Demigod in Gotham

17) Dun Dun DUUUUUUN

Nico woke up to a knock on his door. He was immediately anxious that it was the Waynes, but he brushed it off considering it was 5 in the morning and they couldn't know he was back already. He opened the door, still wiping the sleep out of his eyes and came face to face with....

his landlord. The woman told him that someone had called multiple times to get a hold of him while he was away and that his neighbors told her that they saw his lights on last night. She handed over an envelope they had apparently given her last week and then she left.

Nico closed and locked it before heading to his table to open it. He was mentally preparing for the struggle of having to read tiny font English, but instead he saw hand written Italian.

Nico, I'm sorry if we overwhelmed you. I know we can be a lot, but I just wanted to say that it isn't just Bruce who wants you to be part of the family. The day we met, I said you reminded me of myself but that was a lie. I saw little parts of each of us in you. You're hot headed, a smart-ass, a little crazy, and 100% a Wayne. There is still no pressure, I just wanted to let you know that no matter what, the Waynes have your back. We protect our own, whether they share our name or not.

-Jason

p.s. us street urchins gotta stick together

Nico smiled at the letter for a moment before something clicked in his head. He ruffled through his pockets for a moment before finally grabbing the small bag from the breast pocket of his coat. He pulled out the note and looked between the hand writing. "No fucking way."

~~~~~~~~

-Dick POV-

At five in the morning Dick woke up to Jason throwing a pillow at him from his spot in the window. "He's awake!"

Dick nearly tripped over Tim, waking him up on accident, on his way to the window. "What? He's only been home for like two hours."

Tim, now also at the window, threw a pillow at Damian. "I think that's the landlord he's talking to. Do you think she's giving him the letter?"

Damian shoved Tim over to look out the window too. "What did you write Todd?"

"None of your business demon." He said running to the door to put on his shoes. "Now come on and get dressed so we can go over there."

They all turned to look at him, only Damian doing as he said, as Dick asked, "wouldn't it be weird if we all just showed up right after he woke up?"

"Screw weird, he disappeared for like a week and a half without a word." Jason's words seemed to be enough to convince Tim and Dick as they both began putting on their shoes. The oldest was glad Bruce had stocked all the safe houses with some civies in all of their sizes because otherwise it was gonna be a very awkward interaction. Soon enough, they were out the door and walking across the street.

They knocked on the door and waited for the boy, but he didn't come. They waited for a while in case maybe he was in the bathroom or fell asleep again, but Damian reported that the lights were out in his apartment again and, from what he could see from the street, he was on longer at the kitchen table. Despite Dicks insistence that they should just come back later, Jason picked the lock and crept inside. After a sold 5 minutes of waiting, the teen came back looking confused because Nico was no where in the apartment. Tim pushed past him to check for himself while the others discussed where he could have gone in the five minutes between them seeing him from the window and walking onto the street.

When Tim came back, his phone was in his hand and he had that look in his eyes again but Dick decided not to question him yet since they had other things going on. They split up to search the roof and surrounding area but all came up with nothing. Tim was about to hack into the camera across the street when they got a text from Bruce that Nico had showed up at the Manor.

The boys sprinted to Dick's car that was down the street and they began to speed back to the manor. The car was silent, all of them too focused on getting back to say anything until Damian's quiet voice broke the silence.

"What are we supposed to say to him?"

Dick glanced at him through the mirror and saw his slightly nervous face looking at the buildings as they passed. "What do you mean?"

Dami let out a sign before trying to explain. "It's just... I've never been here for this part. I was the last one of us to officially join the family, so I don't know what we're supposed to do. He most likely left because we overwhelmed him. What do we do now? Should we act excited or sad or like we didn't notice?" The youngest looked back at them in confusion. "I don't want to scare him off again."

All of them internally 'awed' at how concerned he was about Nico, but kept it in since he was being vulnerable and they didn't want him to think he wasn't being taken seriously. To Dick and Tim's surprise, it was Jason who replied first.

"You act how you feel Damian. There isn't a right or wrong way, unless you plan on trying to murder him like you did Tim, then maybe don't do that" Jason said with a chuckle and Damian halfheartedly swatted at him. "If you're excited, be excited. If you're not, then don't. It's better to be honest about this stuff because the truth will come out eventually."

Damian nodded thoughtfully and took a second to process what Jay said. "I am happy he is back and could be joining the family."

"But..." Tim said leadingly, knowing there was more.

"I am scared Father will replace me as Robin. Every time he has adopted someone, they have taken over the mantle. I do not wish to be replaced."

"You won't be," Tim said confidently. "At least not by Nico. Not only is he probably a bit old to start being Robin, but I don't think he'd want to. If for some reason he joins our world, he'll be someone completely his own."

The car was silent after that as they sped down the road.

A/N: yay he's back at the manor! I'm so tired. tbh losing my mind. I have work tomorrow, idk why I'm still doing this. Especially because this chapter won't be released for another two weeks as I'm writing them. But at this point, it's now a competition to see how far I can get before giving up.

Vote. Comment. Tell me what time it is when your reading this (it's 2:21 am rn)