stranger things | dick grayson

thirty four

word count: 1.3k

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Eleanor tossed her coat on her bed and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Despite having done her hair nicely, she looked horrible. She had spent the past day and night mourning Donna, as well as attempting to call Lucas to get more information from him about her father, but the number he left her was disconnected. It was just her luck.

When they met the rest of the Amazons at the airport to say their goodbyes to Donna, Eleanor also had to say her goodbyes to Rachel who was leaving with Donna— It broke her heart in two but she knew if anyone was going to bring Donna back, it was her.

'Hey,' Bruce said and poked his head in through her bedroom door. She had finally gotten her bedroom back after cleaning up the spare room for Zoe to permanently move into. 'Dinner's ready soon. Dick cooking it up with Gar's help, so it's not completely un-edible.'

'Thanks for the heads up,' she muttered and put her phone on her nightstand. Before he could disappear, Eleanor called his name. 

He entered her room and shut the door, seemingly knowing what she was going to ask him. Bruce lowered himself into the armchair near the coffee table. He placed his hands in his lap and watched her as she kicked her heels off and sat down on the bed, running her hands over the top of her head.

'Sometimes, the truth hurts us, Eleanor. The darkness is where we find solace, but you can't turn towards it. Your team, your family, is mourning. You're mourning. Give it all some time before you dig around where you're only going to hurt yourself,' he said as she continued to stare at her hands.

She gave her head a shake. 

'So full of wisdom,' she lightly joked.

He hummed a chuckle and nodded with a small smirk.

'Would I want to know?' She asked herself quietly, thinking of the worst possible answers of who her father could be: Lex Luthor; the Joker; King Shark— Okay, so that one was completely unrealistic but things were weird enough, how much worse could they get? 'I suppose it's all better left unsaid, right?'

Bruce hummed once more, nodding his head softly.

'You know, don't you?'

Bruce gave her another soft smile. Yes, he did.

'Alright... I'll see you at dinner,' she murmured. Her stare lingered on him as he left the room and threw a small glance her way. Her eyebrows shot up briefly at the small action but she didn't press on the matter.

Eleanor had a shower and changed into a fresh set of clothes before joining everyone out in the dining room. Everyone was already seated, but Zoe had her feet propped up on the seat next to her, clearly saving it for someone. Eleanor grinned and pulled the chair back, watching as Zoe scrambled to sit upright with a smile.

'You didn't have to save me a seat,' she said quietly as she sat down with Zoe on her left and Dick on her right at the head of the table.

'Dick asked me to save it for you,' Zoe shrugged and accepted the salad bowl that Connor passed over to her.

She looked at Dick who smirked a little but let his stare remain on the empty plate in front of him. With a small shake of her head, she turned her attention to Rose who was trying to place a piece of chicken on her plate for her.

'Oh, thank you!' She muttered, eyeing the potatoes in Hank's grasp. They looked delicious. 

'Lucky last!' Rose chirped.

'Oh, did you want it?' Eleanor asked her, holding her plate up.

'Oh, no! No, it's okay, I can have the steak.'

'No, no have the chicken, take it, it's okay. You don't want Dick's attempt at a steak.'

'Hey!' He said in disbelief with a small chuckle. He looked at the end of the table, past Rose and Eleanor who had decided to split the chicken in half, and met Bruce's eye. This felt like family to him, and for the first time in his life, he was going to tell everyone how he felt. 'Donna Troy and I were a couple of strays.' His words caused silence. 'Nothing linking us other than parents that liked to dress up at night and fight crime. She saw us as family. But I wasn't much interested in family then. Families can be fucked up. I mean, look around. We've all spent our lives recovering from the damage done by our fucked up families.'

Eleanor winced at the way he continuously swore and covered Zoe's ears, making everyone laugh, including Zoe. Dick apologised with a wide smile and placed his hand on her knee.

'Donna knew something I didn't. If you throw enough strays together, you get the best kind of family. One bound not by DNA... but by a collective sense of duty and devotion to another. And when you lose someone you love... You need this. What we have right here. What's next for us all? I don't know. It's a million-dollar question. Anyway...' He looked at Eleanor and followed her actions of raising the strange orange drink. 'To Donna Troy. Thanks for giving me a second chance at family. And thanks to you guys for taking me back in... To the Titans,' Dick said and held his drink up to toast.

'Titans,' everyone murmured.

'To Donna Troy,' Kory said with a smile, making everyone agree with enthusiasm.

They all knocked their bottles together and took a collective sip. There were some strong reactions, Connor even going as far as cringing and spitting it back into the bottle.

'That's what she's been drinking this whole time?' Hank asked as he placed his bottle down and pushed it far away from himself.

'I think it's great,' Dawn chirped as she admired the bottle.

As Kory and Dawn ganged up on Hank and his dislike for the drink, Eleanor turned her attention to Zoe.

'I know a lot has happened with your parents, and this is certainly not what you have in mind when you think of family, but if you let us try our best, I can promise you, you will never be loved as much as we can love you. What do you say?' Eleanor asked, unaware of having pulled the whole table's attention.

Zoe broke into a grin and nodded, which caused the table to erupt into cheers.

Hank placed his hand on her head as Kory leaned over and grabbed her hand. 

'Welcome to the Titans kid,' Kory said and smiled widely at the way Zoe's face lit up.

Dick and Eleanor shared a small look, her hand sliding down her thigh to find Dick's that remained held against her knee. Their fingers interlocked quickly and firmly.

'Guys? Cops and the bomb squad are responding to a disturbance in the Mission District,' Gar said from the kitchen, twirling the tea towel around his hand nervously. 'Sounds bad.'

Everyone refused to look up at one another. Who was to make the first move? Did they even respond? What was going to happen without one of their strongest to lead them?

The silence was broken by a chair scraping across the floor. Dawn only made it two steps away before she turned around and looked at everyone expectantly. 

'What are we waiting for?' She asked before continuing towards the training room.

Smiles broke onto the faces of the Titans as everyone stood up with pride, accepting the new challenge. Zoe jumped out of her seat and tossed her napkin onto her plate, causing Eleanor to smile a little and stand up as well, being one of the last to leave the table.

As she grabbed Zoe's hand, she placed the other on Dick's shoulder and squeezed it firmly before letting go and following after the others, not seeing Dick watch them leave over his shoulder with a growing smile.

He looked back at Bruce who showed the faintest smile and nodded. 

'There's your answer,' he said before letting his grin shine through.

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