A Part of The Family (Nico Di Angelo meets the batfam)

8

A few days had passed, and Nico was no closer to figuring out what Nyx was up to. It worried him. He didn't like the feeling of not knowing what he was up against, unfortunately, it was a feeling that he was used to. 

He couldn't leave Gotham and look for answers, partly because the Waynes wouldn't let down their guard, they seemed to think that the second they did he would be gone, and partly because so far it seemed that staying in Gotham was his best bet for right now. He had no other leads and the city seemed to be important.

 Important enough that Nyx had made it so the longer he stayed in Gotham the weaker his powers got, and important enough that Nyx had pulled some strings to get Nico to Gotham. There was no doubt in his mind about it. Nyx was the reason that he was in Gotham. The monsters that he had been fighting wouldn't usually work together and it didn't make sense that he would end up in Gotham of all places when he shadow traveled. Sure, he had accidentally traveled to China the first time, but Gotham was different. Gotham was actively draining his powers, he wouldn't have ended up on that fire escape without outside interference, he was sure of it.

Nico closed the Greek Mythology book he had been reading. Just like the other countless books he had read; this one hadn't helped him at all. He started to pick up another book when Bruce walked in, carrying some papers. He looked at the many books spread out on the table and raised an eyebrow. "The boys said that you were interested in mythology, but this is starting to seem less and less like and interest and more like you're looking for something." 

Nico shrugged and turned back to his book. He wasn't going to try to explain himself until Bruce asked outright and so far, Bruce seemed too wary of overstepping his boundaries and undoing the progress they had made in making Nico feel welcome to interrogate Nico too much. That's not to say that he didn't ask questions and didn't try to figure out what was happening, but he'd take it slow at first. He'd wait until he was sure that Nico would feel safe enough answering their questions. 

Bruce sat down in front of Nico and set the papers on the table. This was strange since Bruce never did his work in here unless he wanted to be able to spend some time with the family and they were in here. "I'm sorry to spring this on you, but in order for you to go to school with the boys I need you to take a test. It's just to see how much you know and what you could use a little more help on. You don't have to worry about getting everything right. Just try to do your best. It's ok if there are things you don't know," Bruce promised. 

Nico eyed the papers. He wished being a child of Hades came with the power to set things on fire with pure disgust alone. Then he wouldn't have to deal with the atrocity known as schoolwork. He wasn't even in school yet and he already had to take tests. Nico sighed and set down his book. He took the pencil Bruce offered him and grabbed the papers. If he wanted to go to school, he would have to take the test. 

Nico's disgust grew with each math equation and science formula. Why did he even need to know any of this? Why did anyone need to know any of this unless they were studying to become a scientist? But then again why had he agreed to going to school in the first place? Maybe he should've listened to all of those weird voices telling him that he made a mistake. 

(AKA the comments about him choosing to go to school and how it was a mistake because school is torture. lol might as well make the uniforms orange or with black and white stripes.) 

Bruce took out his laptop and started to go over files and stocks and whatever else rich business owners had to do for work. Apparently, he had decided to stick around while Nico took his test. Nico started with what he guessed would be the easiest for him, which was history, for obvious reasons. He might still have to do math and English, but he'd put it off for as long as possible.