Don't Fear the Reaper

55) The Like to Gab? Nah, I Think You Mean Bab

A/N: fun fact, this chapter was originally like 1k words and then, at around 11:30, I was like 'maybe I can make it a little bit longer'... it's nearly 3k now so only like a third is actually edited... but yeah. enjoy! 

The Wayne kids were all in the backyard, just fucking around and enjoying the nice weather. It had been foggy and humid for the past week, but the sun had finally broken through the clouds enough to give them some sunshine and dry up all the dampness from the ground. Apparently Gotham didn't get a lot of days like that, so Dick had quite literally forced everyone into the backyard to actually get some sunlight for once, and sadly, Nico was not excluded from that.

Nico had been forced to join them, very much against his will, because he was apparently 'so pale, he might as well be transparent' and he didn't have a good comeback to that so...

They had managed to get him outdoors, but he held his ground, refusing to leave the back porch. He just sat on the steps, watching as they wrestled in the grass (they had originally been tossing a frisbee, but it quickly turned into an all out brawl before they had even been there 10 minutes).

If Nico was being honest—which was basically never, but he allowed himself the small liberty in that moment—it was kinda nice. He watched them and, for just a moment, he allowed himself to think back to camp; not in the days after the wars, but before he ever understood what it was to be a Half-Blood. He watched them through the lens of his 10 year old self who showed up to camp and only saw the good. The kid who ran around with the other demigods as one of them and who lived in the Hermes cabin because a godly claiming was rare and far between.

He watched them and saw flashes of the Stolls, who had originally taken it upon themselves to fully corrupt him into a prankster, no matter if he was their brother or not. He saw Malcom who had been tasked with teaching the Mythology classes that week. He saw Selina as she showed them how to use a kiln and Charles as he showed them what the other Hephaestus kids had invented that week and then immediately gotten banned. He saw Lee teaching Archery and Michel begrudgingly teaching poetry because he lost a bet. He saw Pollux and Castor in the strawberry fields with Katie, laughing as they grew the biggest strawberries he had seen in his life.

Those memories filled him, and just for a second, he let himself yearn. He let himself wish that those memories were his life still, because that life was so much easier. That life, it was too perfect to be corrupted by the radioactive haze of the Lazarus Pit or by the putrid smell of necrotic tissue that clung to his mind after a mortal died on his blade. That life didn't include being haunted by the echoing screams of those who died in the wars or the flashes of Tartarus he could never quite escape.

For just a moment, he watched the Waynes as they laughed and shoved each other into the dirt, and he allowed himself to mourn that life he lost. He mourned for everything he never had that chance to do and for everything he had been forced to do after. He let the longing grab onto him, expecting it to feel like a blow to the gut, but instead, it felt like a tearful hug. It left like comfort amidst tragedy—like someone who knew there was nothing they could do to change the situation, so instead they were just going to sit with you in your misery, because at least it was something.

"You thinkin about joining in?" a voice asked from behind him, making him jump slightly. "Sorry, I probably should have warned you better. They they told me not to accidentally sneak up on you, but I completely forgot. Mind if I join you?"

Nico stared at Barbra, completely frozen for a long moment before numbly nodding.

The girl, large braces secured around her hips, knees, and ankles, slowly moved with her loftstrand crutches and sat at the patio table, nodding for Nico to take the seat across from her.