When Worlds Collide

61) They Like to Gab

A/N: tis a bit short, but its just some cute filler + some cute art I did^

Nico walked through the manor, bored out of his mind. He had just hung out with Will for the morning at the park in downtown Gotham, but he had to get back to camp so Nico was left with nothing to do. Bruce was at work, Alfred was busy, Dick was out with Wally, Jason was out with his partners (either on a mission or a date, he wasn't sure), and Damian was with Jon.

"Tiiiiiiiim," Nico groaned out as he knocked on his brother's door. "I'm dying."

The door opened suddenly after a loud thump, probably from Tim falling, and he was suddenly grabbed by the shoulders. "What's wrong? Did a monster attack? Are you stabbed? Is it internal? You could have a disease or— oh my gods, I don't even know if you have vaccinations-"

"Tim-" Nico tried to interrupt as Tim spiraled, eyes scanning him over for an injury.

"When you were born, I don't even know if they had  vaccines— not to mention it was war times so they might just have not given them to you!"

"Tim-" he tried again, but still to no avail.

"I need to call Will! He should know, right? Or should I call Kayla since she's your doctor now— but then again, Will was your doctor for longer. Kayla only became your doctor after you lost your leg— is it your leg? Is it phantom pains? I can grab your compression-"

Nico freed his arm and covered Tim's mouth, finally making him stop. "For the love of Dionysus, how much coffee have you had today?"

Tim blinked. "Depends, what day is it?"

Nico groaned. "It's Tuesday. Late in the afternoon."

"Then 4," Tim said after a moment to think.

"Cups?"

"Pots."

"Jesus Christ."

Tim looked confused. "You worship Greek Gods."

Nico shrugged. "Worship is a strong word. That would be like you worshipping Bruce."

"So you're Christian?"

"No, but I grew up Catholic. Old habits die hard, I guess."

Tim nodded thoughtfully before he seemed to remember the whole 'Nico is dying' panic he was in. "Wait, aren't you hurt?"

"Nope."

"Then why did you say you were dying?"

Nico walked into Tim's room and flopped back onto the bed. "Because I am. There is nothing to do and boredom is gonna kill me."

Tim shook his head at Nico as he walked back to his desk. "I thought Will was coming over after the park."

"Emergency at camp. Clarisse threw the Stolls off the top of the rock wall. They'll be fine, but Will is the only one who can both keep the Stolls in line and stop Clarisse from finished the job."

"What about Tiffany? You could finally call her back."

Nico flipped over so he was on his stomach, turning to watch Tim type on his computer. "I called her yesterday. We chatted for a while and made plans for when she gets back from France. Her dad took her on a work trip so she could see her grandparents."

"The team?"

Nico groaned. "According to the group chat you guys put me in, the only people in the mountain right now are the newbies, Bart, and Jaime. I don't know the rookies well enough for it to be entertaining and Bart and Jaime are just gonna be flirting with each other. I don't know why they just don't get together already."

"Tell me about it. How about Garf?"

"He's on set until 7 and then he has some premier he's going to after."

Tim paused, probably trying to think of more options. "What about someone from Camp Jupiter?"

"They're doing training right now and then there is a senate meeting. I have a call with Hazel later about the topics up for vote since she's still my proxy, but that's not for 5 more hours."

Tim swiveled in his chair to look at Nico. "Camp Half-Blood?"

Nico shook his head. "Will is busy. Rachel said she was 'in a painting session with the Council of Cloven Elders'. I don't know what that means, but I don't think I want to join. Piper is with her dad, Percy and Annabeth are with Aunt Sally, Bitchy is helping Will, Leo is working at his shop and said I can't come over unless I am willing to help— but he's working on Festus and I don't want to smell like gasoline and hot sauce for the rest of the week. Plus, Jason is back in Boston."

Tim spun in his chair. "What about... Gio? Or Juliet? You're friends with them. Or you could give a lesson in sword fighting to some new kids."

"Gio is actually visiting his parent right now, so I can't interrupt. Juliet is working with Malcom on battle strategy for capture the flag since it's Athena vs Poseidon —which will be interesting— and I haven't agreed to join either side yet, so I'm not allowed near. Plus, they have normal activities running right now so I can't just run a class."

Tim chuckled lightly. "Remember when you said you used to not have any friends?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "I know, I know, times have changed, but I'm still bored."

Tim leaned back in his chair, trying to come up with ideas. "I'd offer for you to join me, but I'm doing paperwork for the Olympia Project. By the way, do you know when you'll have the finalized list of who is going to be moving in?"

Nico shrugged. "Applications are due in a week. Annabeth will probably force us to get through them pretty fast, but it'll probably take a while since we already have 84 applicants. Maybe by mid July?"

Tim nodded, scribbling that down on a note card. "Any guess at how many will need to be 'Wayne Scholars'?"

Nico shrugged. "Probably about half?"

Tim nodded, writing that down as well before turning back to look at him. "Duke is on patrol right now. You could join him."

Nico flopped back onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. "I'm disassociated from the League and that includes Batman and company. If I'm seen in broad daylight with Signal, it'll cause questions. Going out at night is one thing since no one can see me, but it's too risky during the day."

"Cass, Barb, or Steph?"

"Barbra is at work, Cass is... I actually don't know what she is doing, but it's something for a mission so I can't join, and Steph has a date."

"With who?"

Nico shrugged. "Wouldn't say. I think it's some girl from her class at North Gotham High. Also, why does she get to go there, but we have to go to GA?"

"Because she was smart and said no when Bruce tried to adopt her."

Nico snorted. "If Steph, Barb, and Cass all live together, does that make Barbra their legal guardian since they're under 18?"

"Nah, Cass and Steph are both emancipated minors. It's a pain to get emancipated usually, but Bruce paid for the good lawyers." Tim went back to spinning in his chair. "I'm technically emancipated."

"What?"

"When Bruce got amnesia, I had to take over running WE for like a month while he healed from his other injuries, but I couldn't live in the manor since he was there. I dropped out of school and petitioned for emancipation. I won."

Nico nodded. "How did he get his memory back?"

"He pushed himself to the point of brain death," Tim said casually.

Nico turned his head and stared at him for a long moment before he began to laugh. "Gods, our family is so messed up."

Tim nodded. "You can say that again." 

A/N: fun fact, I am editing this 15 minutes before it comes out. 

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