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Chapter 13: Final Act

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Exclusive Interview by Laurie Lester with Jason and Tim Drake-Todd - Excerpt

LL: It’s been such a wild three months for you two! How has life been treating you since the Bloom?

JDT: It’s been pretty good, Laurie. 

TDT: We’re always so busy, though. I mean, Jason’s got his shooting schedule and I’ve always got my work, which is full time and a half at the moment.

JDT: But, you know, we make the time. When it’s important enough, you just make the time as you go.

TDT: That’s true, we do. We always seem to manage.

LL: That’s super sweet! You say you don’t get much time, but you have been on dates, yes? He was your date to the Robin premiere, isn’t that right Jason? Was that your first date?

JDT: First official one, yeah. 

LL: And what kind of dates have you been on since then?

TDT: Oh, you know. Restaurants, plays, long walks. I know your audience is expecting a glamorous array of delights but once we’re away from the glitz we’re actually the most boringly conventional couple you can imagine. We talk about everyday stuff and spend most of our time finding out what we have in common, just like everyone else.

JDT: Honestly, I know it isn’t a sexy answer, but I actually prefer it that way. I don’t need private yachts and three thousand dollar bottles of Cristobal. That’s more B’s speed, and really, not that much anymore these days anyway. I’m a stay at home, cuddle on the couch and watch TV type.

TDT: Me too. Like I said, points in common.

LL: Speaking of Bruce Wayne, how did your meeting with the family go, Tim?

JDT: Oh my god…

TDT: Jason!

JDT: Him and Bruce get along like a house on fire! They’re BOTH obsessive workaholics with insane perfectionist standards. I’m pretty sure B is drawing up adoption papers as we speak.

TDT: Shut up, he is not!

JDT: Baby, we ALL know he thinks he missed out on a kid in his chain of adoptions 

LL: So Tim’s one of the family now?

JDT: Tim’s the damn favorite son!

TDT: I am not, oh my god, stop spreading such lies. I do like to talk to Bruce, though. He’s kind of a fascinating character up close and personal and I have always liked his movies.

JDT (stage whisper): Favorite. 

TDT: You’re on thin ice, wise guy.

LL: Speaking of families, have you heard about Jack Drake finding his soulmate?

TDT (chokes): WHAT? Uh, no, actually, I hadn’t. I don’t really keep track of the Drakes. What happened?

LL: The story goes he threw his back out on a dig in Morocco and ended up going to San Fran for treatment? Apparently he Bloomed with his physiotherapist, a… Dana Winters? It was all over the news...

JDT (breaks into laughter): Well what do you know. There is such a thing as karma!

TDT: Wow, that’s… well, it was always a possibility, I guess. And stranger things have happened.

JDT: I wonder how Janet’s taking it?

LL: Do you think that might be a death knell for their marriage?

TDT: Honestly? They might all work it out between them. My parents had a… lot of problems with me, but I can tell you this; they loved each other. Just as much if not more than any Matched pair. If the love is there, people tend to work it out. I’m not just talking about soulmates either. Love of all kinds sustains us in all kinds of ways. Forget soulmates, what are any of us without the love of our family and friends?

JDT: Hear, hear. 

LL: You don’t bear the Drakes any ill will, then, Tim?

TDT: I doubt whether I’ll ever really be in contact with them ever again, if that’s what you’re asking. There’s way too much history there for me to go back. More than that, I just don’t want to. It’s not so much as ‘no ill will’ and more like ‘who cares’? Who are Jack and Janet to me now? No one. No one and nothing. I have all the family I could want or need. If they work it out or if they don’t, all I can say is it’s not really my business one way or the other. I look after me and mine. Always have. Always will.

JDT: Love you too, Baby Bird.

LL: You’re such a well matched pair. Romance goals for a lot of our audience. Will there, perchance, be a handfasting on the cards in the distant future?

JDT: Distant future? We do have a handfasting booked at the Manor but I wouldn’t consider two months to be all that distant into the future, myself.

TDT: JASON!

LL (chokes): WHAT?!

 

From: Steph :)))))))

TIM I JUST GOT MY HANDFASTING INVITE SAMPLES IN THE MAIL WHY DOES IT SAY WE’RE INVITED TO A HANDFASTING AT WAYNE FREAKING MANOR???

From: Steph :)))))))

DON’T YOU DARE IGNORE ME, DRAKE!

From: Steph :)))))))

TIM DRAKE YOU ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW!

From: Steph :)))))))

TIM?????

Notes:

Aaaaaaand done. I know, I know, no big romantic meeting. That was the corner I kind of painted myself into; when you're telling a story about the start of a romance through texts and messages, you can't actually have them meet on-screen! I could have written out the scene in prose but outsiders POV and talking via social media and the news was the format I picked and I wanted to stick to it. I still kind of like it, even if I didn't get the big moment (sigh). Feel free to write your own ;)

The Junkyard School was based on a real school: Free School Under the Bridge. It's a school for kids living in deep poverty in Delhi, started in 2006 by a grocery shop owner. It offers free tuition classes to poor kids with scarce resources who also go to government run schools so they can get extra support, offers meals and doesn't accept corporate sponsors. It also is a bit inspired by the Adult Literacy League and other programs like it, who help people to discover the joy of words and empower through knowledge.

It also owes a spiritual debt to the hundreds of thousands of homeless youth shelters all over the world who work to get kids out of bad situations and get them the support they need to thrive. I was pretty sure that Gotham, edging ever over the abyss of dystopia with a canonically egregious rich-poor gap, would almost certainly have a place like the Junkyard School, and Jason Todd would have certainly gone there at some point.