Ficlet: Children of Gotham

[starsandsea]

Title: Children of Gotham
Rating: PG
Characters: Tim, Cass, Ace
Word Count: 599
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Author's Note: For arch_schatten who asked for Tim, Cass and Ace getting caught in the rain. I hope you like it, Mina! Unbetaed, so point and I shall correct. :)



Tim looked up at the sky. Grey, foreboding clouds had gathered, reflected dully in the skyscrapers; in the windows of the Gothic buildings. The gargoyles seemed to be grinning, as fog started to twine about, and Tim smiled to himself.

This was why he loved Gotham. There was simply nowhere else like this in the world, nowhere else you could truly live and love and cry and die. Every other city, every other place seemed fake in comparison, all cardboard sets and peeling paint.

But Gotham was real, would devour your heart and soul and dreams if you let her, and leave you broken and insane, whole and pure if you strayed too far.

Cass was walking silently next to him, people moving around her, out of her way without really realizing, prey reacting unconsciously to a predator amongst them. Tim didn't miss anything with his eyes - there, that man, he was a pickpocket; that woman was selling drugs - and he made mental notes to pay them each a visit later that night.

Cass was doing the same, reading the body language, picking up on things that he was missing, wouldn't be able to see with even years of intense training, reacting to what she saw before the person even realized they were being watched.

They were Bats off duty, but they never truly were, never would truly want to be.

But it didn't stop Cass from looking around curiously, even as she assessed for threats. She had hardly ever seen Gotham from the ground like this, of course. Thinking about it, Tim was surprised by how little he saw Gotham from the ground now, too used to seeing it from above, gliding through the night sky, or blurring around him when he was on his bike or in the Batmobile.

There was a tug on the lead held loosely in his hand - Ace wanted to go into Robinson Park. Cass was angling her body to enter through the cast iron gate in the black railed fence before Ace had even made his request known.

Smiling, Tim allowed himself to be walked into the park, feeling the wind pulling and pushing at him, throwing his hair into disarray, though Cass had it worse than him. It was quieter in the park, which was good - there were too many people on the streets, too many tourists obscuring the real Gotham from view.

The park was real, full of lovers and friends and families and lost souls. Sometimes the tourists came, but they always left quickly, to see something else shiney and dangerous. The trees rustled, some leaves falling. It wasn't Fall yet, but Summer had been non-existent, and Winter was coming early.

They walked under the trees, Ace snuffling at the leaves, pouncing on some of them, and Cass was smiling at them both.

They came out from the avenue of trees to see the reservoir, dully reflecting the sky, and it suddenly began to rain. There were distant shrieks of surprise from the stray tourists, from the people who didn't, and never would understand Gotham, and Tim laughed, feeling himself get drenched already, his hair molding to his face. Cass laughed too, her dark hair clinging to her face in long, thick strands, Ace barking as he joined them.

They were Children of Gotham, who was more real, more broken than anywhere else, who had jagged swords, ready to cut you to pieces at the slightest misstep.

They were Children of Gotham, laughing in the rain, more real than anywhere else in the world.

Comments

[starsandsea.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm really glad you liked it! I had so much fun writing about Gotham and how Tim sees her and Cass and Ace. :)

Thank you for commenting! :)