Chapter 9

Warmth was the first thing I noticed. Was I being carried by Bruce? Alfred? I don’t know, but it was a warm feeling snuggled up in my blanket. We watched a movie, and I had fallen asleep. I woke up to the stars on the ceiling in my room, and I got out of my bed in excitement. Today was the first day of December. I was so excited because this year I have an inventory and can create a Christmas present in secret for Bruce, Dick, and Alfred, but I tilted my head as I was standing in my bathroom brushing my hair. What should I give them? Bruce and Alfred would be hard. Both are adults, and Bruce is a millionaire? Or was it a billionaire? I don’t remember, but he is capital R for RICH, so there is not much I can make him that he could not make himself or buy, so it has to be something more sentimental or with a great attachment.

I went down and found Alfred in the kitchen as early as ever and greeted him before sitting down at the kitchen table. I was so inside my own head thinking that I only noticed the food that was placed in front of me when Alfred tapped my shoulder.

“Master Leo, what seems to be the problem?" Alfred said this in a concerned tone.

“Oh… eh... Erm...” I didn't know if I wanted to tell him and let it be a surprise, but I wouldn’t be able to get them anything by myself, and I was too afraid to go to Gotham alone. Even if that were possible, no one would allow an unsupervised child to walk around in a city all alone, so I would need help anyway.

“I was thinking of getting everyone a Christmas present,” I said, and I could see how Alfred lit up with a bright smile and said,

“That’s a wonderful idea. Leo, do you have any ideas for what you want to do?” I shook my head. I had no idea, but I figure something out.

"Nope, no idea,” I said, popping the P.

"Hmm,” Alfred hummed to himself, getting a thinking face as he watched the sealing. Who would know Bruce and Dick better than Alfred? I thought to myself as I watched him, then to my food, then back at him as I took the first bite out of the sandwich; it was cheese and ham. Alfred finally got done thinking; my sandwich was half eaten as he looked at me and, made a face, and looked on the floor around my chair. He sighed, took my head in his arms, and turned my head gently around to the kitchen table.

“Leo, How many times have I told you to eat OVER the kitchen table when you eat?” I shrank my head down a bit as I took another bite over the table and watched some bread crumbs fall on the table. Alfred pushed my chair closer to the table so it would be easier to eat over the table as he sat down on a chair beside me.

"Well, while you eat, let’s go over some ideas for presents. You can always draw a picture, create a Christmas card, make something like a picture frame or ornament, we could cook something like a cake or cookies, personalize a mug he drinks for an entire team when working,” I heard Alfred mumble the last bit.

“Hmm. Maybe a handwritten letter would be nice to give him.” Alfred said it with a final nod.

and I like the ideas, but hmm, the mug idea would be funny to say something like [Worlds Best Dad Bat] or something. I chuckled to myself. I learned how to make ceramic in my previous life, and a month to make it would probably work, but I had no tools, so that idea was out, but maybe buy one? Do they even have a company that sends items? I wondered and opened my shop system, but closed it before I could get any ideas I needed to save my points. I would not drag it out any longer by using them now, so back to the drawing board. Hmm, maybe a scrapbook with a ton of pictures of us all. I can maybe get one of those cameras that prints the picture. Hmm, that could work, and that’s when it hit me. I can say I want to take pictures to show my mom and dad, but in secret, it’s to make a picture book for them. I beamed. This will be fun now to just get the camera, hmm, I thought to myself as I finished my breakfast.

"Erm, Alfred,” I said as I pushed myself from the kitchen table and jumped down on the floor.

“Do… do we have one of those camera thingies that prints out a picture?” I said while shuffling my legs as Alfred turned around from the kitchen after he finished cleaning the counter.

“Do you mean a Polaroid camera?” I tilted my head to the side.

“erm maybe?” I said, tilting my head to the other side.

“Why do you want one of those?” Alfred said it with curiosity.

“I want to take lots of pictures and show mom and dad,” I said with a bright smile, and I really did want to show them what I have been up to. Who would believe me without hard evidence? And I would definitely want family photos to put in my room of my time with the Bat family, I thought to myself.

“That’s a wonderful idea. Leo, bring me your plate so I can clean it, then we can go and look for a camera for you to use,” he said with a chipper tone. I quickly took my plate over to Alfred so he could clean it and I could start my devilish idea to taking family photos.

Alfred took me to the storage room to look for the camera, and I helped... by giving support from the back, because Alfred doesn’t like it when someone messes with his organization. It took him a while to find one, but it was too old and damaged, so he said he would get a new one, and as many photos as I could ever want it made me really happy. I had no idea how to use one, and I had forgotten that they needed those big picture frames. As it would take a few days before the new camera came in, he took out the old Polaroid camera from storage and cleaned it before using it to demonstrate how to use it to me, and he let me play with the old one as it was no longer functional. The camera looked very old. Maybe they had used this to take pictures of Bruce when he was a kid. I thought to myself as I took it to my room to figure out how it works without picking it apart, as I had no knowledge of how to put it back together.

It was a few days later that the new Polaroid camera came, and I was excited. I had only seen them on TV and had actually never used one. Alfred helped me set it up, and when it was done, he took the first picture of me. For the picture, I had my Batman shirt on me with comfortable black sweat pants, because who in their bloody mind would not wear comfortable clothing when at home? looking metaphorically at Alfred and Bruce, both dressed really well when at home. After Alfred took the picture, I walked over, wanting to see the first ever picture of my new Polaroid camera, but I was disappointed. It takes around 15 minutes for the picture to appear, so until then, he walked me over to the box where the camera came in and handed me the box with all the photo cartridges, or whatever you would call them, which I could store in the inventory. I tried picking up the box, but it was too heavy. It must have been like 100 to 200 worth of pictures in it, so Alfred put the box on the floor, and I had to put one at a time inside my inventory. You are supposed to keep them in a fridge until you were going to use them, but my inventory is a cheat, so I could skip that step. When we were done with putting everything away, Alfred pulled out the picture and showed it to me, and it looked really good. I was so excited to take pictures of everyone. Alfred told me to take a picture of him first so I could learn how to use it, and I was already going to take a picture of him, so it lined up perfectly with what I wanted.

The rest of the weeks leading up to Christmas were fun. I took pictures of everyone and got some group photos, and with some help from Alfred and Bruce, I got what I needed to make my secret picture book. I expected they already knew or had figured it out, but I can always hope it was fun. I took pictures of everyone and got some group photos, and with some help from Alfred and Bruce, I got what I needed to make my secret picture book. I expected they already knew or had figured it out, but I can always hope it was now the 25th of December, and the day I finally waited for, I wrapped my present all by myself. and please ignore the first few attempts because I wanted it to be perfect, so I had to rewrap it several times to get it just how I wanted it. I miss YouTube. How am I supposed to wrap it like a professional without following a step-by-step guide? I have superpowers, but art and craft are well beyond my capabilities. No one would expect me to have an adult mind from watching my drawings; they all looked like stick figures.

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I walked… and totally did not run down to the living room, and there was the Christmas tree Alfred had gotten, a really big one. or was I just that small? Oh well, I had gotten to help decorate the bottom of it. Dick had gotten the middle part, and Alfred got to decorate the top while Bruce was drinking coffee and watching us do it. It was filled with presents. I knew Bruce was rich, but there was a mountain of them. Where had they hidden those presents? I mean, I had not looked, but wow. Alfred came in and watched me watch the tree and presents with stars in my eyes. It never gets old opening presents. I wonder what tradition the Wayne family has. In my old world, we would not get to open our presents to after around 6-7 p.m., and the adults would always drag it out. Much frustration had been displayed by us kids at those times.

Alfred got my attention by clearing his throat, and I turned around to see him standing there with a smile and a small Santa hat on his head.

“Merry Christmas, Master Leo."

Merry Christmas, Alfred.” I smiled and gave Alfred a Christmas hug.

"Well, someone is in Christmas spirit today." I nodded my head.

“Do you have an extra Santa hat? I want one,” I said, and Alfred chuckled and handed me one from behind his back. That sly fox, did he guess I would want one too?

"Thanks,” I said as I put it on, and it fit perfectly. I wondered if I should tie some bells to the end of the hat to make it jingle.

I had to wait for another hour before Dick and Bruce came, and we all ate breakfast together. Alfred had gone all out and made a really nice spread of Christmas-themed food, and after we got done eating, we all went into the living room to open the presents.

But that’s when a loud beeping sound came from Bruce. It was a small device; it was not a phone. Could it be a Justice League communicator? I could only guess, but the frown on Bruce's face told me it was not good news as he ran out of the room toward his study and disappeared. Both me and Dick looked confused as Alfred spoke up.

"Well, guess crime; don’t even sleep on Christmas day,” he said with a sigh. I had been so excited to show Alfred, Bruce, and Dick my present, but then some stupid criminal had to go and destroy it by doing crime.

"Well, I guess we have to do the present opening without Bruce,” Alfred said.

“No!” I said, and Alfred and Dick looked at me.

“I want to wait for Bruce to come home.” Alfred and Bruce looked at one another.

“I want to wait for Bruce, Dick also said. Alfred gave us a bright smile.

“You are good kids,” Alfred said, and he gave us a hug. Dick squirmed a bit, I think, from embarrassment.

We turned on the TV when Alfred got a message from Bruce with an update on what was happening. We both looked over at Alfred for an update on what was happening, and he sighed.

“Lex Luthor is at it again; of all people, he is attacking on Christmas day. What is that man thinking?” Alfred said it in a disappointed voice.

Dick took the controller from me and swapped to the news channel, hoping to get an update on what was happening. I lightly punched Dick on his arm for not asking before taking the controller, and he just rolled his eyes at me, and soon the news started up.

“We are here live at the scene at Metropolis where Superman is fighting Lex Luthor. My name is Lois Lane, and I am reporting live as the story unfolds.” On the TV, Lois was in a helicopter, and Superman was fighting Lex while some sort of device was protected by a force field, and some people were there; they were too far away for me to guess who they were, but most likely some type of villain. The fighting was exciting, but knowing it was real and Bruce was going to be there fighting made it so much more real. In comics, the good guys always win, but when you are here, you don’t have that guarantee, so we all sat at the edge of our seat, as the fighting to stop whatever this doomsday weapon was before it was going to go off.

It took the entire justice league a while, but they stopped the device and saved Christmas. But the cleanup and arresting the criminals took a while, and Bruce did not come back until later at night. It was around 8 p.m. when Bruce came out of his office, and we had all been waiting for him. Me and Dick ran up to him, I with a big hug and Dick wanting to get the inside scoop on what happened.

Bruce gave a brief summary of what happened: Lex Luthor had created a weapon to kill Superman. No surprise there; it was a device that would block out the sun in an area around Metropolis and give off green kryptonite radiation to weaken Superman, but the device had not activated correctly as he had been betrayed by one of the other villains. Not even them wanted to fight the Justice League on Christmas Day, so they collectively betrayed him and got away, and only Lex Luthor got apprehended.

Now that Bruce was finally home, we could open the presents. I pulled on Bruce's arm for him to follow us to the living room. He gave us a slight smile and followed, and was surprised.

“You have not opened your presents?” Bruce said

"No, Sir, Master Leo and Master Dick wanted to wait for you to come home so you could open the presents together as a family.” After Alfred said that, I could see Bruce give a big smile, and he gave me and Dick a big hug. Dick squirmed again, but I gave him a big hug back.

After we broke up the hug, it was time to give out the presents. I turned around and pointed to Alfred.

“Alfred gets to be Santa; he got the hat." I said it with my hands on my hips. Alfred chuckled

“As you wish, Master Leo,” Alfred said.

Alfred would read the present and then give it to whoever it belonged to. The person would open the present, then the next, then the next until everyone was done. I got everything from crayons to electronic video games. It was so much that I even got superhero posters of everyone in the Justice League. I would ask Alfred to help me set them all up in my room. I put most of the stuff inside my inventory, so only Dick had a pile of presents. The only present I was still hugging was a stuffed chibi Batman doll that Alfred had gotten me; it was almost as big as me.

It’s now the perfect time to pull out my present.

“Bruce, Alfred, and Dick.” I said the dick part with a sigh, like I had said it like Bruce, Alfred, and extra. It was funny.

“Hey! Why do you say my name like that?” Dick said. I only answered by smiling and sticking out my tongue.

“No fighting on Christmas." Alfred said I pointed at Bruce and said,

“But he fought Lex Luthor." Child logic for the win

“That’s not the same, and you know it, Master Leo." I sulked for a few seconds before I remembered why I got their attention.

"Oh, yeah, I got a present for you all,” I said with a smile. I pulled out the present from my inventory with a

“Tada!” and handed it to Bruce. When they opened it, they could see a leather-covered drawing book, and when they opened it, there were several pages of pictures. On the first page, there was a picture of us all together with drawings all around the pictures, and under the picture, it said FAMILY in different colors, all done in crayon. It’s my book of wholesome doodles and glued-on pictures. I had a lot of fun doodling in the book. I almost got found out a few times, but I think they would like it. They flipped through the book with smiles on their faces. Dick saw this and walked over to see what it was they were looking at. When they were done, they turned to me.

“This is a wonderful gift, Master Leo. Thank you very much." Alfred said

"Yes, it's a very good gift." Bruce said that and gave me a hug.

This was a very fun Christmas, and as I went to bed, I pulled out my black book, and opened it to the first page, and wrote Lex Luthor under the first name in the book. It's on my list of people I want to mess with in the future. So far, it’s only two, but I guess the list will grow in the future. The only reason the Ventriloquist is not on here is because Batman already punched him in his stupid face.

Black book

[ ] James Sullivan (Monster’s Inc.)

[ ] Lex Luthor

I put away the book, and pulled my Batman plushie closer, and went to sleep. It's now only a bit over 4 months until I can go home, I thought to myself.