Brothers?

Answers

I walk around the kitchen getting popcorn, and a couple of cokes together. I watch Dick out of the corner of my eye. I can't help but wonder what he's thinking, I know he saw some of my scars, including the big one the GIW caused with some of there new tech. Not only that but he saw my fight with Skulker, he doesn't know it was me but still, he's not running out of town, screaming, so I guess that's a good thing. I sit everything on the table and sit down. "Alright" I start "I have questions, but I know some things are going to be hard for you to talk about, I understand if you there are some you can't or don't want to answer." His face softens and he nods at me to continue. "Do you know why they gave me up?" Dick takes a breath and answers, "Our parents were acrobats, the flying Graysons, in a fairly famous circus, it traveled all over the world. They lived like nomads, always moving from one place to another, not really a life you raise a family in, you know." "After realizing our mom had been pregnant when I was six, I got in touch with Haley the owner of the circus, he and our parents were friends, he told me they hadn't planned on having me, but once I was there, they decided they could make it work. He told me a few years later, our mom found out she was expecting again, and decided they just didn't have the resources or the time, they were always training for the next show, so they made the decision to give you up for adoption." "They were good people and good parents, when they had time for me.""I think they were worried they couldn't take care of both of us, though.""Dick" he looks up with a guilty expression "it's okay, I have a good life, my parents and sister are good people, my parents are a bit eccentric but good people." "A bit" he teases. "Shut up" I grin though so he knows I'm joking. "You said you realized your, I mean, our mom was pregnant. What did you mean. They didn't tell you?" "No, I think they knew how much I wanted a sibling and didn't want me to be upset about them giving you away."" I was six when you were born, I just thought mom put on a little weight and was sick, it wasn't until I was watching a pregnant lady at the park in Bludhaven, that I recognized it for what it was." "Bruce helped me search for you, and here we are." I think about my next question wondering if I should ask at all. "My mom mentioned that they had died." "I understand if it's too hard, but what happened to them?"Dick got a far away look in his eyes. "A petty man wanted Mr. Haley to pay a protection fee, while we were in Gotham performing, when Mr. Haley refused, he sabotaged the wires, our parents never used a net." I put my hand over his. "How old were you?" I asked quietly. "I was seven, you would have been one." "I'm sorry." I say for lack of anything better.

"Hoping to get his mind off of his parents I decide to switch subjects. "What's Mr.Wayne like" Dick gives a little half smile and says "he's great, I've learned a lot from him." I give him what I'm sure is a sheepish look but say anyway "I may or may not have googled you last night, but it said you have three brothers?" Dick gets a fond look on his face and says "yeah, Jason Todd the hot head, Tim Drake he's a genius but takes himself way to seriously, and Damian Wayne, he was raised in a very strict environment before he came to live with us, so he tends to be standoffish and arrogant at times." "Maybe you can come visit me in Bludhaven, I would be happy to introduce you." I look down "maybe" I say. How am I suppose to explain, how I can't leave because that would leave the town unprotected?" Nope, that would mean telling Dick my secret. He's great but we just met. Besides I'm not sure I want him to know what a freak I am. I stand up and start cleaning up after us. "How is your arm feeling" Dick ask, while helping me pick up. I forgot all about that. "It's sore but okay, thanks for patching me up earlier." He reaches over and ruffles my hair, "no problem little brother." I can't help but grin back at him.

I throw all the trash out, and turn back to Dick when I hear someone coming up to the front door. I look toward it when Jazz steps in. "Hey Jazz" I call out "what have you been up to today?" "Studying" she answers. "On a Saturday?" Dick says. "Yeah" I say "Jazz is super smart, she does all kinds of things, wanting to get into a good college." "Oh, by the way Jazz this is my brother, Richard Grayson, Dick this is my sister Jasmine Fenton" I say gesturing the each of them. They shake hands and insist the other call them by their nicknames. As they start talking to each other with questions like "what are you hoping to study?" And "What are you majoring in." I tune out and get my phone out and started messaging Sam and Tucker. We agree to meet up at the mall. I wanted my best friends to meet my brother. So far Dick seems amazing, I'm glad I'm getting the chance to know him. Maybe I can learn more about him, and where we came from as the week goes on, I can't imagine how hard talking about his parents is, I mean in an alternate timeline, when I lost everything I burned the world to the ground. I should really visit Clockwork soon and thank him for that second chance. I focus back in on what's going on around me when my parents come through the door looking disappointed.

"Hey mom, Hey Dad" I say hesitantly "you guys didn't catch him?" Knowing full well they didn't. "No" Dad answers angrily "he had already left by the time we got there." "Oh sweety" Mom starts "how's your arm?" Honestly I'm feeling a little bitter about that being your second priority, but considering your first one is tearing my other half apart molecule by molecule, I'll take what I can get." "It's fine mom," I answer with a smile, "Dick patched me up." "Alright" Dad says suddenly excited "Why don't we show Dick the lab then?" "NO!" Jazz and I shout at the same time. "Uh, we were about to head out." "Going to the mall if that's okay?" I look at my parents. Dad seems disappointed, mom does too but smiles and says to have fun. "Great" I say relieved "Jazz, did you want to come?" I look at Dick and he doesn't seem to mind that I invited Jazz along. "I'm going to do some community service today, it looks good on a college application." "We'll talk later though right?" I could tell it wasn't really a question even if she made it sound like one. "Yeah Jazz" I smile at her " we'll talk later." I give her a quick hug and whisper a quick "I'm okay" in her ear. She gives me a genuine smile and walks out the door. I look at my parent and say "I guess I'll see you guys later." "Oh Danny," mom starts "I want you back for dinner." Dick are you eating with Mr.Wayne?" "No ma'am" says politely "he had to get back to Gotham, he left this morning." "Oh that's right ,"mom says "I remember him saying something about that now" "I'm sure Danny can recommend somewhere good to eat." Dick says "Nonsense" Dad exclaims "you can have dinner with us." "Thank you" Mr.Fenton "I'll make sure we're back before dinner." "Excellent, and you can call me Jack, your our Danny boys brother, so that makes you family." I can't help myself, I walk over and give my dad a hug, grateful that they're so accepting of my brother. I give my mom one and go out the door. Dick steps out right behind me. "Your parents seem nice." Dick says as we walk to the car. "Yeah, they're great, a bit embarrassing at times but that's all parents right? "Yeah" he answers.

We make it to the mall without problem. I steer Dick toward the food court where I know Sam and Tucker are waiting for us. I spot them easily and walk over, introductions are made and Sam starts asking Dick questions, Tucker cuts in occasionally asking about tech Dick gets from Wayne Inc. Everything is going great when I sense a ghost. "Hey guys I see someone from school, I'll be right back" I don't want to use the bathroom excuse again. I go out of sight and transform. Staying invisible I start looking for the threat, when I hear "Beware, I am the box ghost" I face palm, still invisible, and suck him into the thermos, without even saying anything. I transform and head back to the table just in time to hear Sam telling Dick about my space obsession. He has an odd look on his face I can't decipher, he spots me and smiles. We walk around the mall and there's easy chatter between the four of us until it's time for all of us to head home. Dick drives us back to my house for dinner, we make easy conversation along the way. "I like your friends" Dick says "they have interesting personalities." I smile "you have no idea" I say. "My brother Tim has a couple of friends that argue over meat and tofu too." Dick says with a fond smile. "That's cool, maybe we should introduce them to each other." I say with a smile. "Then again if his friends argue with the same amount of passion as mine, we might not want them in the same room." We get out of the car and head in to get ready for dinner.

Dinner actually went well, even though I'm pretty sure Dick saw the mutated hot dogs before I slammed the fridge shut. Other than that things were great, well nothing else came to life anyway. My parents however, spent the whole evening telling Dick stories about my childhood. How embarrassing. I didn't have the heart to tell them to stop, I mean Dick was thrilled to know more about me, and my parents and Jazz were happy to share. After dinner though, ugh the horror, they brought out the pictures. Then they offered to show Dick the lab again and he agreed before I could intervene.

Dick seemed to be taking everything in, the weapons, which my parents explained how they worked on ghost, and the containment units, when my Dad ranted for a solid 10 minutes about how Phantom stole his thermos, then they showed him the portal. They told him to be cautious and causally explained how I got a nasty shock from it when it turned on. Dick turned to me with a concerned look on his face. "Shock?" he says "Yeah" I respond I try to look interested in something else and causally say "it wasn't a big deal" It only gave me my powers. I smile and say "well you've seen everything, let's get out of here." We all head upstairs and Dick says his goodbyes, we make plans to hang out tomorrow and he leaves. I give my parents a hug and head upstairs. I hear Jazz coming up a second later, probably to have that talk she wanted. I wait and we both head into my room to talk. I'm not sure why but I'm struck by the feeling that meeting Dick has changed my life for good, I just can't decide if it's a good change or not.