Nightminds - Chapter 10
Title: Nightminds
Chapter: 10 of ?
Author: spygirl690
Disclaimer: Wow I wish they were mine, but they aren't. So don't sue me.
Rating: R to NC17
Paring: Batman/Joker
Warning: drug use, language, sex, graphic violence in later chapters
Summary: This story examines the months Bruce spent at Princeton before returning to start his journey in Batman Begins. The title was inspired by the Missy Higgins song Nightminds.
Beta: toriolees
Find all previous chapters of Nightminds here
Wow after 8 days without power and an email snaffu with my beta here it is - finally chapter 10!
Chapter Ten
Jack was still silently celebrating his unplanned victory last weekend when a drunken walk landed him on Bruce's doorstep. Since then they had fallen back into step. Moreover, they had seen more of each other in the past week than they had the entire month they'd known each other. They'd seen each other every day, whether it was meeting up for a meal, studying or talking in between classes. Jack considered Bruce an excellent study partner, able to stick to business when needed but Jack could always persuade him away from work when he needed a distraction.
Bruce followed Jack without question when he showed up at his doorstep Saturday night with an invite to another party. He and Jack were so engrossed in their conversation Bruce didn't notice the house they entered until the smell hit him. A solid wall of body odor permeated the air and he couldn't help but recoil at the smell. This was not a building near campus. The house had to have been condemned. Bruce looked up at the cracked wooden staircase leading to a pitch black second floor. The railing was gone and the wallpaper ripped. It was hard to make out any colors with the black lights highlighting different parts of the room that had been slathered in multicolored neon paint. The glow sticks on peoples' bodies created a blurred rainbow as they moved to the beat.
“Ah the sweet smell of ravers in the morning,” Jack rubbed his hands together while looking around.
They hadn't taken two steps from the doorway when a boy in neon mesh top and over sized sweatpants approached Jack. He looped his arms around Jack's neck and pushed their hips together.
“Hey Jay, darlin'.”
Jack looked down at the boy, knowing at some point during the past year they'd shared some time together but he couldn't quite remember when. Jack sneaked a look at Bruce who studying them through the corner of his eye.
“I'm looking for some E Roll,” the boy started convulsing to the beat of the music.
“Well, you know the going rate,” Jack was quickly losing interest as he saw a girl approaching Bruce out of the corner of his eye.
The boy made a noise of disapproval and let go of Jack. He pulled a twenty out of his pocket with two fingers and flicked the money towards Jack. Jack threw a green packet at him, “Enjoy.”
The boy picked a white tab out of the bag and studied the heart on the top, “Cute.”He put it on his tongue and walked away.
Jack turned to Bruce who was talking with a girl who had glow-bracelets sticking out of a over sized ponytail on her head.
“No, I've never been to anything like this before,” Bruce had to shout so the girl next to him could understand. She recognized him from criminology class and struck up a conversation. Bruce was thankful for the distraction. He was trying to remember her name, he thought it might be Ellie but he wasn't quite sure.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Jack arching an eyebrow at him.
“Am I interrupting something?”
“Um, no. Jack this is a friend from one of my classes,” Bruce turned to introduce Ellie but felt Jack pulling on his arm. Jack roughly jerked him away from the door.
“It's too loud to talk in here,” Jack shouted over the crowd.
Bruce eyes bored holes into the back of Jack's head, What was that all about? He allowed Jack to pull them halfway across the crowded living space-now-dance floor before he pulled back. Jack turned,
“What?”
“Well what the hell was that all about?”
The skinny bitch was encroaching on my game, Jack thought but said, “Like I said, it was too loud to talk in there. If what's-her-name....Ellie... wanted to join us, she could have.”
Jack put on his best, sorry face and Bruce apparently bought it because he didn't argue anymore. Jack turned back to the room of dancers and rolled his eyes. Yay let's all get high so we have a good excuse when we wake up next to some random person in the morning, Jack snorted, That sounds like tons of fun. Jack moved them through the room to a large door on the far wall. Actually, in the past that would have been the perfect night for Jack. Not the drug part, but the random partner part. But now, Jack turned to look at Bruce who was half focusing on their journey and half acting as an amateur voyeur to the debauchery going on around them. Now...
Jack reached the door and tried to turn the knob only to find it locked. A fact Bruce stated as Jack tried to open it.
“Ah, no problem,” Jack pulled a knife out of his pocket and slid the blade through the doorframe. He pressed on the lock until he felt it click and the door give way.
“Open sesame,” Jack said opening the door and stepping aside so Bruce could enter. Jack turned to a couple making out by the door and tugged on the boy’s shoulder. He swore and glared at Jack, “What?”
“I'm the travel agent at this party,” Jack said flashing a packet of E in front of the boys face, “If anyone needs me, I'll be in here.”
Bruce could hear Jack speaking to someone as he entered the pitch-black room. He felt slightly apprehensive; the room was probably closed for a reason. Lights flicked on as Bruce heard the door close behind him. His eyes ached as the adjusted to the light.
“Well, Bruce, I believe we've struck the mother load.”
Bruce opened his eyes to see a large collection of furniture crowded inside the large room around a cracked leather couch and a TV.
“I know a group of kids live in this shack. They must have moved everything in here to make room for the rave,” Jack wove his way past Bruce, intentionally brushing their hands together.
Bruce started to make his way through the maze of furniture when he saw the two large cabinets filled with movies on the back wall. He immediately switched his destination from the television to the Mecca of movies, pushing past a broken coffee table and some decrepit looking bar stools. He stood in front of the large case filled with hundreds of movies in sort of a revered silence. Bruce had always been a movie buff; it wasn't something he shared with a lot of people. When he was a kid he'd stay up for hours watching old movies. In movies the bad guys always lost and justice wasn't out of reach for those who needed it. For a kid looking for answers to a system that had failed his parents, it was a great refuge.
A whistle behind Bruce broke his thoughts.
“Well, now I know why they locked the room,” Jack was behind him holding his arms out, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show.”
Bruce chuckled as he started to scan the titles, “What do you want to watch?”
Jack quirked his head and grinned, “Why Mr. Wayne are you suggesting we bust into someone's movie collection, hijack their TV and create some mayhem?”
“Well everything except the mayhem part.”
“Aw Brucie, I'm rubbing off on you,” Jack started pushing furniture out of the way, clearing a path to the couch. He turned back to Bruce and laughed, “I like it.”
Bruce scanned the titles as he heard Jack displacing furniture with the occasional crash behind him. Of course, Jack had to add his own colorful commentary like “That was breakable?” or “Timberrr!” with every new smash. It wasn't the first time Bruce caught Jack talking to himself; he did it quite a bit while they studied together. Bruce grinned and wondered if Jack knew he even did it.
Jack pushed a cheap lamp onto the floor with satisfaction as he finally cleared a path from the couch to the door. Even though he wanted time with Bruce, he still had to conduct business. He turned back to see Bruce's progression though the movies and bit his lip when he noticed the billionaire was bent over studying the titles on the bottom shelf. Lead me into temptation, Jack thought as he sauntered up behind Bruce. It would be so easy to wrap his hands around those hips, throw him on the couch and drag those perfectly worn jeans down to Bruce's knees. Jack felt his pants grow tight and slammed his hand into a chair to calm himself down.
“So, what is the verdict?” Jack called through the pain. Perhaps he hit his hand too hard.
Bruce held up a VHS, “A classic.”
The door slammed open and three neon painted people waltzed in. Jack recognized the boy and the girl from his earlier conversation with them before he entered the room.
“Mr. Travel agent,” a boy with a white tank top and black jeans on waved to Jack, “I'd like to book a trip.” The boy could not stop laughing. Jack saw no humor in this pawn desecrating what had been, a very original joke. Jack strode up to the group, hands in his pockets.
“Where would you like to go?”
He chanced a glance at Bruce who, thankfully, was absorbed in getting the TV to work.
“To the stars,” the girl was tracing lines around her lover's jaw with her finger.
Jack rifled through his pockets until he found what he was looking for. He took out the packet, “fifty bucks and the passport is all yours.”
The kids looked a little lost at first but all dug into their pockets to find the cash. Jack took it and gladly sent the partiers on their way. They left the door open and the music from the outside poured in. Jack wanted to close it but, he wanted people to know where he was. Noise from the television turned Jack's attention back to Bruce. He was adjusting the volume on the medium sized television as some of the coming attractions played on the screen. Jack walked up and immediately noted that couch was no place to be sitting on. Several of the stains on it looked fresh.
“Hey Jack, we're golden,” Bruce called out, his eyes still fixated on the television. Jack shot forward and grabbed Bruce's sides to prevent him from sitting down.
Bruce turned around in surprise, “Uh?”
“Have you looked at that couch?”
Bruce turned his head and saw that the leather was not only ripped but stained in several places, in colors he couldn't recognize. He let a noise of disgust escape his lips, “Gross. What are we going to do about this?”
Jack was relishing in the fact his hands were still on Bruce's flanks. Really, things were going better than he could have planned. A month ago he could have never taken Bruce to a place like this. But now here he was, laughing at a couch that clearly had several bodily fluids on it. Jack wasn't joking when he had said Bruce was coming down to his level. He meant it, and it excited him far more than he had expected.
“Sheets?” Bruce's voice broke through Jack's thoughts as he wiggled out of Jack's grip. Bruce walked to a pile of furniture covered in a blue sheet. He pulled it off and several of the items underneath went tumbling to the floor. His eyes turned back to the television and he said, “Damn, it's starting,” with a panicked voice.
Jack helped Bruce fold the sheet and threw it on the small couch before they settled in. After a few minutes Jack started putting the different scenes of the movie together.
“Evil Dead,” Jack said flicking Bruce in the shoulder.
“It's really cheesy but it's one of my favorites.”
Jack clapped his hands together, he always loved the awesome badness that was B horror movies and was happy to find another level he could connect with Bruce on. The more common ground he had, the easier accomplishing his goal would be.
“Bruce, this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship.”
Bruce turned to him with a grin, “Well I feel more like I'm stuck with you than anything else.”
Jack let out a hearty laugh and turned back to the television, silently admitting Bruce was more right than he could ever suspect.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About halfway through the movie people had started filtering into the room. Some wanted something from Jack and some just wanted a place to get away from the main venue of the party. Bruce was almost sure there was a couple in the corner having sex but he was too focused in on his current conversation with Jack to care.
“Slasher movies- really Bruce?” Jack handed the boy next to him a white pill and shooed him away, “I mean they have their place but I'd expect so much more from you.”
“What can I say? I really like the old classics. Texas Chainsaw Massacre was pretty scary.” A couple slid into the small space behind Bruce, lighting up a joint. He gave them an annoyed look and they held the joint out in front of him as if that would placate him into being ok with the fact they had squished him out of his space on the couch. He moved to give the couple room and sat Indian style, facing Jack who was dealing with another customer.
Jack finished and turned to him, shaking a condescending finger, “Scary? Only how bad the acting was. I'd give you good money if you could show me a slasher film that creeped me out as much as the ending of Psycho.”
Jack couldn't think of the last time he enjoyed a conversation this much. Well, that would have been the last time he and Bruce had talked...but that was just how it was with Bruce. It was interesting that although they had come from different places, they had so many similar interests. But that was Bruce Wayne for you, never predictable. Jack loved having to be on his toes in every conversation. He was also very pleased the couple he'd paid off with some free pot had done exactly what he wanted them to do, bring he and Bruce closer on the couch. Now their feet were touching as they sat only a small distance apart.
“Well, I guess you have a point there. Cross-dressing is pretty scary,” Bruce said with a grin.
Both men erupted into laughter.
“But seriously Bruce, as educated as you are, you shouldn't engage in these pop-culture arguments with me,” Jack leaned back against the arm of the couch and shifted his foot slightly so it was touching Bruce's knee.
Bruce crossed his arms, “Oh really?”
The movie was still playing in the background, the music coming from the other room and the fragmented conversations of those around them created an interesting mix of noise in Bruce's head. He tried to block it out and focus on his conversation with Jack. He was happy they shared something in common and was subconsciously planning on the next movie they should watch...there were some really great Japanese horror films he knew Jack would love...
“...and then alien babies jumped out of my car....”
“What?” Bruce was confused by the snippet of conversation he just heard.
It was Jack's turn to cross his arms, “You were not even listening to what I said.”
“Sorry, I was thinking about some movies you may like.”
Well, Jack couldn't fault him for thinking about him - now could he.
“I said you shouldn't argue with me about this stuff because while your parents were sending you to a fancy school, taking you on extravagant vacations and doting on you my parents left me with two baby sitters, the library and the television.”
The distance sound of someone retching personified the feelings that welled up from the bottom of Bruce's stomach. He turned from Jack and put his feet on the floor. He didn't know what to say except for the truth.
“My parents are dead. They were shot in front of me when I was eight years old.”
Sirens and alarms sounded in Jack's mind. He saw the pieces falling off the game board and onto the floor. If he didn't play his hand right, he knew he wouldn't be able to pick them back up. He expected something dark in Bruce's past from their conversations but, not this. He wasn't sure how to approach this and he knew every second he remained quiet, the further Bruce got from him. He was not the kind of person who would like the musty silence after revealing this news Jack was sure Bruce was use to. Nor would he like a benign apology that would smack against him and then drop to the floor. Think, Jack, think! This was the hardest part of any card game and Bruce had gone first, showing his hand. This left Jack in a very vulnerable position with only one move left, to show his in return. Even as he felt the words coming to his lips, Jack hated that he had to say this out loud.
“My parents may have well have been dead. They had me for one reason, to fit in with the rest of the blue collar neighborhood they lived in so they weren't seen as the drug dealers they were. Everything they did was a lie. As soon as I could fend for myself I was left on my own. On the rare occasion where one of them was high enough to get the illusion of caring they may make dinner or watch television with me. But after a few years I didn't care whether they came home at night or not and I sure as hell didn't care if they cared about me. From the few things you've said about your parents it sounded like they at least gave a shit about you.”
The cards were out and now the omnipotent dealer would tell them who was going to double down and who was about to walk away from the table shit out of luck.
Bruce let Jack's words sink in slowly. He had never had anyone respond to the story about his parents this way. Of course he had only told less than a handful of people in his entire life. At first he felt angry, clenching his fist and wondering what right Jack had to compare his situation to this. But then the fact that he was comparing his situation sunk in farther and Bruce saw what he was actually trying to say. As much as it hurt to admit, perhaps there were worse things than losing your parents at an early age.
“I never talk about my parents to anyone.”
“Ditto.”
Jack was still unsure of the final verdict until he felt Bruce's hand lightly squeezing his knee in reassurance. There in that place that now smelled like sweat, beer and vomit Jack knew he had been dealt a winning hand.
*******************************************************
Thanks again for being so patient with me guys. This has been a crazy two weeks.
Chapter: 10 of ?
Author: spygirl690
Disclaimer: Wow I wish they were mine, but they aren't. So don't sue me.
Rating: R to NC17
Paring: Batman/Joker
Warning: drug use, language, sex, graphic violence in later chapters
Summary: This story examines the months Bruce spent at Princeton before returning to start his journey in Batman Begins. The title was inspired by the Missy Higgins song Nightminds.
Beta: toriolees
Find all previous chapters of Nightminds here
Wow after 8 days without power and an email snaffu with my beta here it is - finally chapter 10!
Chapter Ten
Jack was still silently celebrating his unplanned victory last weekend when a drunken walk landed him on Bruce's doorstep. Since then they had fallen back into step. Moreover, they had seen more of each other in the past week than they had the entire month they'd known each other. They'd seen each other every day, whether it was meeting up for a meal, studying or talking in between classes. Jack considered Bruce an excellent study partner, able to stick to business when needed but Jack could always persuade him away from work when he needed a distraction.
Bruce followed Jack without question when he showed up at his doorstep Saturday night with an invite to another party. He and Jack were so engrossed in their conversation Bruce didn't notice the house they entered until the smell hit him. A solid wall of body odor permeated the air and he couldn't help but recoil at the smell. This was not a building near campus. The house had to have been condemned. Bruce looked up at the cracked wooden staircase leading to a pitch black second floor. The railing was gone and the wallpaper ripped. It was hard to make out any colors with the black lights highlighting different parts of the room that had been slathered in multicolored neon paint. The glow sticks on peoples' bodies created a blurred rainbow as they moved to the beat.
“Ah the sweet smell of ravers in the morning,” Jack rubbed his hands together while looking around.
They hadn't taken two steps from the doorway when a boy in neon mesh top and over sized sweatpants approached Jack. He looped his arms around Jack's neck and pushed their hips together.
“Hey Jay, darlin'.”
Jack looked down at the boy, knowing at some point during the past year they'd shared some time together but he couldn't quite remember when. Jack sneaked a look at Bruce who studying them through the corner of his eye.
“I'm looking for some E Roll,” the boy started convulsing to the beat of the music.
“Well, you know the going rate,” Jack was quickly losing interest as he saw a girl approaching Bruce out of the corner of his eye.
The boy made a noise of disapproval and let go of Jack. He pulled a twenty out of his pocket with two fingers and flicked the money towards Jack. Jack threw a green packet at him, “Enjoy.”
The boy picked a white tab out of the bag and studied the heart on the top, “Cute.”He put it on his tongue and walked away.
Jack turned to Bruce who was talking with a girl who had glow-bracelets sticking out of a over sized ponytail on her head.
“No, I've never been to anything like this before,” Bruce had to shout so the girl next to him could understand. She recognized him from criminology class and struck up a conversation. Bruce was thankful for the distraction. He was trying to remember her name, he thought it might be Ellie but he wasn't quite sure.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Jack arching an eyebrow at him.
“Am I interrupting something?”
“Um, no. Jack this is a friend from one of my classes,” Bruce turned to introduce Ellie but felt Jack pulling on his arm. Jack roughly jerked him away from the door.
“It's too loud to talk in here,” Jack shouted over the crowd.
Bruce eyes bored holes into the back of Jack's head, What was that all about? He allowed Jack to pull them halfway across the crowded living space-now-dance floor before he pulled back. Jack turned,
“What?”
“Well what the hell was that all about?”
The skinny bitch was encroaching on my game, Jack thought but said, “Like I said, it was too loud to talk in there. If what's-her-name....Ellie... wanted to join us, she could have.”
Jack put on his best, sorry face and Bruce apparently bought it because he didn't argue anymore. Jack turned back to the room of dancers and rolled his eyes. Yay let's all get high so we have a good excuse when we wake up next to some random person in the morning, Jack snorted, That sounds like tons of fun. Jack moved them through the room to a large door on the far wall. Actually, in the past that would have been the perfect night for Jack. Not the drug part, but the random partner part. But now, Jack turned to look at Bruce who was half focusing on their journey and half acting as an amateur voyeur to the debauchery going on around them. Now...
Jack reached the door and tried to turn the knob only to find it locked. A fact Bruce stated as Jack tried to open it.
“Ah, no problem,” Jack pulled a knife out of his pocket and slid the blade through the doorframe. He pressed on the lock until he felt it click and the door give way.
“Open sesame,” Jack said opening the door and stepping aside so Bruce could enter. Jack turned to a couple making out by the door and tugged on the boy’s shoulder. He swore and glared at Jack, “What?”
“I'm the travel agent at this party,” Jack said flashing a packet of E in front of the boys face, “If anyone needs me, I'll be in here.”
Bruce could hear Jack speaking to someone as he entered the pitch-black room. He felt slightly apprehensive; the room was probably closed for a reason. Lights flicked on as Bruce heard the door close behind him. His eyes ached as the adjusted to the light.
“Well, Bruce, I believe we've struck the mother load.”
Bruce opened his eyes to see a large collection of furniture crowded inside the large room around a cracked leather couch and a TV.
“I know a group of kids live in this shack. They must have moved everything in here to make room for the rave,” Jack wove his way past Bruce, intentionally brushing their hands together.
Bruce started to make his way through the maze of furniture when he saw the two large cabinets filled with movies on the back wall. He immediately switched his destination from the television to the Mecca of movies, pushing past a broken coffee table and some decrepit looking bar stools. He stood in front of the large case filled with hundreds of movies in sort of a revered silence. Bruce had always been a movie buff; it wasn't something he shared with a lot of people. When he was a kid he'd stay up for hours watching old movies. In movies the bad guys always lost and justice wasn't out of reach for those who needed it. For a kid looking for answers to a system that had failed his parents, it was a great refuge.
A whistle behind Bruce broke his thoughts.
“Well, now I know why they locked the room,” Jack was behind him holding his arms out, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show.”
Bruce chuckled as he started to scan the titles, “What do you want to watch?”
Jack quirked his head and grinned, “Why Mr. Wayne are you suggesting we bust into someone's movie collection, hijack their TV and create some mayhem?”
“Well everything except the mayhem part.”
“Aw Brucie, I'm rubbing off on you,” Jack started pushing furniture out of the way, clearing a path to the couch. He turned back to Bruce and laughed, “I like it.”
Bruce scanned the titles as he heard Jack displacing furniture with the occasional crash behind him. Of course, Jack had to add his own colorful commentary like “That was breakable?” or “Timberrr!” with every new smash. It wasn't the first time Bruce caught Jack talking to himself; he did it quite a bit while they studied together. Bruce grinned and wondered if Jack knew he even did it.
Jack pushed a cheap lamp onto the floor with satisfaction as he finally cleared a path from the couch to the door. Even though he wanted time with Bruce, he still had to conduct business. He turned back to see Bruce's progression though the movies and bit his lip when he noticed the billionaire was bent over studying the titles on the bottom shelf. Lead me into temptation, Jack thought as he sauntered up behind Bruce. It would be so easy to wrap his hands around those hips, throw him on the couch and drag those perfectly worn jeans down to Bruce's knees. Jack felt his pants grow tight and slammed his hand into a chair to calm himself down.
“So, what is the verdict?” Jack called through the pain. Perhaps he hit his hand too hard.
Bruce held up a VHS, “A classic.”
The door slammed open and three neon painted people waltzed in. Jack recognized the boy and the girl from his earlier conversation with them before he entered the room.
“Mr. Travel agent,” a boy with a white tank top and black jeans on waved to Jack, “I'd like to book a trip.” The boy could not stop laughing. Jack saw no humor in this pawn desecrating what had been, a very original joke. Jack strode up to the group, hands in his pockets.
“Where would you like to go?”
He chanced a glance at Bruce who, thankfully, was absorbed in getting the TV to work.
“To the stars,” the girl was tracing lines around her lover's jaw with her finger.
Jack rifled through his pockets until he found what he was looking for. He took out the packet, “fifty bucks and the passport is all yours.”
The kids looked a little lost at first but all dug into their pockets to find the cash. Jack took it and gladly sent the partiers on their way. They left the door open and the music from the outside poured in. Jack wanted to close it but, he wanted people to know where he was. Noise from the television turned Jack's attention back to Bruce. He was adjusting the volume on the medium sized television as some of the coming attractions played on the screen. Jack walked up and immediately noted that couch was no place to be sitting on. Several of the stains on it looked fresh.
“Hey Jack, we're golden,” Bruce called out, his eyes still fixated on the television. Jack shot forward and grabbed Bruce's sides to prevent him from sitting down.
Bruce turned around in surprise, “Uh?”
“Have you looked at that couch?”
Bruce turned his head and saw that the leather was not only ripped but stained in several places, in colors he couldn't recognize. He let a noise of disgust escape his lips, “Gross. What are we going to do about this?”
Jack was relishing in the fact his hands were still on Bruce's flanks. Really, things were going better than he could have planned. A month ago he could have never taken Bruce to a place like this. But now here he was, laughing at a couch that clearly had several bodily fluids on it. Jack wasn't joking when he had said Bruce was coming down to his level. He meant it, and it excited him far more than he had expected.
“Sheets?” Bruce's voice broke through Jack's thoughts as he wiggled out of Jack's grip. Bruce walked to a pile of furniture covered in a blue sheet. He pulled it off and several of the items underneath went tumbling to the floor. His eyes turned back to the television and he said, “Damn, it's starting,” with a panicked voice.
Jack helped Bruce fold the sheet and threw it on the small couch before they settled in. After a few minutes Jack started putting the different scenes of the movie together.
“Evil Dead,” Jack said flicking Bruce in the shoulder.
“It's really cheesy but it's one of my favorites.”
Jack clapped his hands together, he always loved the awesome badness that was B horror movies and was happy to find another level he could connect with Bruce on. The more common ground he had, the easier accomplishing his goal would be.
“Bruce, this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship.”
Bruce turned to him with a grin, “Well I feel more like I'm stuck with you than anything else.”
Jack let out a hearty laugh and turned back to the television, silently admitting Bruce was more right than he could ever suspect.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About halfway through the movie people had started filtering into the room. Some wanted something from Jack and some just wanted a place to get away from the main venue of the party. Bruce was almost sure there was a couple in the corner having sex but he was too focused in on his current conversation with Jack to care.
“Slasher movies- really Bruce?” Jack handed the boy next to him a white pill and shooed him away, “I mean they have their place but I'd expect so much more from you.”
“What can I say? I really like the old classics. Texas Chainsaw Massacre was pretty scary.” A couple slid into the small space behind Bruce, lighting up a joint. He gave them an annoyed look and they held the joint out in front of him as if that would placate him into being ok with the fact they had squished him out of his space on the couch. He moved to give the couple room and sat Indian style, facing Jack who was dealing with another customer.
Jack finished and turned to him, shaking a condescending finger, “Scary? Only how bad the acting was. I'd give you good money if you could show me a slasher film that creeped me out as much as the ending of Psycho.”
Jack couldn't think of the last time he enjoyed a conversation this much. Well, that would have been the last time he and Bruce had talked...but that was just how it was with Bruce. It was interesting that although they had come from different places, they had so many similar interests. But that was Bruce Wayne for you, never predictable. Jack loved having to be on his toes in every conversation. He was also very pleased the couple he'd paid off with some free pot had done exactly what he wanted them to do, bring he and Bruce closer on the couch. Now their feet were touching as they sat only a small distance apart.
“Well, I guess you have a point there. Cross-dressing is pretty scary,” Bruce said with a grin.
Both men erupted into laughter.
“But seriously Bruce, as educated as you are, you shouldn't engage in these pop-culture arguments with me,” Jack leaned back against the arm of the couch and shifted his foot slightly so it was touching Bruce's knee.
Bruce crossed his arms, “Oh really?”
The movie was still playing in the background, the music coming from the other room and the fragmented conversations of those around them created an interesting mix of noise in Bruce's head. He tried to block it out and focus on his conversation with Jack. He was happy they shared something in common and was subconsciously planning on the next movie they should watch...there were some really great Japanese horror films he knew Jack would love...
“...and then alien babies jumped out of my car....”
“What?” Bruce was confused by the snippet of conversation he just heard.
It was Jack's turn to cross his arms, “You were not even listening to what I said.”
“Sorry, I was thinking about some movies you may like.”
Well, Jack couldn't fault him for thinking about him - now could he.
“I said you shouldn't argue with me about this stuff because while your parents were sending you to a fancy school, taking you on extravagant vacations and doting on you my parents left me with two baby sitters, the library and the television.”
The distance sound of someone retching personified the feelings that welled up from the bottom of Bruce's stomach. He turned from Jack and put his feet on the floor. He didn't know what to say except for the truth.
“My parents are dead. They were shot in front of me when I was eight years old.”
Sirens and alarms sounded in Jack's mind. He saw the pieces falling off the game board and onto the floor. If he didn't play his hand right, he knew he wouldn't be able to pick them back up. He expected something dark in Bruce's past from their conversations but, not this. He wasn't sure how to approach this and he knew every second he remained quiet, the further Bruce got from him. He was not the kind of person who would like the musty silence after revealing this news Jack was sure Bruce was use to. Nor would he like a benign apology that would smack against him and then drop to the floor. Think, Jack, think! This was the hardest part of any card game and Bruce had gone first, showing his hand. This left Jack in a very vulnerable position with only one move left, to show his in return. Even as he felt the words coming to his lips, Jack hated that he had to say this out loud.
“My parents may have well have been dead. They had me for one reason, to fit in with the rest of the blue collar neighborhood they lived in so they weren't seen as the drug dealers they were. Everything they did was a lie. As soon as I could fend for myself I was left on my own. On the rare occasion where one of them was high enough to get the illusion of caring they may make dinner or watch television with me. But after a few years I didn't care whether they came home at night or not and I sure as hell didn't care if they cared about me. From the few things you've said about your parents it sounded like they at least gave a shit about you.”
The cards were out and now the omnipotent dealer would tell them who was going to double down and who was about to walk away from the table shit out of luck.
Bruce let Jack's words sink in slowly. He had never had anyone respond to the story about his parents this way. Of course he had only told less than a handful of people in his entire life. At first he felt angry, clenching his fist and wondering what right Jack had to compare his situation to this. But then the fact that he was comparing his situation sunk in farther and Bruce saw what he was actually trying to say. As much as it hurt to admit, perhaps there were worse things than losing your parents at an early age.
“I never talk about my parents to anyone.”
“Ditto.”
Jack was still unsure of the final verdict until he felt Bruce's hand lightly squeezing his knee in reassurance. There in that place that now smelled like sweat, beer and vomit Jack knew he had been dealt a winning hand.
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Thanks again for being so patient with me guys. This has been a crazy two weeks.