Melted Gold

Grounded

Things started off slowly, it seemed, nightmares didn't just end when you found a comfortable bed. Jack was used to them, and so was Bruce, but these nightmares were something different. Bruce no longer saw his parents or heard the shot of the gun, he felt cold metal at his back and the sharp pain of needles. Jack saw hanging dead things and the smell of rot coming off the bodies of friends.

Jack would wake and tiptoe into Bruce's room, the first night it happened he had stood in the doorway like a small child. Bruce barely slept on a good day so it hadn't taken long for him to invite the other man into his bed. They had lay awake for some hours, whispering quietly of what kept them awake. Bruce spoke about his time in the prison, things he could remember and Jack told him about Hatter. Bruce whispered stories of his parents and Jack told Bruce that he didn't quite remember his, except for the pain his father caused. They continued their tales until Jack slowly fell away and left Bruce laying there watching him.

He was bewitched by the porcelain skin and relaxed face, without the horror movie grin, Jack looked much younger. Asleep, the man almost resembled a doll, green hair curled tightly against his head, delicate looking hands and sharp cut face. He wanted to reach out and touch but he didn't want to risk waking the man. Bruce fell asleep to the sound of soft sighs and sleepy giggles.

Jack continued this after every nightmare, three days later he didn't bother going to his own bed. He changed in his own room and then would sneak his way into Bruce's where they would sit up for as long as they were able. They felt like children, trying to keep awake to chase away the pain, seeing who would succumb first to sleep. Jack lost most nights, Bruce's insomnia was hard to beat, and there were times where Jack would wake up to the feeling of a warm body pressed tight against his back. When morning came, Jack would detangle himself from Bruce's hold and go find Jason.

The Manor was more and more beautiful the closer Christmas got, not that it didn't take Jack's breath away before, but the décor was magical. There were trees in all the main areas, the largest in the grand entrance, reaching up to the ceiling and trimmed in delicate glass and silver. Tinsel danced around banisters and railings, beautiful colored globes hung from the ceiling, looking like bubbles of glitter and snow. The smell of pine was soft in the air, spritzed into the branches of the fake tree to keep the illusion. On top of the tree was a star made of delicate glass, nothing needed to make it shine as it reflected the twinkling of the lights in limbs of the tree.

Each room held its own charm, but his favorite was the private sitting room, a simple tree stood bare and ready to be decorated, the boxes hidden under the branches. Jack could see stockings and ribbons with tinsel and long forgotten decorations made by children now grown. Jack touched the branches of the tree and looked up at the top of it, he had destroyed the tree in City Center and the Malls all around Gotham but he didn't remember ever decorating one.

"Jack?" Jason stepped up to him, yawning and rubbing his eyes, "It's too early."

"Then go back to bed, stupid," Jack huffed and watched the boy sit on the couch and collapse in to it. Jack rolled his eyes and pulled the blanket off the sofa nearby and flipped it open, settling it on to Jason. The boy barely moved, slipping his feet up and settling in again and Jack stepped back and sat down on the sofa, watching the boy sleep.

"Jack?" He looked up and saw Richard step inside the sitting room and eyed Jason laying on the couch, "Think he's actually out?"

"Probably, but if not he's lived in a whore house so whatever you have to say can't be worse than that," Jack grinned and motioned the other to take a seat. Richard nodded and moved to the couch, lifting Jason's feet so he could sit and let them fall back into his lap, "What do you want, kid?"