When Worlds Collide

126) Kayla: the Best Detective

Bruce woke up and nearly had a heart attack. Not only had he fallen asleep without meaning to, but Nico was gone.

Bruce fell off the cot as he attempted to stand up, rushing over to the attatched closet. He threw it open, but there was no Nico.

"How the fuck did I loose him again?" Bruce muttered as he ran out of the room, instantly running down the dark hallways until he reached his eldest's room and began frantically knocking. He wanted to just go in, but after an incident when Dick was fifteen, Bruce had always knocked. One time the manor was actually under attack, and the man still knocked.

Neither of them needed any more trauma.

"What?" Dick groaned as he opened the door, his eyes half asleep and completely annoyed.

"I lost Nico," Bruce said, panic clear on his face.

"What?!" Hazel yelled, apparently having woken up from his knocking considering her room was across from Dick's.

"What's happening?" Tim asked as his head peaked out of his door.

"Bruce lost Nico," Dick said, still half asleep. "How did you loose him though? He can't leave his room."

"Well apparently he did," Bruce said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Kayla appeared in the hallway, leaning against the wall with crossed arms. "Did he take his leg?"

"What?"

The ginger rolled her eyes, walking past Bruce and disappearing into Nico's room before emerging a moment later, this time with a prosthetic leg in hand. "World's greatest detective my ass," she muttered. "Didn't even think to check if his disabled son had bothered to put on his leg."

Jason began to cackle, causing Damian to also appear in the hallway.

"What is happening? Why is everyone in the hallway at 4 in the morning?" The youngest demanded.

Jason, who was still laughing, answered for the group. "Bruce lost Nico and Kayla was just a better detective than him"

Damian nodded, accepting both of those facts scarily fast. "Makes sense."

"What?" Bruce asked, exasperated.

Damian just shrugged. "You tend to loose us quite a bit."

Bruce opened his mouth to refute that, but then each of his sons gave him a raised eyebrow look as if to say 'really?' and he closed his mouth, instead running a hand through his hair. "Can we just focus on finding Nico?"

Kayla shrugged. "Stumpy wouldn't go to far without his leg," she said, lifting up the prosthetic that she was still holding as if back up her point.

"Why are you still carrying it?" Tim asked, not judgmentally, just curious.

"Its a conversation starter," she said with a shrug.

Hazel stared at them with a look of both amusement and annoyance. "Okay, but what about Nico."

The group was quiet for a second before Damain seemed to realize something. "Where is Solace?"

While Bruce immediately assumed the worse, that Nico had gone to seen Will and had a break down, his sons had a... different reaction.

"That whore!" Jason said, looking personally offended.

"What?" Hazel said, looking offended on behalf of her brother.

"No, not Nico," Jason quickly amended. "I meant Will."

Hazel glanced at Kay as if to say 'you okay with this?' but the ginger just shrugged.

Jason, now seeing that Kay was fine with his statement, surged forward towards Will's room.

Bruce wished he could say that he didn't follow when everyone else did because he wanted to respect his son's privacy and choices... but he wasn't that chill of a parent.

Jason, not even bothering to knock, just kicked open the door. Bruce had been prepared to literally sprint away if it was going to be a repeat of what happened when Dick was 15, but the room was empty.

"Huh," Dick said, looking at the empty room in surprise. "They aren't in here."

And that was when the fear set in. What if Nico and Will had talked and Nico freaked out? What if Will was looking for him too? What if Nico was actually missing?

"What is all this commotion about?" Alfred asked, walking into the hallway.

"What are you doing up?" Bruce asked, momentarily distracted from his spiral about Nico. "I told you to take the night off."

Alfred raised an eyebrow. "I recall. I also recall that I said no to the time off. I was planning on checking in on you and Master Nico, however I saw he was will he boyfriend in the back garden and decided to let them be. Then I heard a commotion up here and came to see if we were being robbed... again."

Instead of any of them responding to the butler, they began sprinting past him and towards the stairs.

"No running!" Alfred called.

They all switched to speed walking as they approached the stairs, trying to be quiet as they made their way towards the back patio. As they peered out the windows that faced the back yard, they saw Nico clutching onto Will tightly, despite the fact that the son of Apollo was glowing.

Bruce felt weight lift off of his chest as he saw the light reflecting off his son's face, something he had honestly been scared he would never see again. It was clear that the light still scared Nico, due to the look on his face and the way he shook slightly in Will's grip, but he was facing it. He wasn't hiding or internalizing it until it crushed him. He was embracing it and choosing to not let it run his life.

And then Nico opened his eyes.

Bruce and the others all froze, really not expecting him to notice them so immediately. Hazel gave a small, awkward wave to the duo that were now staring at the group like a deer in headlights.

And then Nico laughed. He laughed and Will joined in and the glow got brighter, but Nico didn't shy away. His hands shook, even as he held onto Will's hand, but he kept his grip.

After a minute, Nico gave a small head nod to tell them they could come outside.

The group, still a little shocked to see Nico outside of his room, made their way outside.

"Color?" was the first thing that Bruce said when he got outside.

Nico looked slightly surprised that it was the first thing Bruce would jump to.

"Yellow, but," Nico said quietly before opening his arms slightly, shyly signaling that Bruce could hug him.

The man wasted no time in surging forward and wrapping Nico in a hug.

"Next time, please save me a heart attack and leave a note," Bruce muttered into Nico's hair as he held onto his son.

"Sorry," Nico muttered.

Bruce held onto him a minute longer before begrudgingly beginning to release Nico, but to his surprise, Nico just hugged him tighter. The man couldn't help the smile that grew on his face as he held his son. He didn't think he would be able to any time soon, and yet there they were.

"Thanks for looking for me," Nico muttered into his chest.

Bruce let out a heavy breath, holding onto Nico even tighter. "Thanks for always coming back to us."

A/N: ik this was a little shorter, but I am struggling to find a way to transition from this part to my final endgame I have in mind. I think I just need to sit down and write the part I want to get to, and then come back and figure it out, but I am tired rn so thats a problem for later 

Vote. Comment. Tell me congratulations (I am finally feeling better and am feeling optimistic about not having covid).