FIC: Hush
Title: Hush
Author:angelinachaser7
Characters/Pairings: Bruce/Clark, Dick, Tim, Alfred, Martha, Jonathan
Continuity: None
Genre: Horror/Humour
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Spoilers: None that I know of
Disclaimer: I don’t own any DC characters except maybe my Batman Christmas tree decoration :D
Word Count: 3064
Prompts Used: black, yellow, red, orange , pumpkins, candles, costumes, Antique shop with a magical object just waiting for someone to find it (didn’t even realised I used this one, until I read through the list of promps)
Author’s Notes: For bradygirl_12's 2011 DCU Fic/Art Halloween Challenge.
This also has hints of the Buffy season four episode Hush, so there may or may not be spoilers.
Summary: Clark, Dick and Tim decide to spend Halloween in Smallville and drag Bruce along, but it seems it’s not all fun and games.
Despite the rain during the morning, it was a clear October afternoon with a few lingering clouds for the sun to hide behind. Halloween was soon approaching and the small town of Smallville was decorated for the season, with pumpkins of different sizes, carefully arranged and painstakingly carved out designs. Leaves of reds, oranges and yellows rustled in the trees and falling to the ground, another month and winter would be here.
Walking around the main street, Clark Kent was taking in the sights and sounds of the place he would always call home. He came to a stop when he realised his partner was standing outside the window of the antique store a few steps back. Finding the two boys nowhere in sight, he moved towards his partner, curious as to what had caught his attention.
In the window a pair of rocking chairs had been set up with a small side table set in between with an arrangement of black candles, talismans and bunches of dried herbs. The thing that most drew his attention was what was sitting in the two rocking chairs, two scarecrows with very evil looking pumpkins as their heads, it was enough to give Clark the creeps. It seemed that his partner thought the same thing, especially given that one of his rogues was indeed the Scarecrow.
He had come up with the idea to get Bruce out of Gotham to spend Halloween at the farm with his parents. Dick and Tim had jumped at the idea of spending time at the farm and knowing Bruce would protest, got Alfred on their side and thus arrangements had been made. Now here they were, two days before Halloween, spending the evening in town. He and the boys had decided to have dinner at one of the local diners and had dragged a grumbling Bruce along, letting his parents have some peace for a couple of hours.
About to ask Bruce where the boys were, his unasked question was answered when the boys appeared beside them, having come out from the candy shop next door.
“You boys find something you liked in there?” Clark asked, humour lacing his voice.
Giggling, Tim was the one to answer, “yep, but I’m saving my money, besides I’m sure to get heaps when we go trick or treating.”
Dick ruffled his hair and added “Aren’t you a little old to be trick or treating?”
“No,” Came the indignant reply, “I’m only 11, you can never be too old to go. Plus I might not get the chance again. We’ll probably be Gotham next Halloween chasing bad guys.” Turning towards Bruce, he asked, “Can we go eat now? I’m hungry” ignoring Dick’s “You’re always hungry” remark and getting a glare from Bruce in return.
Clark sensing a glaring match between Bruce and Dick, he headed it off by taking Bruce by the arm and forcing him across the street towards the diner. The boys hung back for a minute, but their hunger won out and were soon following the two elder men.
As Bruce was pulled across the street, he couldn’t quite shake the feeling of unease after seeing those two scarecrows with their evil pumpkin heads. It was like they had something sinister planned and maybe it was his paranoia, but this close to Halloween, he had a feeling this may be a Halloween he wouldn’t forget in a hurry.
Two days later it was Halloween. A brief shower that morning had cleared to reveal the sunshine, creating a rainbow of fall colors to appear brighter as the sun shone down on wet leaves of reds, yellow and oranges on trees and littered on the green grass. The remaining corn in the nearby fields was gently swaying with the slight breeze, waiting to be harvested in the coming month. The quiet was interrupted by a squeal of an 11 year old boy running out, chased by his older brother.
Bruce was enjoying a moment’s peace, leaning on the railing of the front veranda of the Kent farmhouse, without the boys’ loud antics, since coming to the farm. Dick and Tim seemed to be more boisterous since coming here. While it was nice to see them acting the way boys their age should, a man just wanted some time where it was nice and quiet again.
Shaking his head at the noise as Tim was tackled to the ground by Dick. His loud screams seem to pierce the silence from moments before, just as he was about open his mouth to yell at the boys, a warm hand rested itself on his shoulder.
“Let them be, it’s nice to see them acting like normal kids and not like you, all dark and gloomy.” Clark said, humour lacing his voice.
All he got in response was a glare, as Bruce turned into him. Clark leaned into him, taking his mouth in a series of lazy kisses, effectively erasing the glare and showing warmth in his eyes instead. Pulling away from the kiss, Bruce leaned into him as he wrapped his arms around him. Closing his eyes he could hear the boys heavy panting, as they caught their breath after roughhousing, his Ma and Alfred were inside putting the finishing touches on Tim and Dick’s costumes (Dick was going to be surprised they had made him one too.) and his Pa was cursing over something in the barn, which made him chuckle. A growling noise prompted him to open his eyes to look at Bruce, who seemed to be trying to disengage from their embrace. It seemed his partner had reached his limit of being held. Reluctantly, he let Bruce go and stepped back, just as the boys came running up the stairs.
With the boys in their costumes they all headed off into town for trick or treating. Hopefully dinner would be ready when they came back. Martha, Jonathan and Alfred were still back at the farm, leaving Bruce, Clark and the two boys to head into town.
As they passed through the main gate to the Kent farm, Clark turned on the radio looking for some festive music. Finally settling on the local radio station, that was playing a collection of spooky themed music. Dick and Tim were in the back seat, discussing what sort of candy they hoped to get and Bruce teasing them on seeing the dentist when they got back home, only for the boys to let out a put on groan.
As they got closer to town, the radio started to play up, coming in and out, until it died altogether, not even emitting a static sound.
“That’s weird,” Stated Clark, I don’t think that’s happen before, must be some sort of interference, but usually there’s at least static.”
“Maybe it’s part of the line-up, to really put everyone in the mood, scare the locals a bit.” mentioned Tim, just as the noise of the engine of the rented SUV cut off abruptly.
“Or I could be wrong? I mean that’s totally not normal, unless this car just suddenly became an electric car.” Looking up into the rear-view mirror, he was just in time to see a hint of worry across Bruce’s face.
As they drove into town, Clark went to open his mouth to reassure Tim that everything would be fine, only to find no sound came out when he tried to talk. He looked over to Bruce, noticing his partner was also finding he had no voice.
Dick pulled his younger brother towards him, not sure what was going on, he found it was a comfort to hold Tim close, even as he tried to keep calm. But seeing the look on Clark’s face, it was a battle he was close to losing. Only his training with Bruce, did he manage to not let it show, yet.
Pulling up in the main street, all four of them got out to survey their surroundings. Not one sound could be heard, it was really eerie, even with most of the kids out dressed up in their costumes with their accompanying adult, what should have been a cacophony of noise, there was only silence.
Although it looked like some people were screaming and crying, it was like watching a silent movie without the subtitles to go with it.
It was then, that Bruce noticed a group of adults towards the far end of the main street. All of them dressed as scarecrows with pumpkin heads, just like Bruce had seen in the window of the antique store two days ago. They appeared to be floating just barely above the ground and slowly moving towards them with a wicked look of glee on their evil pumpkin faces. Getting Clark and the boys’ attention, he signed to Dick and Tim to get everyone inside, while he and Clark would try to figure out what was going on, he suspected it had something to do with these pumpkin-headed scarecrows.
There were seven of them in total, all over them identical in every way. Their clothes had splatters of red, he suppressed a shudder, not wanting to know what they had done before coming here, especially having noticed the long, pointed and gnarled fingers, also dripping with blood.
Beside him, Clark, must have been thinking the same thing, as he had involuntarily grabbed onto Bruce’s hand. His instincts were telling him to run but he was rooted to the spot and a feeling of dread was telling him that magic was involved in this somehow. It was then he wished Zatanna was here. Unfortunately she wasn’t, so it looked like it was up to Clark and him to figure it out.
As the creatures came nearer, he noticed Tim and Dick had managed to get everyone indoors and the street was empty except for Clark and himself and the slowly approaching scarecrows. All he had to do now was come up with a plan.
It was during his brief time learning from Zatara, he remembered overhearing one day, Zatara was talking to his daughter, Zee that sometimes destroying the object of the spell could break it. Bruce could only hope in this case he was right, he just had to figure out what the object was and he knew the first place he needed to start looking, the antique store.
Signalling to Clark to create a distraction or at least stall a bit longer, he headed off in the direction of the antique store. Entering the shop, he was horrified to realise that someone (who he could also assume was the shop owner) was lying on the ground dead, their heart had been gouged out brutally, blood was pooled around them and the heart was now sitting in a glass jar on the counter, still beating.
Seeing that, he now knew he had come to the right place. Approaching the alter at the front of the shop in the front window, he looked out onto the street to see Clark had left and in his place Superman was engaged in keeping the pumpkin-headed scarecrows away from the antique store, as if they knew what Bruce was up to.
Hoping Clark would keep them busy, he noticed the two chairs that he seen the other day which had seated two of the pumpkin-headed scarecrows was now empty and only the altar remained. On it were three black heavy set pillar candles that had been lit, a small square wooden box with intricate carvings, a couple of talismans with strange markings and a bunch of dried herbs tied up with string. From an outsiders point of view it looked like a strange assortment of items purely for decorative purposes for Halloween, but there was something in this arrangement that had brought these creatures to life and had taken the sound from their lives. There had to be some sort of correlation to each event and it had started in this shop. He had ascertained that a spell had been cast to awaken the two scarecrows to begin with, probably by the shop owner, who either had knowingly or unknowingly cast it. And then when the creatures had arisen they killed the owner by tearing out his heart and then placing it in the glass jar. There had to have been a reason for that too.
Next would have been the elimination of sound, perhaps they were sensitive to it, that might be a clue in how to get rid of them. Pondering that, he moved on to the next piece of information he knew of, when they had arrived in town and found it in silence which was when the seven creatures had arrived. So he may just be onto something with the creature being sensitive to sound.
Looking down on the altar, he decided to eliminate a few of the elements, by first blowing out the candles. He looked up to see if that done anything, seeing all seven of the creatures had stopped in mid fight and turned their creepy pumpkin heads his way, fire blazing in their eyes. Soon they were heading in his direction, not in the least interested in Superman.
Knowing it was now or never, he knew he would have to hurry, looking over the remaining items, he bypassed the talismans and herbs and settled on the wooden box. If sound had played a part in this, it would have had to been stored in something and box seemed like the only likely item on the table to have contained it. Looking to see where the creature were it seemed they had gotten closer and were moving quickly towards the antique shop, eager to get to the box, he now had in his hand.
Knowing what he had to do, he spotted what he hoped was a heavy set silver candle holder and grab hold of it, just as the first of creatures came through the door. Just as he went to smash the box with holder, he was grabbed from behind and he struggled with the scarecrow, just at that moment, Superman came smashing through the front window, silently the glass showering the floor. The box and candle holder fell from Bruce’s hand as he struggled to get away from the scarecrow.
Superman was just about to give Bruce a hand, when he noticed his partner was trying to tell his to smash the box, torn between helping his lover and smashing the box, the look of annoyance on Bruce’s face, made the decision for him. Grabbing the box, he place it on the table in front of him and brought his fist down on it.
Streams of light flew out of the box, as the absence of sound was restored. All seven scarecrows brought their hands to the side of their evil pumpkin heads and Bruce was finally free to join Superman by the window. The assault of sound seemed to shatter the pumpkin heads of the scarecrows and they all fell to the floor.
Looking at each other covered in pumpkin pulp, the disgusted look on Bruce face was enough for Clark to start laughing, he only stopped when he heard a muffled choking noise and realised it was Bruce laughing too.
Both turning, they saw everyone making their way outside, people cheering and shouting out of joy. Deciding now would be a good time for Superman to leave, he walked out of the shattered storefront and lifted off the ground, gracing everyone with his trademark smile before flying off with a sonic boom.
Clark stepped out from behind a parked car and returned to Bruce’s side, where the boys were trying hard to hide their snickers over Bruce’s appearance.
“I think someone needs to clean up a bit before we go trick or treating, don’t you think boys” Said Clark, humour lacing his voice.
With a smirk, Bruce’s reply was classic sarcasm, “Yeah because I enjoy being covered in pumpkin, now, who wants a hug?”
At that Clark and the boys moved away, just in case Bruce was actually in a hugging mood for once. Seeing this, one of the kindly ladies in the diner across the road, came across to help Bruce from his plight, by offering somewhere to clean up and frowned at Clark and the boys, making Clark feel sightly guilty.
Accepting her offer, he made his way across the street, Clark offering to fetch a clean set of clothes from the car, Bruce seemed to have handy, just in case. The boys following after Bruce, Tim excited to finally being able to go trick or treating. Alfred and Martha had made him a Pirate costume, complete with a fake sword, which is what he had wanted when he had been asked. Dick, on the other hand had been completely surprised when Martha had handed him his costume, a prince costume straight from a fairy tale.
Clark soon returned with fresh clothes for Bruce and Halloween candy bags for the boys for trick or treating later. Bruce soon emerged from the bathroom, now clean and with fresh clothing, he thanked the lady in the diner and they set off in search of treats for the boys.
Later, back at the farm, they were seated around the dinner table telling everyone what had happened and finding out nothing of what happened in town had affected the farm. When Martha pulled out a Pumpkin pie for dessert, Bruce went pale and declined, then excused himself and left the room. Clark soon followed, saying after today events, he didn’t think he could stomach pie.
He found Bruce in their bedroom, sitting on the floor against the bed. Clark sat down beside him, stretching his legs out in front of him and put his around Bruce’s shoulder, drawing him in close. Bruce rested his head on the other man’s shoulder and let out a breath.
“Well, that was certainly a Halloween I won’t be forgetting soon.” Clark said, getting a groan out of Bruce as his response.
“How about I make us some coffee and we’ll go sit out on the porch, while the others eat their dessert?” Not wanting to mention the pie.
So, that’s how Bruce and Clark ended the day, sitting in silence, drinking coffee and enjoying the sounds of the night and each other’s company.