Healing Heartbreak with the Batfam

A Crazy Protective Family? Or Just Some Crazy Bats?

Nico's POV

The driveover was... a unique situation for me. An almost overwhelming sense of nervousness had taken hold of me, and it seemed that the butler - a peculiar man who only spoke when necessary - could sense it. It's like he can see right through me. It's freaky. Dick can apparently do this too, but not like Alfred, the freaky butler. He knows now because Alfred practically told him while trying to comfort me. Which he did successfully...

My thoughts were interrupted by Dick's voice, "We're here."

I looked out the window to see an extensive—by mortal standards, definitely not godly—manor. It looked kind of impressive but it still paled in comparison with Hades' castle despite the detailed masonry. After we got out of the car, I trailed behind the two older males, that nervousness from earlier bubbling inside me again.

Dick walked up to the doors but stopped before opening them, "Just so you know, I have some... crazy siblings." He looked for my reaction for a few seconds and seemed to be satisfied with it.

He turned back around and pushed the doors open. I slowly entered, staying close to the exit, just in case. The manor was almost as impressive on the inside, but it wasn't as immaculate as I had expected. Nearly every surface had a scratch or dent. Even the expensive-looking painting of 3 men, one much younger than the others, and 3 boys. He wasn't kidding about having crazy siblings... I had at least expected only half of the place to be slightly damaged, not the whole thing.

As I looked around the entry room, the sound of heavy and fast footsteps came from the second floor. After a few seconds, the source of the sound came into view on the second floor. Two boys appeared for the left hallway, one of whom looked a bit unsteady on his feet. Despite this, he made it down the steps just fine with a mug in his right hand. The other boy stopped when he noticed me, his eyes bore into me with hostility and... confusion?

"Who is he? And why is he here?" The glaring boy didn't look away from me as he spoke to Dick.

Dick didn't seem phased by the questioning, simply answering with, "You'll see during the family meeting Damian."

The other boy took a sip out of the mug before asking me, "What's your name?"

"Nico..." my voice was quiet. I don't know why, it just was.

Dick walked over to me and whispered, "I'll be right back, just stay here. Okay?"

I slowly nodded. I didn't want to be left here with Damian and the other boy but I also couldn't keep Dick here forever. He probably had something better to do than babysit- no! I'm not a baby! watch me. That's better, I guess...

Damian glared at me for a few more seconds before storming back up the stairs. I honestly didn't care, he could do whatever he wanted, it's his house after all.

Then the other kid spoke up, "So... how did you meet Dick?"

I didn't have the energy to lie, so I just muttered a half-truth, "I- um- was hanging out in a cemetery..."

He seemed pretty surprised by my answer before sighing, "Well, that's one of the safer places in Gotham to hang around..."

We sat in silence for a minute before the boy spoke up, "I forgot to introduce myself..." he shook his head for some reason, probably in disappointment or frustration. "My name is Timothy Drake-Wayne, you can call me Tim for short," he took another sip out of his mug after finishing his introduction.

Wait... Wayne? Where have I heard that name before...?

A memory of Leo excitedly talking about a man named Bruce Wayne slithered up from the depths of my memory despite my attempts to stop it. 'He's the CEO of the leading company in the tech industry, you don't know anything about tech unless you know about him!' Leo crossed his arms, daring anyone to challenge his opinion. Annabeth spoke up, 'Leo is right about that but Wayne Enterprises does more than just tech. It also deals in the food, shipping, steel, wood, medical, research, entertainment, industrial, and oil markets. There are more but that would take a while to explain from memory.' I pushed the memory away. Jason would chime in soon and I can't afford to get emotional here of all places.

I still had questions though, "Wait, Wayne?"

Tim gave me a surprised look, "You didn't realize you're in The Wayne Manor?"

I responded quickly, "I'm not from around here..."

I glanced at the entry hall again. Despite the dents and scratches, this place did look like a place where one of the most influential men in the world would live. I turned back to Tim with what I assume is a sheepish look, seeing how Tim's look of surprise softened to one of mild curiosity.

Tim stared intently at me for a couple of minutes before going back up the stairs. After he reached the top he said an offhand, "See you around Nico," before walking into the left hallway.

After a while of just standing in the empty entry hall, Dick came back with another person. This one was older than Dick though.

I heard the older man first, "-you sure he isn't a threat?"

Dick answered, "No, which is why it's better to keep an eye on him. I ran a background check, nada. Like he didn't exist before I found him. We can't let someone of unknown origins go like that."

"Alright-" the older guy stopped as he realized I was staring at him and Dick.

Dick followed the man's gaze to me and waved me over. I hesitated, the older man glared at me like Father did when I messed up. The kind of glare that said 'Don't make me any angrier or you'll be a pile of ashes.' I pushed past that thought aside, he is a mortal. Not a god. He can't turn me into ashes by looking at me for too long. I walked up to Dick, keeping a good distance from the glaring man.

Dick's eyes glanced at the man and then back at me, softening with some kind of understanding before he spoke, "Nico, let me introduce you to this lovely glaring man, Bruce. He has a weird habit of trying to intimidate people, but he's really a big softy. I mean he basically adopted everyone here."

Bruce's demeanor changed, the glare replaced with a weirdly warm smile. "Nice to meet you Nico, I'm Bruce, like Dick said. He mentioned you needed a place to stay for the time being. You can stay here, in one of our rooms. Alfred, I think you've met him already, can assist you in getting situated." Bruce held out his hand for me to shake like I just made a business deal with him.

I stared at Bruce's hand, not trusting him to not do something to me. I just had a weird feeling about him and didn't want to take any chances. But a normal kid would shake his hand... but he might do something... I sighed and shook his hand hesitantly. I let go of his hand quickly and took a few steps back, it would be too awkward to stand right in front of him.

Dick spoke up after a minute of awkward silence, "You're probably tired, right Nico?" He turned to his left and waved over Alfred, who had stayed next to the stairs. "Can you take Nico up to his room?"

Alfred nodded quickly and turned to me, "Come along Master Nico."

I waved a shy goodbye to Dick as I passed him on the way to the staircase, following Alfred's lead. The hallways are decorated sparsely, probably to minimize any damage the kids living here would cause. Alfred turned to the right hallway, maybe the left is only for the Wayne family while the left is for visitors? Probably.

I followed behind, watching door after door passing by. Eventually, Alfred stopped in front of a seemingly random door.

He opened the door while saying, "Here's the room you will be staying in, Master Nico." The room was rather plain in color and lightly furnished.

I guess I'm stuck here for a while...

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HI!

I'm SO sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've been SUPER busy with school and I've had this major writer's block. I have trouble with stories that have a lot of characters in a single scene/interaction, I tend to forget some of the characters and give them nothing to do so that probably adds to the block.

...But you get an extra long chapter to make up for it!

Also, I want to thank you all for the sheer amount of support and amazingly nice comments I've been getting!

Anyway, Dragonstar out!

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