Day 37: Sun Room

[hismastersdance.livejournal.com]

Joe had read some of the larger notes stuck up on the bulletin board when the announcement came on the intercom. All things considered, this Landel guy didn't even seem so bad. Even if these people were held here against their will, he was certainly nice about it.

Apparently, the new patients - including Joe - were to hang around in the Sun Room or go to Arts and Crafts with the kids. Well, there was plenty of information on the board, including maps and descriptions of monsters, for Joe to prepare for the nighttime, when he could seriously get going on fighting his way out. He could look for where the boss would probably be waiting, or where his V-watch might be, and figure out how to fight the monsters. In fact, he had plenty of time to work all that out... but this the first time he'd had to really relax since he got his powers. So it couldn't possibly hurt to enjoy the calm period, could it?

The red-head stepped back from the board, and hopped back onto a comfy-looking couch to digest in the sunlight. He reached up to pull his cap down, and sighed when he realized it wasn't there. "Oh well, nothing's perfect. I still wouldn't call this hell."

[free!]

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[scarletspeedstr.livejournal.com]

"Uh, right," Wally said, thrown off by the apology and Bruce's sudden change from questioning why Wally would want to help ZEX to agreeing that it was his choice to make.

It was, he realised with a start, almost like Bruce was dismissing his offer of assistance. His comment of taking care of finding out more about the clubs on his own, followed by the suggestion that Wally West and Bruce Wayne couldn't afford to be 'involved too much' - whatever that meant - just made it seem all the more obvious.

Batman - Bruce - was trying to distance himself from Wally.

His first thought was why? He hadn't done anything wrong, had he? Sure maybe he didn't know as much as he should have after nearly four days in this place, but gathering information and piecing it all together had never been his strong point. Or did Bruce just think he was wasting time with talking with people and helping them with their problems, when he should have been concentrating on escaping? Then it hit him. He was still thinking of Bruce as his friend and trusted teammate from the Justice League, when this Bruce hardly knew him at all. What reason would he have to trust Wally West, the complete stranger who just walked up to him in the showers? Who had been here for four days and had nothing to show for it except a few injuries?

None, that was what. No wonder he wanted to leave now. From his viewpoint, Wally must have just seemed pretty useless and desperate for someone to talk to. Someone who he could treat as a close friend, despite the fact that they hardly knew each other.

And it hurt because he had a feeling Bruce was right.

"Ba- Bruce, wait!" Wally said as the other man stood, automatically reaching up to grab at his wrist before realising what he was doing and letting go again. "I... I'm sorry. I haven't done as much as I should have here. I should have been trying harder to find out more about this place and to escape."

He looked away, fingers toying with his shirt nervously. "I shouldn't have assumed things would be the same between us when you don't know who I am. So... I'm sorry. And I'll try harder from now on. Just... please. Let me help, okay? I know you don't know me and don't have any reason to trust me really, but I can help out, really. Just let me try."

At the sound of the intercom, the nurses had started moving throughout the room, encouraging patients to start moving towards the cafeteria again for lunch. Wally shifted, picking up his crutch and standing carefully before looking back to Bruce. He nodded mutely at the request. A list of everyone he'd talked to and what he knew would be easy enough after all, even if it did kinda feel like he was being given an easy task on purpose. "I can have it ready for tomorrow," he said carefully. "Or is that too soon?"

The nurses hadn't noticed them yet, so he should at least get an answer to his question before they had to move away.

[gothamnight.livejournal.com]

“Tomorrow’s fine,” Bruce replied automatically. It was a good that the surrounding noise was loud; the Flash had likely had very little experience dealing with the Batman out of costume, and thus was prone to reverting back to “Bats” whenever he wasn’t thinking. Bruce entertained briefly the thought of perhaps warning Wally again of the importance of calling him “Bruce” in this place, but after listening to the man’s unneeded apology and seeing the hurt look on his face, Bruce had a feeling that kind of reminder would just make things worse.

Though the intercom had sounded, and the nurse could be coming any minute...he had to set things straight with Wally before he went.

“You should know I’m not a big fan of talking,” Bruce began, “So I’m only going to say this once.”

He turned around so that his back was towards most people before he dropped his mask. No playful smile to alter the firm set of jaw, no half-lidded scowl to disguise the complete, serious intensity of his focus. Bruce was making a gamble, banking on the fact that Wally could separate Bruce from the Batman, in an effort to secure the man’s trust and assure him of Bruce’s.

“I trust you, Wally,” he said, enunciating each word slowly and carefully, not to condescend but to make sure that the full weight of those words came across.

“I trust you. I don’t know what kind of relationship you had with the other Bruce, but if he’s anything like me, you should understand the significance of that. Things won’t be the same—I guarantee it. But you’ve helped me a great deal already, and the best you can do for me now is take the necessary precautions to protect yourself.”

While Wally did not feel that his secret identity was perhaps in danger, Bruce held no such illusion. Until he could assess fully just how many people thought that Bruce Wayne was Batman, and what kinds of people were around who might try to exploit that knowledge for their own purposes, Bruce needed to be careful with who he associated with and how long—not only but especially if that person was important to him. Surely Wally understood that, and even if he didn’t...he’d have to learn to trust Bruce not to let his personal feelings or emotions get in the way of his decisions.

“As for ‘trying harder’...I may ask a lot of you in the coming days, but that doesn’t mean I’m always right. I meant it when I said you have the right to choose what you want to do with your time, and in what way you want to save people. The Batman has one way of doing things; the Flash has another. You’ve a right to your beliefs, and I’ve a right to mine.”

Bruce paused, thinking of Clark, and remembering all the arguments they’d had over generally everything—especially ideology. Perhaps he had Clark to thank now, for teaching him that people as different as they could also learn to work together, so long as they had a shared goal and shared sacrifice.

“But that doesn’t mean we can’t work together.”

A nurse had finally noticed them, and as she came closer, all the sincerity and determination in Bruce’s expression faded and was replaced by a blank, pleasant smile. He waved a bit at the Flash and began to walk away before he seemed to remember something and turned abruptly around again.

“Is it okay if I meet you in the showers again tomorrow?” he called out. In the end, it was Wally alone that Bruce really trusted to see him in the showers right now, what with the scars and all.

"Just in case, you know, I don't meet my redhead quotient for the day."

[scarletspeedstr.livejournal.com]

The presence of the nurse meant that Wally couldn't talk too much beyond anything that would have been considered 'normal' for two patients that had just met each other, but to be honest, there wasn't a lot he could think to say in response to Bruce at the moment. Sure, he'd always known that his Bats trusted him - trusted him to do the job asked, to handle himself in a fight and not to screw things up too badly - but this was a Bats that didn't know him at all really, so hearing that from him... it meant a lot.

"...thanks," he said, and though he was still uncertain, his smile was genuine enough. "I'll keep that in mind."

He leant more on his crutch and began to follow the nurse as well, but paused when Bruce spoke again. The question was light and friendly despite the implications, so Wally smiled again, doing his best to seem like someone who'd just made friends with charismatic Bruce Wayne and hadn't just spent the last shift trying to figure out how the Batman had gotten here and how they were going to work together.

"I don't think we'll be having showers tomorrow," he said with a shrug. "Like I said, it's been nearly four days for me and this is the first chance I've had to get cleaned up. Might be better just to run into each other at lunch or something."

The mention of lunch got an insistent rumble from his stomach, so Wally gave a vague wave in Bruce's direction and set off for the cafeteria, where he was certain there would be a tray of hamburgers and hotdogs with his name on it somewhere.