Don't Fear the Reaper

87) I Gunsta Be Writing Emotional Monologues

A/N: still recovering and the brain fog is goin crazy, so pretend I edited this well.

Bruce was kinda glad that Nico hadn't immediately joined them in training when he offered it to the kid. It was a small thing, but Bruce felt like it was a good sign that the kid was actually thinking it through and fully considering his options. Granted, with the way Nico had been lurking around the manor, just silently observing them all, he had a feeling that him abstaining for training was more about something else than it was him thinking about his own wants.

"Bruce?" a quiet voice said from the cracked door of his office before it was pushed just a bit more open and Nico's face came into view. "Can I... can I ask you something?"

Bruce did his best to just casually nod and not let it show how unbelievably happy he was that Nico was coming to him. "Of course. You can ask me anything."

Nico nodded a little bit, taking a deep breath before he crossed over the threshold of the door and hesitantly moved to sit in the seat across from Bruce. The man expected the kid to cut right to the chase—Nico was rarely one to beat around the bush—but he just fidgeted lightly in his seat, picking at his nail beds nervously.

"Is everything okay?" Bruce asked softly, his full attention on Nico despite the pile of paperwork that sat atop his desk.

"Yes, everything is fine," Nico said quickly, though his eyes didn't meet Bruce's. "I just... I have been thinking about what you said in the medbay—what you offered—and, well... I don't know."

"Nico, there is absolutely no pressure for you to join us if you don't want to," Bruce was quick to reassure the teenager. "We just thought that it might be something you'd want, but-"

"I want to, it's just..." Nico cut in, seeming to have an internal debate over what to say with the way he kept opening and closing his mouth. Bruce sat patiently, not wanting to rush him, until finally he spoke again. "I sparred with the others while you were gone, and Steph and I did some training before we went to Downtown Gotham, and I used the holopad at the mountain a lot."

Bruce nodded lightly, not knowing that that kid was getting at. "That's all true. Canary even told me she was impressed with your skill, and she doesn't give out compliments lightly."

Nico offered him a small, tight lipped smile, but his eyes betrayed how anxious he still was. "I'm well trained. I know my limits, and I do my best to know other people's limits too. I know how hard to hit and all the places to avoid—I didn't even seriously injure any of the assassin I fought at the Mountain. I just..."

Bruce's heart clenched as he realized what the kid was trying to say. "Nico, are you worried that you might hurt one of us?"

The Italian glanced at him briefly before looking back down at his hands, his jaw clenching slightly. "I know you're all well trained, and this isn't me trying to discredit that, but I've never really trained with a group other than the LoA, and they do things differently. I don't want to slip up and accidentally—"

"You won't," Bruce said, knowing the words to be true. "I know you're scared, and I understand why, but you don't have to be."

"But what if-"

"Nico, look at me," Bruce cut in, really needing the kid to actually hear him. He waited until Nico finally met his eyes before he continued. "I am confident in that fact that you won't go too far—the fact that I invited you to join us should be proof enough of that. I take training very seriously, and I take threats to my family even more seriously. I would have never offered for you to join all of us if I thought, even for a moment, that you might take it too far."