Blood Ties

Chapter 21 -Revelations Part 1-

I AM SO SORRY FOR HOW LATE THIS IS. I did nOT intend for this book to accidentally go dark. Last fRiggin year. My gosh.

I'm not gonna dwell on it (2020 sUcks) cuz I'm updating now and now is a good time.

We at 17,804 words my peeps! Extra long cuz it just sorta happened like that, I've never actually planned how long these chapters are lol.

Anyway I'm sorry for the long wait, you might want to reread the last chapter (the Slade bit in particular— I'll understand if you don't want to read Wintergreen getting murdered again)

Anyway, enough talking, GET READING!

Dick didn't know what to do when the door opened, he wasn't expecting anyone to come in. Like sure yeah someone has to come in at some point. He was given food of course and that meant some sort of interaction. So he wasn't sure why he was so spooked this time.

Maybe its because he didn't want to get caught wallowing under the bed.

Well, he was sure he was being watched via the cameras in all four corners of the room, but he liked to pretend those didn't exist while he was being depressed.

The rebellious part of Dick said he should stay under the bed and pout some more, but that wouldn't lead him anywhere but more embarrassment. Another part of Dick felt justified in wallowing under the bed, he had every right to feel sad about his situation. It was a good to honest terrible situation. But then there was a different side of Dick that screamed 'GET OUT FROM UNDER THE BED YOU IDIOT' because he should not act like a feral child. (That one might have been in Wintergreen's voice) (not the yelling of course)

The voices raged in his head, shouting at each other and at him, from Slade's 'get your butt in gear' to Wintergreens ironic consolation that Dick could actually do something about his situation. But his own voice whispered back, the quietest but most powerful. No more Matthews. He needed to stay cautious and locked away because who knows who he'll hurt next. Then there was the constant internal screaming in the background, it sounded too young though. Dick decided to label that one Talon and then never acknowledge it again.

All of those voices flew around his mind in milliseconds, a cacophony of noise too complicated for Dick to reach a solid conclusion.

Dick ended up scrambling out from under the bed. He jumped to his feet, standing up awkwardly next to the bed he oh so obviously pushed into the corner of the room like a weirdo. He pulled Batman's cape with him, bundling it up in his hands to give his nerves something to do as he was approached by two figures who had ample time to realize he had been huddling under the bed.

(He liked it there okay? It was nice and small and using Batman's cape as a cushion it wasn't too uncomfortable either. Small places with lots of corners that weren't too bright or too dark were the best places. Slade's cramped apartment had plenty of those.)

"What are you doing here?" Dick asked the one person he recognized, hoping they'd ignore his mad scramble from underneath the bed because he started the conversation. Then he hoped his voice didn't waver or hint at any surprise or discomfort because that's literally all he was feeling at the moment. He didn't want to talk about why he was under the bed, or anything relating to his situation really.

The vigilante wearing the blue bird stopped in front of the young mercenary, the second man stopping next to him. There was an odd silence that gathered between them, Dick felt like he was being studied and he had mixed feelings about it. On one hand, the weird feelings weren't actually coming from the stranger, they were coming from Nightwing himself. It was a difficult vibe to decipher, Dick just hoped he didn't comment on how terrible he looked again. (Damian apparently takes to pointing out flaws in the people he cares about in the name of some weird form of love.) (This explanation was whispered to him by Bruce— the entire affair was alien to Dick, it honestly felt like a dream and he wasn't sure it actually happened.)