Don't Fear the Reaper

51) Riko and Nico vs. the World

A/N: I keep trying to write shorter chapters cause they take less time to edit, but this one is literally 2.8k so... 

Slowly but surely, they had begun to let Nico out of the room. It was never for too the long, the kid always asking to be returned to his cell after an hour or two, but it was still a step in the right direction.

They had started with more neutral areas, places he had frequented before Bruce had been found. He knit with Steph in the library, read with Jason in the main drawing room, sat with Alfred in the informal dining room while he read the paper— stuff like that. They never pushed too far, but they still did their best to get him to interact with the world around him.

It was slow progress, but they had learned to take the small wins. By the one and a half month mark of him being back in the manor, they had worked up to the point of him being around the entire family and being okay— though it was only in large rooms where no more than 3 people did more than a nod to acknowledge his existence. They had tried to get him to a family dinner, but it went wrong basically as soon as it began and he was leading the way back to his cell before Alfred had even brought out water for them.

However, through their mutual trial and error tests, they had vaguely figured out the root causes of his issues. With a mix of what Nico would mention offhandedly and the vague understanding that Jason and Damian had of his powers, they posited that his issue wasn't technically about how many people were there or how many of them talked to him: it was about awareness.

Apparently he could sense people's presence with his powers, and since those there currently cut off, he had little to no spacial awareness— something that seemed put him on edge quite a bit. The fact that the demigod didn't have constant knowledge of where every single person around him was at every moment made him not only uncomfortable, but very dangerous. Jason, Damian, and Cass had nearly been attacked multiple times because of how quietly they moved, only saved by the fact that Nico wasn't used to attacking people without his powers.

How to solve this problem?

Apparently, it was to invite over the least subtle person the family knew: Riko Sheridan, Duke's friend from his old 'We Are Robin' days.

Now, ordinarily, Duke would have no problem with having Riko over. The duo hung out quite a bit and it wasn't like him inviting her to the manor was a new thing, but having her over for the sole purpose of testing if Nico could remain non-violent around strangers had made him so stressed that he was pretty sure he was going to go gray before Bruce.

"Master Duke, Miss Sheridan has arrived," Alfred said, stepping into the room and setting down a tray of snacks in the center of the living room. "Master Bruce is speaking with her for a moment, but he will send her up here right after."

Duke's hands had never been so sweaty in his life. He had been in hostage situations that had felt more relaxed than this. "What is Bruce telling her?"

Alfred looked at him with a raise eyebrow, fully aware that this situation had been discussed multiple times and Duke most definitely had the plan memorized by now; however he was a saint and still said, "he is telling her about the 'foster child' living with us at the moment who will be joining you two today. According to what she is being told, Nico is the cousin of Jason who has been very antisocial since the passing of his primary guardian. Miss Sheridan is being given all the warnings of what to and not to do with Nico."

Duke let out a slow breath, nodding slightly. Realistically, he was very aware that not only could Riko defend herself, but that Nico had remained essentially non-violent for a while now. The assassin, if anything, only attacked verbally in recent days if someone pushed him too far or said the wrong thing.