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itzagothamcitysiren · 4 years

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Welcome to the Family

sorry it’s taken me so long to update! I’ve been working a lot, having to pick up a couple of shifts. One of the girls I work with is sick :( I’m hoping it’s not covid, cause that would SUUUUCCCKKKKKKK. (excuse me while I go cry from the stress now)

I made this chapter extra long for making you guys wait though!

You’re Taking Up a Fraction of My Mind pt.7

The manor had been completely a buzz all day long and for once Halley wasn’t the only one riddled with unmatched anxiety. From the moment the sun shined through the windows Alfred became a madman, ordering the hired staff around in ways Halley had never witnessed before. Not being accustomed to this Alfred, Halley had made the mistake of entering the kitchen to grab breakfast before anyone could stop her. She was almost immediately shooed out by the man curtly as he had the cooks and other staff already inside preparing the copious amounts of food for the night.

She’d never experienced anything quite like it but was relieved when she found herself suffering with the other residences of the household. Bruce showed a somewhat lighter side to himself that she didn’t know existed as he joked that it was best to leave Alfred be and snuck everyone out for breakfast to get out of his hair for a while. She thought she’d be the only one who would be willing to go but Jason and Dick beat her to the car, both wanting to get out of helping Alfred downstairs.

They’d gone to a more upscale breakfast place, Bruce knowing he had to keep up some sort of appearance in Gotham. It went by without any major incidents, which was good in his books, as he was recognized as soon as he entered the restaurant. Dick was usually always on his best behavior now that he was older of course; Bruce remembered how much of a handful the boy could be when he was younger. And Jason was still tired from last night’s patrol to start any trouble; he hadn’t yet provoked Dick into one of their little spats they’d had throughout the last week.

Bruce had hoped the two would get along, wanting Dick to be somewhat of the role model Bruce could never be to Jason. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Jason to follow his path in some sort of way, but Bruce’s methods didn’t seem to work on him as well as he had wanted. He’d group the pair up a lot on patrol since Dick came back, wanting Jason too see how Nightwing worked; maybe seeing a new way of doing things helping him progress more.

Though, Bruce hadn’t lied when he said Jason was improving; because he was. Of course he still had issues he needed straightening but compared to the Robin he was a year ago, he was completely different. He just had a couple more edges that needed sanding and had hoped Nightwing could be the one to do it. But his plan hadn’t quite panned out the way he had hoped, not failing to noticed how the pair just didn’t see eye to eye. The Batman wasn’t completely left in the dark about why the two hadn’t been getting along. You didn’t need to be a world class detective like himself to figure it out.

It all steamed from the mantle of Robin. Dick was clearly still upset with Bruce about handing the costume off. He didn’t quite understand yet that Batman needed a Robin, and since Dick gave it up he had to move on as well. It wasn’t like Bruce just gave it away to anyone either. Jason may be tough but he was also a good kid; he deserved to be Robin just as much as Dick had. If only Dick could just see that, Bruce felt like the two could actually become friends. Even brother’s maybe.

He looked at between his children, taking a large sip of coffee, trying to mentally prepare for the long night ahead. Halley caught his eye as she sat next to Dick, talking to Jason who sat next to Bruce. The pair were going back and forth about something that had happened in school over the week, laughing about some girl named Sam.

“And is this, Sam, your friend?” Bruce asked, putting the mug down, genuinely interested in the two’s personal lives. He’d hate to admit it, but he’d been so consumed with both his jobs lately that he felt like he let the two fall through the cracks; something he swore he wouldn’t do after having done so with Dick.

“Oh yeah, they’re best friends.” Jason taunted, pointing his fork at the girl sitting across from him, before jabbing the food into this mouth and chewy loudly.

“Shut up! We are not!” Halley jeered, a stern look on her face, sounding offended that he’d suggest such a thing. “She’s just a girl in my school who’s trying to be my friend because she has a crush on Dick.” She said pointing a thumb at the man sitting next to her.

“A crush you say?” Dick laughed, giving Halley a playful wink and wiggling his eyebrows.

“Gross, don’t make his head any bigger than it already is.” Jason grimaced, pulling a face.

“I don’t have a big head!” Dick defended, letting his hand fall into a fist on the table.

And there it was, Bruce smirked as the two set off, going back and forth. It came off as playful, just a simple small spat between brothers so Bruce didn’t make a move to stop it just yet. Instead he found himself sharing an amused look with Halley, both shaking their heads before going back and digging into the rest of their meal.

After breakfast was over and they arrived back at the manor it was a little after noon. Bruce was immediately swept away by Alfred to help finish up preparing for the evening. They snuck a peak at the ballroom, seeing it transformed. Halley hadn’t yet ventured inside the room, never having a need to before and felt herself staring at the marble floors and tall walls in awe, the large shinning chandelier fixing itself in her sights. She tried to not imagine the room packed with high class socialites, all schmoozing the other, with glasses in their hands.

Car’s began to arrive around dinner time, Bruce already ready to go and was waiting for everyone else in his study; it would look good for them to all enter as a family. The loud ballroom could be heard from the room, everyone waiting for the man of the night to arrive. He fixed his bow-tie, looking into the mirror over the fire place and preparing his smile that he’d have plastered on his face all night.

Upstairs, Halley had just finished putting her heels on, walking around in circles to get used to them. She wouldn’t admit it but she had totally practiced walking around in her room with them all week. She still felt a little shaky but she was a quick learner and at least didn’t look wobbly as she took another step. She walked back to her mirror, reaching for the lipstick she had gotten at the shop. She carefully put it on, the last thing she needed to get done to get ready.

When she was pleased, she placed the stick down next to her eyeliner and mascara. She double checked herself in the mirror, afraid she missed something or looked ridiculous. She had lightly curled her hair, once again calling Kori for advice. She smiled, checking her teeth to see if any lipstick got on them and let her lips form a straight line when she was done.

She went to leave her room once she settled on her appearance, intending on going to Dick too get his reassurance but she found herself pausing as she closed her door behind her. Jason’s door stared right at her and she found herself walking towards it. Dick already told her how he felt about the dress and she had believed him but he would also say anything to stop her fretting whereas Jason was always honest.

She knocked on his door, saying it was her and waiting until she heard him say she could come in. Taking a deep breath, she gripped the handle, twisting it slowly and opening the door. She moved into the room, her eyes looking for him to find him standing off where his dresser and mirror where. He was desperately trying to tied his bow-tie. Her face softened at him. He was in a suit and his hair wasn’t a shaggy mess. She couldn’t help but let her eyes trail over him, never seeing him so dressed up before.

When she stood silent, Jason removed his eyes from his reflection. He looked at Halley, doing a double take when he saw the girl standing in his doorway, sheepishly. He felt a blush creep onto his face, his hands still fiddling with the bow-tie as he became distracted. Damn, he thought looking at her up and down.

“So I’m ready,” She said letting her hands pull on her skirt, as if lazily showing it off.

Jason nodded, finding a lump in his throat suddenly. He had to clear his throat in order to speak, his voice almost cracking as he spoke, “I can see that.”

Halley almost bit her lip but stopped herself, remembering the lipstick on them. She rubbed her bare arms her eyes trailing to look anywhere but Jason now, instantly regretting going to him and not Dick. Jason could see her tense up but couldn’t try to help as he himself suddenly felt his own chest tighten.

“Does it look alright?” She found herself pressing, still not looking at him, almost pouting her lower lip as she asked.

“Yeah, it looks alright.” Jason said lamely, wincing as the words left his mouth. His brain wasn’t working and couldn’t stop the first words he could think of from leaving his mouth. Of course she looked alright, he thought. She looked more than alright, she looked really, really, really good. Come on Todd, stop acting stupid, he reprimanded himself.

“Oh, well good.” Halley’s disappointed voice cut through him and he felt himself scrambling to think of something else to say.

“That came out wrong. You just threw me off,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, trying to save himself from sounding like an ass. “I just didn’t expect it, you look really-,” he began to stammer, embarrassing himself further. Taking a deep breath he managed to continued,

“You look nice.” He rushed, reaching out to her but retracted his hand, unsure what he was even going to do with it. He cleared his throat again, pulling his normal ‘cool’ voice, “We clean up pretty good.”

“Yeah,” she let out a soft giggle at him, looking up at him again, fluttering her eyelashes. She felt her own heart beat faster at his reaction. Nodding her head at him, she found herself with a new sense of confidence. “You don’t look like a total mess for once.” She teased, letting her hands clasp behind her back.

“Rude,” Jason mocked being appalled, placing a hand on his chest. “You may look good in that dress but you’re still clearly a dork.” He teased right back, now officially giving up on his bow-tie. He let it hang around loosely around his neck, pointing at it to Halley. “You wouldn’t happen to know how to tie a tie now would you?”

“Nope,” Halley let the p pop as she spoke.

“It’s fine. Bruce usually has to do it anyway.” Jason shrugged. He found himself placing a gentle hand at the small of her back, smoothly leading her out of his room and making their way to Bruce’s study.

They soon all gathered in Bruce’s private study, Jason’s bow-tie now fixed thanks to Bruce and they all waited a few more minutes before heading out and towards the ballroom. Light music could be heard along with chatter from the guests inside. Halley walked a few steps behind Bruce, Dick taking a spot next to him and Jason walking a few steps before her. She felt her heart pumping the closer they got, seeing Alfred near the main doors to the ballroom, waiting for them.

The first hour or so of the gala had been a blur, starting from the moment she entered to where she found herself now. She had been swept away by Bruce as he began introducing her to all sorts of people. Dick and Jason branched off on their own way, deciding in taking the divide and conquer approach at greeting the guests. She watched them from the corner of her eye, feeling out of place without them. She tried to keep her smile on her face, not wanting to make Bruce look bad as he introduced her as his daughter to person after person, swiftly avoiding questions when asked about her birth parents. They had settled on telling the public that she never knew her parents, having lived with some relatives who were friends with the Wayne’s and when they died Bruce adopted her. Gotham knew he had a thing for orphaned children and they ate it up.

She’d shaken so many hands by the point Bruce let her escape that she felt almost like a robot. She found herself standing off to the side near a huddle of tables, the doorway to the porch overlooking the gardens behind her. She people watched for a few minutes, smiling at a couple who walked past her and said hello. She could still feel her heart threatening to burst out of her chest, looking around for a familiar face. She spotted Dick, but didn’t move to meet him seeing as he was on the dance floor with some blonde haired girl. She rolled her eyes, knowing it was all for show but couldn’t help but feel somewhat mad at him for dancing with another woman when he had Kori back in Jump City.

She turned away, looking around the room again, wondering where Jason had gone off too. Frowning when she hadn’t seen him she turned to looked towards the exit, questioning if she could get away with sneaking out and up to her room without being noticed. She felt someone approach her and quickly looked away from the doorway, her body relaxing when she saw Jason walking towards her.

“There you are; finally escaped Bruce and his admirers?” Jason asked, his hands in his pockets. He leaned against the table behind him, looking up at the girl.

“It wasn’t that bad.” She said, rubbing her arms and shrugging.

“You’re still a bad liar.” Jason chuckled, leaning further back, eventually just pulling a chair out and sitting down.

Halley joined him, running her hands behind her bottom as she sat so the dress would lay flat underneath her. She placed her elbow on the table, propping her chin on the palm of her hand. She let her eyes trail back to the dance floor, watching as it was full with people. It was completely different from the party she attended weeks ago. The music was almost soothing and not pounding through a crappy sound system. Instead a live band played soft jazz tunes. The people on the dance floor didn’t look like they were having sex through their clothes either, instead swaying elegantly.

“You wanna dance?” Jason asked, noting her stare. He wasn’t necessarily asking her to dance, just asking if she wanted to. He wasn’t a dancer and had avoided ever having to since he started coming to these stupid things.

“Absolutely not.” She rushed out. She tore her eyes from the dance floor looking at him and horror. There was no way in hell she’d make her way over there tonight. “Why? Do you?”

“Fuck no,” Jason laughed out, his eyes widened as he mimicked her horror.

They shared a quick laugh, letting themselves fade into a moment of silence. He tapped the beds of his fingertips together, letting the comfortable yet nagging silence take over. Stealing another look at her, he felt himself stuck staring at her appearance as she let herself bring her attention back to the dance floor. He bit his lip before standing up. He let his hand fall in front of her face, motioning her to take it. She stared at it questionably at first, afraid that he was going to make her go to the place she couldn’t help but stare at.

“Just trust me?” He said, trying not to lose his nerve.

She bit her own lip, cursing to herself before sliding her tongue over her teeth. She grasped her hand into his, letting him led the way for the second time that night. He snuck her to the porch door, not opening it until he was sure no one had been looking at them, especially Alfred. Once they were outside, the cool spring air met them and he kept moving, ditching the party behind them. He still grasped her hand as he led her down the stairs, going slowly down so she wouldn’t trip in her heels.

She let him lead her into the gardens, only stopping when they were far out of sight from the windows and next to a fountain. She looked around confused as to why he took her outside but didn’t totally hate the idea. It had gotten stuffy inside the ballroom and she felt her skin cooling down now that she was outside. Her skin cooling didn’t last long as she felt her face heat up again when she felt Jason’s free hand slip onto her waist, holding it nervously at first but then firmly.

“What are you doing?” She jolted, her hand grasping his forearm of the hand holding her waist. Her instincts told her to rip it off of her but there was an inner voice screaming at her to let it stay. Her heart officially leapt out of her chest when he raised their conjoined hands, putting them in the same stance of those dancing inside. She sputtered out, “I said I didn’t want to dance,”

“And I said you were a bad liar, didn’t I?” He rolled his eyes, hiding his own nervousness with his cool guy demeanor. He swayed them gradually side to side, deciding if he was going to dance with her he was going to at least do it away from the prying eyes of Gotham’s prissy high class.

“There’s no music,” she said trying to make excuses to pull away but his hold on her kept her there.

Jason closed his eyes, letting go of her hand but kept the one on her waist still there; he liked the way it felt. Reaching into his pant pocket he pulled out his phone, clicking the screen to life. His brow furrowed as he looked through his music app, finally settling on a song and hit play, turning the volume up before placing it back into his pocket.

Halley scrunched her nose up as he grabbed her hand again and stared swaying side to side again. The music was somewhat muffled by the fabric of his pocket and the music itself wasn’t even something you’d really dance to the way they were dancing. It was some punk band he played for her sometimes when they hung out in his room while they did homework or just sat there and talked. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the band, she actually liked a lot of the stuff Jason showed her, she just didn’t think it fit into their steps.

Jason knew what she was thinking and scrunched up his own face, not wanting to regret trying this. “Look this is the best I got,” he said started to let his hold on her drop.

She quickly shook her head, suddenly feeling a coldness when his hand left her waist. She grabbed his shoulder with her free hand, removing it from his forearm. She pulled him to her so they stood a little closer. “No, it’s sweat; just not what I expected.” She shrugged.

He laughed, putting his hand back where it had rested, shrugging his own shoulders and pretending to be offended. “Whoa, didn’t know you thought so little of me.”

He was obviously joking but played it pretty well that he wasn’t. Halley saw past it though after a slight second of doubt, letting her hand wrap around his neck to be more comfortable as they let the song finish out. They stood that way for a few more songs before eventually sneaking back into the manor from another entrance.

They went to their separate rooms to change into their pajamas before meeting back up in Jason’s room. Spreading out on his bed, Jason threw on a movie, allowing Halley to make the choice on the original Star Wars even though she’d seen it so many times; she could practically recite the movie. He didn’t mind though, not really paying attention to the screen anyways. He felt himself more concerned with the girl lying next to him with her eyes wide at the screen, as if this was the first time she had seen the film.

He caught himself reaching out to her, just as Luke and Han met Leia for the first time. Halley’s hair had fallen almost in front of her face and she made no move to push it out of the way so he found himself doing it for her. His fingers ran through her hair, brushing it behind her ear before he could notice what he was doing. Halley had frozen, her attention slowly moving away from the screen and too him. Her eyes were wide as she seemed to be processing something. Jason let his hand fall from her hair to the empty spot on the bed next to her. He watched her face, a sense of uncertainty entering the room.

He hadn’t even realized he’d been thinking of her and how pretty she looked tonight and how much he actually enjoyed their time alone outside. He felt the familiar thoughts that had been taking over his head lately return and his wanted to snap himself out of it. He didn’t like her, he kept trying to feed himself, but the way she was staring at him right now started to drown out those thoughts.

“Jason?” her voice pipped up, watching him as he watched her.

She hadn’t known what came over her but felt herself move closer. It was like it was all clicking to her, missing his fingers running through her hair, wishing he’d do it again. She still could feel his hand on her waist, wanting that feeling again. She also couldn’t help but remember their time cuddled up in the library together and the night spent together before that. She felt a tingle run through her system when he responded to her, not bothering to think of a proper response, instead ignoring her head and letting her body take over.

“Yeah-” He asked quietly but found himself being cut off, Halley having no intent on him actually answering her unasked question.

His voice was muffled when he saw her move to him and felt her lips smack against his. It was a pretty rough kiss, seeing as she never kissed anyone before and it was pretty clear she had no idea what she was doing. She quickly pulled away, her face contorting into a scared one. She sat up, apologizing before trying to get off of the bed.

Jason was still thrown off by the sudden action and his reaction time took a while to kick in but when it did, it did. He grabbed her arm, jerking her back down to him as he too sat up. He snaked a hand up to rest around the back of her neck, using it to pull her back down to him. This time he pulled her to him, connecting their lips in a softer kiss. He heard her let out a sound of content and smirked into the kiss, starting to move his lips against hers. She started to move hers as well, easing into it, letting him take the lead and do her best in mimicking his movements.

He pulled her closer until she was practically straddling him, letting his hand rest on her waist again until he started letting it sink down until he let it settle on her hip. Her hands almost mechanically wrapped themselves around his neck, copying what she’d seen in movies as she had nothing else to go off of. Her mind was in a tizzy as he pushed his lips harder against hers, letting out a deep breath as he pulled away for a millisecond before going right back to it, not giving her a second to catch her breath. Halley sighed when the hand resting on the back of her neck inches up into her hair.

She hadn’t known how long they stayed like that, eventually pulling away and taking a break. Neither teen knew what to say, soon finding their lips attached again instead as the movie played on in the background. Out of breathe and hearts racing, Jason quickly threw the next movie on once the credits began to roll. His lips soon finding their way back to hers both teens only had one thought on their minds-

Holy shit.

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