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The train rolled away, revealing empty track where the Stalker had laid a moment ago. Terry’s eyes darted around the scene, but no further sign of the racist LARPing poacher appeared. After a minute of standing there wound tenser than a coil, Bruce’s voice said, “I’ll keep an eye out for him. Go to your brother.” and Terry was sprinting before he could even finish his sentence.
He wrenched apart the bars of Matt’s cage and snatched the boy up, careful not to employ the suit’s full strength when holding him tight to his chest, way past caring how strange it was for Batman to be desperately hugging a random civilian child.
“What happened to them?” Matt asked after a second.
“Stalker had some… demons they were running from. I guess they finally caught up with them,” Terry said, his brain scarcely able to focus on something other than Matt long enough to form the sentence. He shifted the boy onto his hip so he could pull away and get a good look at him.
“How are you feeling? Did they hurt you?” he asked, belatedly grateful that the suit’s voice modulator was masking how he’d slipped into using his regular voice.
“I’m fine,” Matt answered. “They said I was just bait. All they did was stick me in a cage and talk about hunting.”
“You’re sure? Even if they only pinched you, you can tell me. You don’t need to go see a doctor at all?”
“No, I’m good,” he insisted evenly. Terry was amazed by how calm the boy was. He would’ve been sobbing by now if their roles were reversed, he was sure. “I just wanna go home.”
“It looks like you’re in the clear. Go ahead and take the night off,” Bruce’s voice suddenly said over comms.
“Okay,” Terry said, feeling some of the manic worry start to drain away. “I’ll take you home,” he adjusted Matt in his grip. “How are you with flying?”
They were halfway home before Terry realized he should at least try to keep up appearances and ask Matt what his address was.
When they arrived Terry snuck them through the living room window, setting Matt down on the couch before noticing how profane it felt to be openly standing in the suit in their own house. He shook off the thought and crouched down in front of Matt.
“Alright, I’ve called your sibling. They were out looking for you but they should be back soon,” Terry said.
“Oh, that’s good,” Matt said, suddenly looking away and squirming a little in that way he always did when he got nervous.
“Matt?” Terry asked, glancing around. What could’ve made him nervous here? “Is something wrong? Has something started hurting? You can tell me. I’ll get you anything you need.”
“No I’m fine, it’s just, um…” he started fidgeting with the fabric of his jeans.
Terry’s worry spiked. He’d been fine with being kidnapped but now he was anxious?
“Matt?”
“Can you… not be here when Terry comes?” he hunched in on himself.
“What?” Terry cried, barely restraining himself from yelling. Why wouldn’t Matt want him around when he came back? Physical impossibilities aside, was Matt worried that Terry would react badly? Get angry, or freak out, or make a scene? Did his little brother really think so poorly of him?
“It’s- um- it’s just that when I was six the cops came and took him away. They didn’t let him come home for three months and I only got to see him once a week. I don’t want you to take him away too…” he admitted quietly.
Terry opened his mouth, but found his throat too choked up to even make a sound. Here Matt was, having just been kidnapped and then rescued by his biggest hero, standing up for his lousy half-there older brother. Terry felt hot tears prick his eyes. It took all of his strength not to break character right then and there.
He coughed to clear his throat.
“It’s very brave of you to say that. Thank you for telling me, I’m sure it must have been hard,” Terry took one of Matt’s small hands in his own, hating the fact that the suit was between them. “It’s okay, though. I’m not a cop. I only stop people who are hurting others, and even then I try and help them, not lock them up. If it makes you feel better though, I’ll leave before he gets here, okay?”
“Okay,” Matt muttered, relaxing back into the cushions. “Is he close yet?”
“Yes. He’s very close. I’ll go now, okay? He’ll be here in a couple minutes,” Terry stood, forcing himself to let go of Matt’s hand and take a step back. “Will you be okay until then?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright,” he returned to the window, pausing just long enough to do one last scan of his baby brother before slipping out into the night, ducked out of view of the window, activated the suit’s invisibility, and circled back to his own window.
Well practiced in sneaking to and from this point, he opened it silently and stepped in, grabbed a change of clothes, shoes and bag, then flew to a secluded spot, changed, stuffed the suit in the bag and ran home. The keypad on the handle felt like it took an entire slagging age to work, but then he was throwing the door open and dashing in with the desperate cry of “Matty!” that he’d been holding back since Max had called him.
He’d barely made it to the living room when a small dark-haired form barrelled into his legs and nearly sent him to the ground.
“Matt! Matty-yah, oh my g-d you’re here,” he sank to his knees, scoping Matt up and squeezing him as tightly as he’d been wanting to since freeing him from that cage. “Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
Matt shook his head silently.
“I was so worried when you went missing. Max was too. I’m so, so, so sorry I wasn’t there.”
He buried his face into Terry’s shoulder.
“Batman said they rescued you from a villain hunter guy, is that right?”
He nodded.
“That must have been schway, huh? Getting to meet Batman?”
He shook his head.
“No? Oh, I’m sorry Matty-yah. Was it scary?”
He nodded, sniffling loudly. Terry noticed that there was a growing wet spot on his shoulder.
“Oh, kiddo,” Terry gave a heartbroken sigh, picking Matt up as his sniffles grew to sobs and moving them to the couch. The brave front had just been a front after all.
“Batman gave me a hug,” Matt said between cries. It took Terry a moment to figure out what he’d said.
“Really? That’s nice of them.”
“But I don’t want hugs from them, I only want hugs from you!” he wailed, his little hands digging painfully into Terry’s side.
“Oh? Okay. Okay, Matty-yah. That’s okay. I’m here. I got you. You’re gonna be okay. Everything’s gonna be okay,” Terry soothed, rubbing circles into the boy’s back and fighting to keep his throat from closing up again. They stayed like that for a while, Matt sobbing in his arms while Terry tried to block out everything but the two of them on this cheap old couch. “Tell you what, I won’t let you go for the rest of the night, okay? You’ll stay right here with me.”
“Okay,” Matt said. He sounded miserable and exhausted. Terry tucked him under his chin and hoped for the Stalker’s sake that they never showed their face around here again. It was too much in this business to hope that they were gone for good, but the pain they’d caused Matt was absolutely unforgivable.
Matt’s breath had long since evened out by the time the door opened once more. Eomma appeared in the room, visible only by the ambient city lights filtering in through the window. She crossed the space in an instant and wrapped the two of them up in her arms.
“Eomma,” he whispered, tears already dripping into Matt’s hair. “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
“Shh, Terry-yah. It’s okay,” she soothed, rubbing circles into his back.
He shook his head silently.
“It’s my- if I had just-”
“Baby, no. Max and Mister Wayne told me all about it. You did the best you could and now you’re both home safe. That’s all that matters, okay?”
Terry opened his mouth to protest, this close to letting the truth spill out (because she didn’t know the full story. It wasn’t fair that she didn’t know. She wouldn’t forgive him so easily if she did) but then Matt stirred in his arms.
“Eomma?” he mumbled, peeking his eyes open just a crack.
She smiled. “Annyeong, Matty-yah. How’re you feeling?”
“Okay.”
“Yeah? Want to talk about it?”
“No. I just…” he yawned. “Can we stay in your room tonight, eomma?”
Her smile turned watery. She reached up and wiped the tears off of each boy’s cheeks. Their eyes pleaded with her and her heart hurt when she saw the lingering fear there.
“Of course,” she placed a kiss on both of their foreheads. “Let’s all stay together tonight. I’ll even call you out of school in the morning. You must be tired.”
Terry managed to muster up a smile.
Later, when the two brothers piled into eomma’s bed without even bothering to change into pajamas, he worried that he would be too wound up to fall asleep. By the time Mary stepped out of the bathroom however, he was out like a light.
He didn’t see the private tears she shed, or the way she lay awake listening to their steady breathing until the early hours of the morning.
That was alright though. Her boys acted so strong all the time. Too strong, if you asked her. After days like this, she needed time to be assured that her babies were still here.