joiedecombat | Advent Drabble: [Batman Beyond] Terry and Max

Head start on today's drabble, to make up for scraping yesterday's in so late! This one is specially for

infinitepryde, who asked for Terry and Max. She didn't actually ask for egregious silliness, but, uh, she's getting that, too. :)

Fandom: Batman Beyond
Title: The Season of Giving
Rating: G
Words: 544

Regaining consciousness kind of hurt.

Terry's head throbbed, particularly the back of it, and he felt cold and clammy inside the protection of the Batsuit, and he was laid out flat on his back and from somewhere nearby he could hear a steady staccato clicking of keys on a keyboard - someone typing.

He opened his eyes cautiously and found himself squinting up at a mostly featureless ceiling - and not through the familiar lenses. The mask! His hand went to his face and found bare skin; he sat bolt upright and immediately regretted it when his head swam.

The typing stopped.

"Take it easy, tough guy," said a familiar voice. "I've seen it before."

Squint. "Max?"

He brought her into focus, sitting at her desk with her computer in front of her, looking amused and very satisfied with herself. "Just call me the cavalry," she said. "How's your head?"

"Sore," he said. "What--" He stopped the question where it started; a glance around was enough to confirm that he was sitting on the bed in Max's room, at Max's place, instead of slowly freezing to the sidewalk out on the far side of Gotham. "How'd you--"

"Seemed like you needed a hand." She took up typing again, fingers flying over the keyboard. "Everybody else is gone 'til tomorrow, so don't worry, you're cool."

Terry winced. He'd have appreciated a different choice of words. "What about Mr. Freeze?"

"Long gone, like I figured he'd be. Don't think I'm gonna come charging in like that if it's ever somebody who really wants you dead."

"Gee, thanks." It got steadily easier to piece thoughts together into a more or less complete picture; he recalled the fight with Freeze, and the terrific impact to the head that had sent him tumbling into unconsciousness. It took another moment for more to occur to him. "But wait a minute, how'd you know--?"

"--that you needed help?" Max finished for him, and waved a hand dismissively. "I hacked the radio in your suit."

"You what?"

"I wanted to know what was happening," she said, reasonably. "Figured it couldn't hurt for you to have another set of eyes watching your back."

"Oh, man," Terry groaned. "The old man's gonna blow a circuit when he hears about this."

"Y'think?" She was looking over at him from the computer, head tilted curiously. "He seemed pretty chilled about it when he came by here. I mean, chilled for a cranky old guy."

"He was here?"

Max nodded. "I figured it'd be better to call him and explain before he tracked the suit down and stormed the place with his cane. He said you didn't have a concussion and you should pay more attention next time. And he brought your clothes."

Terry could only stare at her.

"I also called your mom," she went on blithely, typing away again without even looking at the computer. "You stopped by here after work to get me to help you cram for that Algebra final you've got coming up."

Putting his hand over his eyes, Terry flopped heavily back down onto his back on Max's bed and wondered if it was physically possible to die of embarrassment.

"You can thank me later," she said. "I'm emailing you my Christmas list."

Today's ficlet was suggested by infinitepryde. To make a suggestion for tomorrow, comment on this entry.