Chapter Text
Bring your kid to work day.
That's when the first domino was placed.
Thomas Wayne walks with his hands in the pockets of his suit, half listening to his lawyer, he's rambling about both of their sons following in their footsteps, and how little Harvey should make friends with Bruce.
Or that's what Thomas got stuck thinking about, Mr Dent is speaking of finances now, but Thomas can't help but think of Bruce, his son.
He's some steps ahead of him currently, skipping as he looks around, trying to see above the door handles of the labs to check inside them through the windows, but being too short to do so yet, the curse of being six.
His six-year-old son, regardless of which private activity he sends him to, be it a sport like football or a skill like piano; masters it, but he comes back with no friends his age.
"They just aren't interesting" he had said once during dinner, ominous since he had been playing with a Rubik's cube at the time, which Thomas doesn't remember getting him.
And he may insist he's right, but what does a six-year-old know?
"Mr Wayne" Dent snaps him out of his thoughts "I have asked you a question twice already, and you responded with "mhm" both times, which makes me feel like you're not listening!" Thomas shrugs "Maybe it's because I'm indeed not listening"
Dent stares at him, Wayne corrects himself "I'm sorry, Mr Dent, I'm just not in the headspace to understand your law talk, care to give me a summary of the last ten minutes?"
Dent corrects his tie "The 'GothamForScience' association is asking for more funding, a year ago we granted a surplus, and now they are going to ask for more every year, like I told you they would, and I was explaining to you how irresponsible your spending has been"
Thomas rolls his eyes "Don't talk as if donations are a shopping spending spree, they're a necessity... and a tax reduction" That gets a laugh out of Dent, they make a turn and go up one of the many flights of stairs in the building. They do not remember calling out to the boy skipping down the hallway.
The First domino is pushed.
Just in time for Bruce to see a metal box used to carry materials on the floor, in front of one of the doors, he gets on top of it and watches from the window as a trail of dominoes in complicated patterns fall on one another, sometimes separated with playing cards, when it finally ends by toppling a domino into a bucket, he hears a cheer from inside the room.
A tall brunette man comes into view, he has a surgical mask with a thin red smile painted on with a pen, he goes over to the bucket while putting gloves on, and picks up a half-melted and bubbling domino, he turns around and catches something from the corner of his eye.
When the man looks over to the window, Bruce is already crouched down and out of view.
A chuckle. "Well Well"
Bruce carefully puts one foot down, trying ,not to make a noise, which is proving to be difficult since the bucket insists on squeaking when he moves his weight around.
He goes to put the other one down, with his hands on the door for support, when it opens wide, sending Bruce forward, and falling on his hands and face in front of green sneakers.
"If it isn't the little Wayne...lost like always, kid?"
Bruce looks up at the masked man, he focuses and tries to remember, but can't put his finger on who this is.
"The silent type? You're known for getting lost around whenever your dad brings you" meaning he doesn't know this man, which is good, he has never forgotten a face and doesn't want to lose the title. "But I thought I heard you were also talkative, guess that part was wrong"
Bruce waits for a second and finally gets the hint the man isn't moving to help him, so he stands up and dusts off his pants, he's surprised the floor of a lab is quite dirty and looks up at the guy. "I'm fine by the way, thanks for asking"
The man laughs silently, judging by his shoulders moving up and down, "Or maybe it wasn't, let's see" his mask falls off for a second from one of his ears, leaving it hanging from the other, he has a prominent scar on each side of his mouth going slightly upwards, like a permanent smile, he quickly puts it back on, his voice gets higher with each word "You wanna play around the lab before I take you to your dad and ask for a raise for finding you?"
Bruce huffs, uncaring for it but remembering the man's face, he opens his eyes wide in interest when being offered to look around the lab, he nods, and immediately gets inside quickly "Yes I do sir", just in case the guy changes his mind.
"Call me Jay, you make me feel old, and don't touch anything that's an unnatural colour, or any liquid whatsoever, or my sandwich!" Bruce walks around the lab curiously, analyzing in silence the bottles and caged objects, and after a while, he stops in his tracks, his eyes catching something shiny, he stands in front of it.
"What is it?"
"A bacon and cheese one, extra lettuce"
"No, this thing" Bruce grunts.
"You are so specific and helpful!" Jay cheers sarcastically, clapping once
Not a liquid, black isn't an unnatural colour, and definitely not a sandwich, Bruce picks up the shiny black square.
"Oooh, that, well that's a component with a large name you won't remember, it's quite useless if not paired with something else, but it stands out at least"
Bruce inspects it closer to his eye "And what does it do when it gets paired?"
Jay walks over to Bruce and sits on the countertop nearby. "If it's something cold, it can be fuel, and make old stuff that normally need coal work even better than before...But with something hot?"
Jay takes the cube from Bruce's hand, he puts in a bit of a fight but eventually lets go.
"...it explodes, it's an ugly explosion, so we can't use it for fireworks" he tosses the cube from one hand to another like a baseball.
Bruce furrows his eyebrows "So, if paired with something cold it's energy, but with something hot, it's like a TnT? though, I'm surprised you get to use it in a rundown lab, judging by the dust, and both could be deadly if used right" Jay stares at him.
"...a future scientist are you, uh, and that's a dark first conclusion for a- how old are you?" He asks.
"...seven and a half" he lied.
Jay crouches at eye level with the kid "Right, well Brucie, runaway at seven and a half, I think I should take you to your dad already, how's that sound?"
Bruce's eyes shoot wide open "...how do you know my name?"
Jay laughs, falling a bit forward onto his knees in surprise, Bruce stares scandalized "Kid, I told you; you are famous around here, actually, last time you got lost someone almost got sued and accused of stealing you, so you made the news Mr celebrity"
Bruce looks at the ground "...I didn't mean to make trouble, I just wanted to see the morgue"
Jay smiles, ruffling his hair even though Bruce protests "You are dark, kid, but fun" he stands up, dusting off his knees "Now, let's go before I get sued"
To say that Thomas Wayne was panicking was an understatement, not only had he lost the kid again, he lost him in a chemical lab, and he was so distracted by having to actually pay attention to Dent and the meeting, that he didn't even know WHEN he lost Bruce.
Did he slip away before entering the meeting room? During? Before they even entered? When? Where? Was he even in the building anymore?
When Dent noticed, after being the one against bringing Bruce the escapist to the labs in the first place, he gave Thomas ten minutes to find Bruce before he called Martha, or even worse somehow, Alfred. Thomas shivers.
Two people come up the stairs behind him "There he is, Mr Wayne~!" Thomas turns around annoyed, he's in a hurry, and about to tell off the young scientist who had asked for funds last year, only to blow it in failed experiments and to try and unionize the workplace. He should fire him, but then he spots the boy next to him.
"Bruce! Get here this instant, I've told you to stop doing that!' Bruce walks up to his father "Doing what?" Thomas sighs.
Jay stretches his arms up "Well, that's that, if you ever need a babysitter, I'm in! Plus I need a raise"
Thomas ruffles Bruce's hair and looks at the masked man "...no to the raise, but how come you would babysit him? Most people tell me Bruce is too much to handle, did he behave for once?" the kid goes to bite the hand on his hair, but Thomas pulls it away.
"Yeah, he liked the explosive cube, so he was chill, right little guy?"
Bruce looks at the man, then at his father, who's already horrified.
"He's interesting, I'm entertained"
Thomas sighs, and Jay laughs "He's so serious it's funny"
He looks at the brunette, softly holding Bruce by the neck "You're the first to think so, give me your contact, I'll think about IT- BRUCE! Don't bite me!" Bruce crosses his arms, and the adults exchange numbers and negotiate the possible extra donation to the program (no) as Dent arrives and Bruce is entertained by running around him, by the end the lawyer is dizzy and Bruce is tired enough to sleep later,maybe.
When they get to the car, Bruce looks out of the window and to the labs, blue and red lights blind his face for a second, he plans on ignoring it, but he hears Jay's laughter, and when he looks behind them, a different and bulkier scientist is getting arrested.
The officer speaks fastly "Jonathan Crane you are under arrest for the theft and creation of illegal chemicals"
The man shouts "They aren't illegal if I'm inventing them! let me go!"
Jay keeps on laughing, holding his stomach, as other scientists also see the arrest look mortified "HAHA! You tell 'em, Crane" the man grunts as he gets inside the police car. "Shut the fuck up Jay, you were supposed to look out!"
"I have no clue what you mean, I revoke that accusation!" The window is rolled up quickly, and Bruce turns to his father, he's on his phone with a worried look, but not noticing the scene.
Alfred chimes in as he starts the car. "Don't look at that, it's none of our business, Master Bruce"
Bruce disagrees but says nothing, just nods.
"Alfred, drive to the GPD, I need to talk with Gordon" Alfred nods and drives away, Thomas doesn't pay attention, and Bruce sneakily opens the window again and gets his head out the window to look back, Jonathan Crane is driven away in a police car, which is about to be intercepted to free him minutes later, Jay waves at Bruce and he waves back.