From Camp Half-Blood to Gotham (Nico x Batfam)

Dad-astrophe (25)

Nico had to lock himself in the bathroom to escape from Dick's relentless assaults.

"Dick! Please!" Nico gasped, locking his knees, trying to keep the door shut.

"Come on! Let's talk like civilized people." Dick called back, also sounding a little breathless from laughing so hard.

"You're not being very civilized at the moment!" Nico snorted, feeling a little suspicious as Dick's weight left the door.

"You act like I'm an animal." Dick laughed. "But I promise I won't tickle you or do anything else other than talk."

"Swear it on the river Styx," Nico said flatly, not removing his feet from the bathroom door.

"What?" Dick asked. Nico blinked, suddenly realizing what he just said.

"Nothing," Nico mumbled, rising to his feet, and opening the door just enough to peer out of it.

"Well, whatever it was, get out and talk. Alfred's making the mixture for the brownies." Nico snorted again as Dick leaned forward and tried to shove his nose through the door.

Nico tried to close the door on him, imagining the wood slicing Dick's nose off.

"Promise?" Nico asked slowly.

"Promise." Dick agreed and Nico finally left the bathroom.

Dick stuck to his promise and didn't attack Nico, but the mischievous smile stayed on his face. Dick calmly walked Nico to the dining room and sat down in a chair, Nico followed his lead.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Dick asked, leaning back in his chair, and resting his head on his arms.

"Well, I talked to Leo." Nico started, taking a deep breath. He wasn't even really sure how the entire interaction had gone. Leo had sort of brushed it off and changed the topic as quickly as he could, and Nico hadn't really done anything to stop him.

"Yeah? Did it go better or worse than you expected?" Dick said, dropping his casual smile, replacing it with a more serious and concerned one.

"Better," Nico admitted. He had expected a lot more arguing. "And apparently you are meeting him tomorrow night."

"Oh, that's sooner than I expected," Dick said. Nico found it a little funny how only one of Dick's eyebrows seemed functional whenever he was surprised.

"Yeah. He had me throw a dart at a calendar and it landed on the twenty-first of this month." Nico sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"That's an... interesting way of choosing." Dick chuckled.

"Leo is an interesting person." Nico snorted back. "But he didn't seem too happy about that and he kept begging me to throw the dart again."

"I'm assuming you didn't?" Dick said, his one eyebrow finally dropping again.

"No, I told him that was when he should meet you. He kept asking if I thought this was a good idea." Nico said, looking down at his hands. The entire thing still didn't fit quite right in his brain.

"Well, I'll start getting ready. You did a good job." Dick said, rising to his feet and exiting the room after giving Nico an affectionate clap on the back.

Nico smiled evilly as he realized Dick had forgotten all about the brownies currently baking in the oven.

Nico stood and wandered towards where he thought the kitchen was. For the three months he had stayed in the manor he really hadn't explored the place too much. If you didn't count accidentally shadow-traveling into the Batcave. Nico didn't count that.