Nightwing's Quirked Adventure

Chapter 24

Dick is done, he is ready to leave; to be gone from this world. It's been a treat; it's been swell. He's met tons of new people and discovered a word in which the unusual is usual and the hatred of meta has been flipped on its head along with Dick's world. Now that he has locked himself in his teachers' guest bedroom whilst battling a concussion (mention a mild one so it wasn't too bad) and an injured shoulder as he held the only connection to his father, his home. He almost hoped that if he stared at it long enough that the answers would suddenly come shouting forwards. He twirled the batarang on his pointer finger and watched as the nicks and divots caught the shimmer of moonlight, which streamed in abundance from his window. When he truly studied the object he could see the slightly worn places from where Bruce's hand would grab ahold of the weapon. A weapon which had saved not only his life but that of his brothers', his pseudo aunts and uncles, and prevented the tragedy of the greater part of Gotham. It has to be real. He needs it to be real.

It even smells vaguely like general polish that Bruce cleans his weapons with. Alfred would always turn his nose up at the over-the-counter stuff Bruce buys in abundance. The weathered butler claimed that it smells 'revolting and if he had his way that the substance would never touch the grounds of the manor'. The butler always has preferred the custom cleaners Bruce purchased for the house. Yet despite Alfred's best wishes when Dick caught a whiff of Bruce's generic polish it brought a sense of home that the manor could nor replicate. Dick Grayson was only at home when he could fly; something he can only truly achieve as a bat. He with a hope that it may help replicate his home, spent a large portion of his time in search for that cleaner. Only to find it did not exist in this world. That was what sealed the deal. The batarang had to be real, how could it not be Bruce's if it smelled like a clean only found in Dick's worlds? There are too many factual aspects of the batarang for it to be faked.

Dick decided to end the confusion once and for all. He shook himself out of any doubts as he leaned against the plush bed, criss-cross applesauce position and raised his holowatch. He used his fingers to flick the band around the circumstance of the machine. An eerie blue glow emerged and bathed his face in a sharp contrast. Dick held up his future in his palm and scanned the familiar shape with bated breath. It was one of the most fearful and joyful things he had ever done. The light bounced up and down at a painfully slow speed. Up and down it went. Up and down until the machine gave a small chirp. Its work was done and the blue light faded. Dick tilted his head back to look at the ceiling. Thoughts raced in his mind. Forwards and backwards; there was no end. It was a jumble of letters, of which Dick would never be able to string into words. With a shaky breath he breathed in and out. In and out. He slowly lowered his head until he was pointed down towards his watch; his future.

Dick cracked open a single eye to squint down at the words written upon the screen. Words that would either destroy or heal him. In little, blue, holographic writing he could just make out the words singal confirmed; known origins Earth-2

Dick gave a startled laugh as jumped up and off of the floor where he was resting. Ecstatic, he danced and pranced around the room as he dreamed of all the possibilities this meant. He could go home. He could see Jason, Tim and Damian. He could jump upon Bruce like he was a child once more. He would be able to sit around the kitchen counter as Alfred baked his signature cookies and, with hand gestures galore, he could recite his tales to the elderly man whilst his brothers none so subtlety listened in. His chest heaved Dick gave one last flourished burst of laughter before he collapsed upon the untouched bedspread with a large whoosh and caused the pillows upon it to jump up and wreck their neat placement.

A near silent grumble, which rang absurdly loud in the now quiet room, startled Dick and in shock the boy sprung up from the bed, hair askew and a deer caught in headlights look to his eyes. A soft chuckle emerged just in front of Dick as the boy gazed through his greasy bangs. Man he really needs a shower. All that excitement from the battle and discovering Bruce preoccupied him. With a slight grimace Dick shifted them aside to see Aizawa hiding a smirk in his black sleeve as he leaned against a smiley Yamada. The blonde with his free hand gestured towards Dick's set up as a boy only then realized that he had left a mess upon the surrounding area as Yamada remarked, "What's got you jumping for joy there little listener?"

Dick rubbed the back of his neck before he sheepishly smiled at the pair and took the time to subtly move over the batarang he had left in the bed from his descent, "I just found something I've been searching for a while,"

Aizawa didn't seem to buy it but thankfully didn't try to get Dick to elaborate on it. The boy wasn't sure if he could if the man asked. While he may be getting closer to the two there were still some lines that Dick did not want to cross and the whole 'oh yeah, I happen to be from another universe and I was-no-longer-maybe-still-am stuck in your world' was the last one on his list. Yamada gave Dick a small, understanding grin filled with a softness that had Dick turning away from the couple. He had not seen such unconditional love since his parents died and, well, with Bruce and his brothers. Such softness has not had any presence in the long weeks he has been here. Weeks makes it sound so short when in reality it is anything but. Gosh, he's finally going to go home. The words played over in his head as he remained in shock.

Within a few minutes, of which Dick didn't remember, Yamada had somehow managed to wrangle not only Dick to the small kitchen but also Aizawa in all his bandage glory to the counter. The man was truly a wizard, for before Dick even planted himself in the well worn stools the man also had soft pop music that drifted from the speaker and something sweet that simmered on the stove. Maybe the man was psychic and discovered Dick's excitement before the boy himself. Or maybe he was just a wizard, Dick will have to ask.

The sweet smell of sugar wafted closer and a steamed plate of red bean buns were deposited. When the hell did Yamada get the chance to steam them? The answer; he's a wizard. A bandaged arm attempted to reach out towards the steamed treats but it was swiftly batted away by Dick as the teen snatched up the bun Aizawa aimed for, and Dick popped it into his mouth. With a self-satisfied smirk Dick stuck his tongue out around his stuffed mouth, which caused several crumbs to fall, and caused Aizawa to somehow manage to perfectly encapsulate the looked of a thoroughly disgusted person, even through the thick layers of bandages. Dick simply shoved more in his mouth. Soon Yamada noticed the two's interaction and gave a small huff before he picked up a bun and fed Aizawa, which in turn, made Dick give a thoroughly disgusted look as he minced his teacher.

The trio once again lapsed into comfortable silence, something Dick had found himself doing more often when in the presence of the two men.

Dick took his time to stretch out the silence. He did not want to be questioned about his outburst (albeit a happy one) but he could tell that the two, while they kept quiet, were desperate to ask their questions. A few minutes later the bean buns had run out and the integration began. It was Yamada who struck first, "So Dick, you wanna tell us what the shouting was about little listener?"

"Not really," came the blunt response.

Yamada gave a perfect impression of a bird in the form of an undignified squawk, "But I'm dying to know! You could at least give me an idea!"

"My dad contacted me,"

A new voice entered the conversation with barely seen furrowed eyebrows, "Your dad contacted you?"

"Yep," Dick popped the 'p', "He told me that he would get back home as soon as he could, but he's across the world in America so he doesn't know when he'll get back,"

"But that doesn't explain why he didn't answer the phone,"

Dick shrugged, "He's clumsy and dropped in a fountain while he tried to take some picture and only recently got a new one to contact me with,"

The teen could tell the Aizawa didn't believe him but Dick didn't really need the man to. He would be gone soon anyways. He faked a yawn and Dick stretched his uninjured arm before he jumped off his seat and started to head towards the room he was staying in, "Thanks for the bean buns sensei, but I want to hit the hay," With a light heart Dick closed the door behind him and happily snuck into the bed. He wasn't lying when he said he was tired; the excitement of the past few days really tuckered him out. Not to mention his first happy news. With a smile upon his lips Dick was lost to the world of dreams.

Hey ! sorry this one is later then normal I got distracted as we had family over for the week. Dick got some much needed happy news ! His dad is coming ! But all is not as peaceful as it it seems for Aizawa smells something fishy. (But it's okay! Yamada bean buns are a one stop shop cure) I hope you liked this chapter ! I can't wait to hear from you again and get ready for next week ! There's more dadzawa and papamada coming up

-Ro-bow