Chapter Text
“But I don’t wannnaa~”
Alfred raises a singular eyebrow in his direction and I muffle my own laugh against the uncomfortable suit jacket that I’ve been forcibly put into.
(and by forcibly put into I mean it was left out on my bed after breakfast with a note explaining what the gala was and when I should wear it)
The only reason that I did in fact agree to go to another stupid rich people gala, was because it was Percy’s first and the official introductory gala to the public that he was going to have.
B has made it very clear in the media that he wants his youngest son not to be in the public eye as much as possible and very passive aggressive donations have been made towards ‘Protect The Youth’. The foundation which was ironically enough owned by Bruce Wayne himself, but only through a series of other business partners and groups.
Donating money to yourself doesn't even make any sense. However B has stated multiple times that it wasn’t petty, or passive aggressive. To which Alfred raised his eyebrows and continued to dish out tea.
Which means that it so was, but he doesn’t want to admit it basically.
I refocus on the scene in front of me at Percy’s insistent, “But why do I have to wear this one? I want to wear one like Jay is wearing.”
I looked down at myself and then Percy, an exasperated sigh escaping me. “Percy, the only difference between our suits is the color.”
“Exactly! But mine-” he looks down at his own suit for a second trying to recognize the color, “Mine is different colors, why is my clothes and the- the…” he points at the tie.
“I believe they call that a tie, master Percy.”
He brightens, “Why is the clothes, and the.. Tie different colors?” his mouth is careful around the new word, and his mouth shapes it again without sound after his sentence.
I grin conceding to the point, instead laying my gaze on Alfred who’s taken the moment to examine the differences between ours.
“Percy, the suits were made to match your eye color, and your eye colors shift so often they weren’t able to pin one singular color down. I can have a suit made in blue for you if you’d like?” He pauses for a moment, “Actually, I do believe that Master Bruce has in fact ordered a blue suit, it should be in your closet.”
He excuses himself into the closet, but leaves the door open.
Percy scampers next time me, and leaning in with a loud dramatic whisper, “The closet has more clothes than stars in the sky Jay.”
“Does it really?”
He nods his eyes wide, “There’s this many clothes in there Jason. This many” His arms extend to the side as far as he can go.
I muffle a laugh, “there’s more stars outside of the city, jellyfish.” He wrinkles his nose at the nickname but a look of wonder comes over his eyes.
“Alfred! Alfred!”
“Yes, Master Percy.”
He bounces over to the door of the closet, pausing just before the threshold. “Jason said that there’s a million bajillion stars in the sky, but they live outside of the city. Can we go see them?”
Alfred pauses for a moment, his eyes flicking towards me, “A million bajillion is quite a lot of stars.”
My face flushes for a moment, adoration taking over my gaze as I watch Percy lean into whisper to Alfred - his little hands gently tugging on Alfred’s arm.
I lean closer to hear what he’s saying, “Alfred, do you think that you could take me and Jason to see the stars? And could we bake them together? I don’t think that B would want to come because he doesn’t really like me but! Jason is awesome and you’re my favorite so could you take us?”
Slight jealousy runs through me at the ‘ you’re my favorite’ before I see the sly grin on his face when he looks my way.
Alfred also has a clear look of adoration on his face, his eyes sparkling more than normal - only dampening slightly when he says that B doesn’t like him.
“Of course, my dear sir. But first and foremost your suit.”
He pulled off a garment covered hanger off the rack. “I do believe this is the matching set to Master Jason’s.”
Percy is basically vibrating with excitement when he’s handed the suit, he holds it reverently and immediately darts out of the closet. I dodge out of his beeline for the bathroom, stumbling slightly as he slows down. If I ever find the man that messed up his joints-
My heart couldn’t be more full as we wait for him to come out. I can’t imagine what it would be like without him.
“Master Jason, that suit does look quite well on you.”
I grin at Alfred, “Yours does as well, looks like we’ll all be matching tonight.”
Alfred’s own suit has accents of blue stitching, but is overall black in nature. His handkerchief being almost exactly the shade of my own tie.
The turning of the bathroom doorknob catches both our attention, and an almost shy Percy walks out.
“Ooo, Pufferfish that looks nice on you! Give us a spin.” He turns around in a circle, facing us his eyes are the same color as the suit accents - or would be the tie which is mysteriously missing, my little brother .
“Rather nice, Master Percy. We do need to start heading out soon, I will notify Master Bruce that you are both ready to leave.”
Percy has a small smile as he watches him walk out the door, right after if closes he turns to me unfurling the tie, and handkerchief in his hand.
“Jason, I can't wear this.” His voice is tense and stress is evident, every muscle tensed as if waiting for a blow.
I swallow crossing the room to crouch in front of him, making sure to leave a good amount of space in between us. “What’s wrong?”
He gently hands me the handkerchief, his voice a whisper - this time anything but conspiratorial, “I don’t know how to wear this,” I nod taking it in my hand, he swallows looking me dead in the eye, “and I can’t wear this.”
“The- the, the tie.”
His voice quivered for a second, “Aw, jelly bean you don’t have to wear the tie if you don’t want to.”
His face creases at the nickname, “That’s not a sea creature.” His voice is stubborn and his hand comes up to wipe the tears dripping down his face.
“Pretty sure jellyfishes are sea creatures, last I checked jelly bean.” he looks affronted and a sad, wet giggle escapes him.
“You said Jelly bean not jelly fish.”
I search his face, concern mixing with confusion, “ah, well all the same.”
The silence is devastating.
I watch his expression change from sad, to forcibly fine back to sad for a few moments, “Percy you don’t have to wear it, nobody is going to force you.”
His lip trembled, “But I wanna match you.” He burst into tears afterwards and I lean forward slightly - desperate to provide comfort.
He falls forward, allowing me to catch him. I hug him gentle and soft, trying to keep his demons at bay. I fall out of my crouch into sitting on the floor, allowing me to pull him onto my lap.
A few moments later his sobs retreat into muffled hiccups, I brave the question, “Why can’t you wear the tie? Is something wrong with it?”
He pauses for a moment, small gasps still escaping him - “-It,” he sniffs, “It feels like smelly gabe.” He burst into tears right after and confusion explodes, Smelly Gabe?
News headlines from when Percy was originally adopted flash through my brain;
Perseus Jackson, previously under the care of Gabriel Ugliano, has been in a custody fight for the past two weeks. This was just won by none other than Bruce Wayne, who’s stated that he could take better care…
Rage filled me for a second, and I’m careful not to let it show, curling itself into a box that I burned and immediately buried.
I pull him closer to me for a second, gently squeezing him before pulling back to make eye contact, his face is red with tears and it tears at my soul for a second. “I’m sorry, how does it remind you of him?”
My words are careful, fruitlessly combing through the tiny lessons given to me by B about child abuse and its affects.
He hiccups, his eyes downcast - “It feels like it’s choking me.”
I see red.
I take a deep breath staring at the ornamentally carved door behind him. He’s already terrified, don't make it worse.
“Jay?”
Tears burn my eyes.
“Yes, jellybean?”
“I’m sorry.”
My heart shriveled and died, “no, no you don’t need to apologize ever about that okay? It was never your fault.” he crawls back onto my lap burying his face in my suit jacket once more.
His head shakes against my chest, and he lets out a few hiccup gasps.
I wanna match you. My heart burns with affection and I’m struck with an idea no matter how dumb it might be.
“How about this, pufferfish.”
He raises his head, his eyes starting to puff. His eyes are a magnificent storm, a swirling hurricane of emotions.
I raise my hands to my tie pulling it down and off, unbuttoning the top button to make it look more intentional.
“This way we still match, is that okay?”
He pauses for a moment, before giving me a weak but warm smile and nodding. I hum, “Okay, I say lets put on some music and try to nap for a minute, B always takes aggess to get ready so we’ll have a minute does that sound okay?”
He nods pulling back and standing up with a small oof, extending his hand to me - I grin taking it.