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I heard it.
We always invited Charlie to play video games with us, but he never came, no matter how many times I knocked. Dad told me one day Charlie just needed some time.
I gave him that until tonight.
I couldn’t help it, passing by his door after getting some milk from the kitchen. My buddies were asleep in my room, but Batman was all alone in his. Mom and Dad put him down the hall from me, his own room.
I started to knock, but decided not to since he never answered. I opened the door, and the light from my flashlight bled inside.
He sat on the bed.
He had his arms wrapped around his legs, and my chest hurt seeing him. I missed him so much. “Batman?”
He turned to me real slow. Like he was a robot, and the cogs needed oil. His legs lowered when I came in the room, and when I sat on his bed, his lips lifted a little.
“Hey, Robin,” he said, his smile put on. It was like he was trying to do it for me. “You still up?”
I nodded, turning my flashlight off. I looked at him. “You?”
He laughed for some reason after I said that, a really small laugh. It made my chest hurt again. He tilted his head at me. “Want me to tuck you in?”
He had in the times he’d come over when I’d been sick or something. And though I didn’t feel good tonight, real sad too, it felt weird him doing that for me. I gripped the flashlight. “Want me to tuck you in?”
He smiled again. “Last I checked, I’m your uncle, Robin.”
But he wasn’t my uncle, not really. It had never felt that way, not to Thatcher, Wells, or Ares either. Charlie had always been our brother.
Wells, Thatcher, and Ares were my brothers too. If I could be brothers with my best friends, then that made what Charlie and I had even stronger.
I jerked the sheets until he moved enough to get under them.
“I’m tucking you in,” I said, making him smile, and I didn’t stop until I got him snug in there. I made sure it was real tight like when Mom did it, but not too tight like Dad. I wanted him to actually breathe.
Charlie watched me the whole time, another one of those sad smiles on his face. Dad said he might have those for a long time.
I’d wait as long as they took to fade.
I caught myself doing them too, but I never did in front of Batman. He needed to see I was strong.
After I got him in, I sat beside him. He looked at me. “Now, what?”
I shrugged. “Now, you sleep.”
I waved a hand over his face like it was magic, making him laugh again. He shook his head. “Thanks, Batman.”
My eyes twitched wide. I frowned. “But you’re Batman, Charlie.”
Charlie wriggled out of the tight tuck of the bedding, taking my hand with a small grin.
“Tonight, you’re Batman,” he said, my insides whirling. I never got to be Batman. I was never big enough. Charlie made a fist, putting it out to me.
I tapped it.
I started to get up but stopped. “Charlie?”
He opened his eyes, having already closed them. “Yeah?”
I played with the flashlight. “We’re brothers now,” I said, nodding. “I know not technically but…” I shrugged. “We’re brothers now. We’re brothers.”
