grace under pressure • jerome valeska

CHAP.57: Diner

  "I wonder what else is on the menu." 

  Jerome and I look to one another as he holds his uncle against the table at gunpoint and Bruce still fights the large man in the back. My ears where ringing from the hit on the head but I was relatively clear minded. I grin at Jerome then walk over to the bleach, twisting off the lid and throwing it somewhere on the ground. I hand it to Jerome who laughs. 

  "Thank you." He says and I chuckle. He places it on the counter as he shoves his uncle down onto the ground and holding him there with the gun to his head. He breathes out a laugh as he picks the Bleach back up again and glides it towards his uncle. Bruce keeps fighting the large bald man and I laugh as he is hit over the face.

  "Here comes the airplane." Jerome says then makes an airplane noise and I lean against the counter, crossing my arms with a smile at his uncle's suddenly fearful face. He holds ups his hands and flinches away from both the gun and the bleach bottle.

  "No no no no no! I'll tell ya! I'll tell ya!" He pleads. I chuckle. I loved it when assholes pleaded. He starts to stutter. 

  "Look look. She-she picked uh she picked ignatius! The school is St.Ignatius!" He yells. I make a face. What a weird name for a school. Jerome nodded, lowering his gun and the bleach.

  "Got it." He said then made a face. "Lost it. Write it down." He picks up a napkin, shoving it into his uncle's hands. He pulls out a pen and starts writing down wildly onto the napkin. Jerome and I both look up at the other source of entertainment. Bruce fighting a giant. Bruce hits the man in the face with a large stick. Jerome mocks him by making gorilla like gestures with his hands and I laugh. 

  His uncle holds up the napkin and Jerome takes it, shoving it in his back pocket. 

  "Thanks." He says. "It's been great catching up Uncle Zack. You really brought back the utter helplessness of childhood. Welp, see ya around." He grinned and patted him on the shoulder, looking as if he was going to walk away. I lean off the counter, raising a brow until Jerome suddenly stops and waves his arms. He turned back.

  "I mean, except the opposite." He says. Jerome then raises his gun, and shot his uncle in the head, blood splattering onto the seat. I grin at him and whoop, laughing and going up next to Jerome as Bruce and the large man turn to us. 

  We look at the both of them and Jerome suddenly clapped. I wipe away a stray piece of hair as I lean my arm on a table's ledge, smiling at Brucey. 

  "Boy billionaire Bruce Wayne our savior!" Jerome exclaims. I breathe out. 

  "I seriously did not see that one coming." I say honestly, shaking my head a bit. Jerome makes a small laugh, gingerly touching his burned lips. He looked back to his dead uncle and shook his head, motioning towards him. 

  "No. With uncle Zack, the beatings just never stopped. They went on and on. Yet...nobody ever helped me. Ever." He explains sadly, his voice getting slower and slower. I frown deeply, looking away from him. I understood how he felt. I look back to see his thinking face on, his brow knit as he looked to the ground.

  "And that makes a man wonder." He says. Bruce looked at him in confusion. He looks back up and then makes a face. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He suddenly breaks out in hysterical laughter, curling forward. I crack a smile of my own despite the situation. He then raises his gun up. 

  "The only thing funnier than you saving our lives," He said motioning to me and him. He then raised his gun to the large man's head. "Would be if I saved yours." I raise a brow. Huh. That's a twist.