Ghost King Meets Batman

Shopping/Cousins/Patrol

[Edited April 15, 2023]

After Damian had finished showing the demigod his collection and discussing combat techniques, Dick came upstairs to tell Nico it was time to go shopping. This was something that Nico was thoroughly dreading. He had never imagined in even his wildest demigod dreams that he would ever go tux shopping. Especially not with a chauffeur and a rather large budget. 

Nico reluctantly let Dick lead him to the car where Alfred waited for them. Alfred opened the back door of the car and Richard motioned for Nico to get in. The boy obeyed, though reluctantly, thanking Alfred as he went. Alfred closed the door behind Dick and got in himself. He didn't know how he felt about basic tasks being done for him. It felt like he was taking advantage of Alfred's time, though he supposed this was what he was being paid to do. 

Nico looked around at the interior of the car, noting that everything was very high in quality. He guessed that he shouldn't be surprised, it was Bruce's car. It was nice, but not showy, just like the rest of Bruce's things. Bruce lived in luxury, there was no doubt, but he didn't live in excess and Nico could respect that.

Dick and Alfred started talking about some play that he had read during his time at Gotham Academy and left Nico to his own devices.  The son of Hades chose to spend the ride staring out the window, caught up in thoughts about camp and what the other demigods would think if they saw him now. He was comforted by the idea that the children of Aphrodite would be jealous. Several of them had aspirations of becoming famous by becoming actors or models. He got picked up off the street by an eccentric billionaire without lifting a finger.

"Nico?" Nico glanced over, he hadn't realized that the subject of conversation had changed.

"You ok?" 

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking." He sat back in the seat, sensing that this was going to be more involved than a few seconds.

"About what?" Nico considered the question, trying not to take so long that it was obvious that he was coming up with a lie. 

"I was thinking about how I'm going to be sort of a public figure now. I don't think I'll like it," he said eventually. Dick nodded empathetically. 

"It does take some getting used to, but after a while, the buzz dies down and you only get in the news if you do something noteworthy," the older boy assured him.

"What's considered noteworthy?" The last thing Nico needed was for a monster to find him, destroy a public monument or part of the manor, and for him to get blamed. He'd seen what had happened to Percy on his first quest and he wasn't anxious to follow in the older boy's footsteps. He also had no idea how he would explain that one to Bruce. At that point, he'd probably have to fake his death and drop off the face of the Earth again.

"The last time we were in the news it was at a gala and all of us were trying to discreetly flip off the paparazzi and Bruce was trying to stop us. We ended up on a Yahoo list for that one. It was pretty funny. Not really noteworthy, I guess, but we had fun." Dick was smiling as he recounted the tale, the son of Hades couldn't help but smile along at the imagery. 

"So I shouldn't do that?" 

"Do what you want to. Just know that there will be talk about you and you need to learn not to care. They'll get bored of you if you don't give them a reaction or if they think that you're uninteresting," he advised. Nico considered this. He could do that. His backstory was mostly fake anyway so how could they bother him with it? 

"I'll try." 

"The rest of us will be there to back you up, too. You won't be alone." Nico didn't reply.