dick.”
Dick followed Tim’s example and stretched his legs out. “Yeah, okay. Kinda, and she’s a really good kisser.”
“Dude!”
“What! It’s true!”
They sat comfortably for a few moments, watching the statues move in a circle about the planetarium-like room. They sent glances Jason’s way, looking away when he split his time between a redhead and brunette.
“When did you start seeing Selina as a member of the family?”
The question whispered, Dick almost missed it. “Uh…I did mention those scouting missions Bruce would send me on, right?”
“I’m being serious, Dick.”
“So am I, Tim.”
The little brother averted his eyes, but Dick knew the boy wasn’t crying. Tim just didn’t, but this would be as close as he got.
“It’s—It’s
my dad. I keep thinking about him and Dana and what it was like before I became
a
Dick curled an arm about the young man’s shoulders and pulled him close. “I know.”
“A—And we’re a family. I mean, we always were, but—but not like this. Not with Selina and Bruce and Alfred and Jason and Damian. We’re…normal or as close as we’re ever going to get.”
“And that scares the shit out of you.”
Reluctantly, Tim nodded.
A shadow cast over the two. “Hello? Yeah, I’ll like to talk to Firestar. Yeah, the one on the—”
“JASON!” Dick admonished.
Jason put a hand over his cell phone receiver. “I’m on the phone,” he whispered.
“Jason, no.”
“But—”
“No.”
“But it’s eleven-oh-five. I gave him a whole five extra minutes to stop being such a lame-ass.”
“I might be a lame-ass, but I’m not a man-whore.”
“Neither am I,” Jason said indignantly. “I’m just experienced.”
“*cough* Man-whore. *cough*” Dick agreed, high-five-ing Tim.
“Oh, sure, gang up on me, but Damian and I have an alliance, so you guys are so going to regr—oh, she’s on tonight,” Jason turned his back to Dick and Tim. “Yeah, I’d like to book her—Hey!”
Crunch.
“Dick! That’s was a brand new phone!”
Dick lifted his foot off the broken device. “Jase, our little brother is going through a crisis right now. He doesn’t need to get laid.”
“That’s exactly why he needs to get laid.”
“And you had an iPhone,” Tim laughed. “Dude, that’s just sacrilegious.”
“Hey, the WayneTech Flyr phone is good, but it’s no iPhone.”
Dick shook his head and looked back at Tim. “Look, kiddo, nothing’s going to happen.”
“You don’t know that,” Tim grated.
“Yeah, I do.”
“And even if it did, we could come back from the dead,” Jason insisted with a shrug. “I should know.”
Tim’s face paled considerably. “You both totally suck.”
Dick seized Tim’s arm and lugged him to his feet. “Come on. You think too much. Time to stop that.”
“Finally!” Jason cried. “I remember the guy’s number. Give me your phone, Dick.”
Releasing Tim long enough to slap Jason across the back of the head, Dick finally murmured, “It’s okay to miss them, Tim. Every birthday, I still remember how my dad used to teach me a new trick for the show and my mom would rush around getting together my surprise party.”
“Oh, stop bitching. On my last birthday before I…y’know, my mom gave me to the Joker, and I never even knew my dad. Hell, he might as well have been Chuckles, so—What?”
Tim and Dick both blinked his way before Tim finally shook his head. “Look, I know out of the three of us, I had the most normal life.”
“As normal as being left to be raised your nanny-slash-housekeeper until the plane accident, and she wasn’t even hot.”
The glower Jason received jostled Dick to whisper, “Trust me, Tim. You can’t kick his ass just yet. He’s still better than you.”
“But you can!”
Jason chuckled. “I can still play the Damian card. You really want him on your ass?”
No one ever wanted Damian on his ass. “My point is: I already lost two families. Mom and Dad. Dad and Dana. Soon or later…”
Jason locked eyes with Dick. “He thinks too much. Seriously, give me your phone!”
“Nope, but we’re definitely stopping his brain.”
Before Tim could protest, Dick clamped down on the boy’s arm and weaved him through the slot machines and around the coliseum toward a huge white sign that read “Pure.” A line formed to the left of the double black doors with girls in low cut dresses, desperate men in open shirts, and boots that never ended on each. Dick went up to overly built bouncer, who pointed, “The line’s down that way.”
“Hey, I’m Richard Grayson-Wayne. This is my little brother Tim, and that’s my other little brother Jason. Maybe you’ve heard of us? Saw our reality show In Wayne’s World?”
Who hadn’t? The bouncer immediately unclipped the chain and allowed them entrance. The bar still pumped with the thundering beat of disco-like music, but the majority of the nightclub was outside, which helped to absorb the cacophony.
Jason jumped on Dick’s back. “Dude,
I totally forgot about that. With his name ‘
Dick threw the younger man off and dragged Tim through the center of the dance floor and to up the white-curtained bar. Sitting the young man down a stool, he rubbed Tim’s shoulders warmly and yelled to the bartender, “Hey, what’s your name?”
The man in the black shirt and apron arched an eyebrow. “Carl.”
“Well, Carl, I’m Dick Wayne, and this is my little brother, Tim.”
“He’s just turned twenty-one,” Jason added.
“And that’s Jase. You take care of us; we’ll take care of you.”
The man needed no other incentive, and he slapped down a small glass, filling it with a golden substance, a salt shaker, and a lime.
Dick leaned over Tim’s shoulders to give Jason the salt shaker. “Show and tell.” As Jason worked, Dick explained, “Lick off the salt. For my own sanity, the back of your hand is a good place, so do not feel the need to follow Jason here and lick it off some strange woman’s neck. Then, down the tequila before sucking on the lime.” He slapped down a few bills on the counter, and another shot appeared. “Your turn.”
Tim hesitated and tried to slip off the chair. “Uh, Dick? Y—You know, I really should be recalibrating the energy currents of—”
Dick slammed him back into the seat and handed him the salt shaker. “Drink. Drink. Drink. Drink—”
Somehow, a group had formed around the three brothers, all joining in on the chant and even pounding the bar. “Drink! Drink! Drink! Drinkdrinkdrink!”
Sucked into the mood and brotherly pressure, Tim shook the salt on the back of his head, licked it up, downed the shot—which drew cheers from the girls about him—and sucked on the lime.
He spat it out to rasp, “I think I just drank piss.”
“He’s still thinking,” Jason admonished.
“We just can’t have that, can we? Carl, keep ‘em coming!”
*^*^*
It was past five A.M.
His sons were out past five A.M. in Vegas.
Most nights, Batman wasn’t even out that early in the day, and like those night he was, Bruce sat waiting. Luckily, the Batman didn’t stumble into the Batcave, giggling like a drunk college student and as clumsy as an prepubescent adolescent.
A vase shattered against the foyer’s marble floor.
“Shh! Jase, you’re gonna gets us into trouble.”
“We be there, man. Kid’s passed out.”
“No puke yet. We’re good.”
“Carl would’ve cleaned it up.”
A giggle. “Carl cleaned up yours.”
“No he didn’t—ha!”
“Eww...”
“Tanya didn’t think so.”
“Tanya? I thought you had Jenny-fur.”
“There you go—thinking again! Bad habit!”
“Carl! Carl, ‘nother round!”
Another round of giggles echoed through the villa, and as the boys entered the living area, Bruce stood. “Mind letting me on the joke?”
Dick froze instantly, causing Jason to slam into his back.
“Dick, man! Don’t do that! I just got a face full of Timmy’s—oh, shitters.”
Bruce fought the urge to roll his eyes. Just what “shitters” were, he didn’t need to know. All he did need to know was Tim was passed over Dick’s shoulder, his shoes missing, his hair disheveled, and his short torn. Dick and Jason both looked bedraggled but nothing new there.
“He had f-fun,” Jason stuttered and giggled again.
“He had f-fun?” Dick asked, lowering the unconscious boy onto the couch.
Slapping his chest, Jason narrowed his bloodshot eyes. “Yeah, stands for f$&*ing fun. You want to make something of it?”
Dick finally stood straight, met the glare with his own, and then broke up giggling.
Bruce rubbed a frustrated hand down his face. The boys weren’t this immature when they were teenagers. “Tell me what happened.”
“Tell you?” Dick laughed. “Better yet, we’ll show you.”
Taking out his phone, the eldest son hit on his camera app. Up popped a very loose, very drunk Tim Drake Wayne, dirty dancing between two very developed blonde girls, a microphone in his hand, a shot in the other. Thankfully, the phone came with audio.
“I’m like a ringleader. I call the shots—shots—shots…I’m like a firecracker. I make it hot. When I put on a show…feel the adrenaline flowing through my veins. Spotlight on me, and I’m ready to break. I’m like a performer…All eyes on me in the center of the ring just like a circus!”
Jason hung off his older brother’s shoulders. “Dick picked the song.”
Bruce ignored the overwhelming stench of alcohol as he watched and subsequently winced when Tim failed to hit a note, though his dancers added adequate background vocals.
Dick sighed. “Yeah, Timmy’s sadly tone deaf, and liquor only masks it for so long.”
Bruce didn’t care as for the first time in almost five years, he saw his son almost completely at ease, enjoying himself and life.
Bruce slapped Dick and Jason on the shoulders. “Good job.”
Of course, at that moment, Tim awoke, rolled on his side, and expelled everything he drank on the floor. He immediately passed out once more.
Bruce slapped the boys on the shoulders one more and headed toward the bedrooms. “And good luck cleaning that—and do not ask Alfred.”
Jason put out his hand. “Give me your phone.”
Dick jerked it away. “You’re not callin’ Firestar.”
“I’m going to call Carl but fine. I’ll just use—” Patting Tim down, Jason claimed the boy’s phone from his back pocket and gasped. “Hippo-crite! Timmy has the iPhone!”
“Shh! Dad’ll hear!”
“What are we? Twelve?” Jason admonished before his eyes grew wide. “Is that why you won’t let me have your phone? It’s an iPhone, isn’t it?”
Dick backed up toward the door. “N—No!”
“Then give it!”
“No!”
Before Dick could escape, Jason rushed forward and leapt on Dick’s back, crawling at his brother’s hand. Despite Dick’s best efforts, Jason pried the phone from his hands and slid off back.
“Huh. It really is a Flyr.”
“Told ya.”
Bleep!
Dick winced. “What’d you just do?”
A sinister smile overtook Jason’s angelic features, and he tossed the phone back to Dick. “Wadda ya think? I just sent the video to our producers. What happened in Vegas ain’t staying in Vegas.”
As he turned, his foot slipped in the puke, and he crashed to the floor.
A flash blinded the younger brother, and Dick laughed. “Totally.”
Bleep!
The End