Don't Fear the Reaper

93) Break it Down Now Y'all

IMPORTANT A/N: may I just say, to give you guys an idea at the mental capacity I have had the last like 2 months, I lost all motivation to write/edit for this book because I realized I had a tiny little retcon that I needed to fix, and the idea of fixing it was too much... so... anyways, in chapter 57 when Tim in on the phone with Kon, he says that bruce is gonna kill him, but I realized that Kon does not know who the Bats are, so pretend he said 'batman is gonna kill me'. IK I could go back and edit it, but that feels like too much rn, so I'm not gonna. Just know that Kon does not know the IDs of the Batfam and same goes for most of the team.

A/N #2: ALSO, another reason I didn't want to edit is that this chapter is literally 8k words, but I can't break it into multiple in a natural way, so you guys just get a long ass chapter.

Nico sat along the wall, knitting and watching the others spar. He'd done the other training with them, but chose not to participate in that section. He knew it probably would have been fine, but also knew himself and if something had gone wrong, it was going to start a whole new spiral, and he didn't really need that at the moment. He was already in the trenches of his 'what is family and do I deserve one' crisis.

"Ghost," Artemis called, approaching him from across the gym. "Since you're sitting out, wanna help me set up for movie night?"

"Movie night?" Nico asked with a confused tone but still stood up and shoved his knitting stuff into his tote, beginning to follow Artemis as she led them out of the room. "Is this some like team bonding thing?"

Artemis looked like she was about to respond before she paused, turning to look at him with a look of realization. "You're from Gotham too, right?"

"I mean, I'm from Italy—as I've said multiple time—but I currently live in Gotham, if that's what you mean," he said, looking at her skeptically.

"Okay, so you know the Wayne's, right?"

"Uhh-" he began to sound, not sure how she figured it out so fast and kinda internally panicking.

"Or, like, obviously you don't know them, but you know who they are," she said, apparently misreading his panic as confusion.

"Oh, yeah, that... that makes more sense." He instantly felt a rush of anxiety leave his body. "Yes, I know who they are."

Artemis smirked, a scheming look in her eye as she nodded for them to keep walking, her voice slightly quieter as she continued. "Okay, so we do this every time there is a Wayne Gala. The bats are never at the mountain because they have to be on standby since apparently every criminal in Gotham is obsessed with that family, so it's an all hands on deck night for them. So, since they aren't here and can't scold us for being 'immature' or whatever, we have some fun. We call it Wayne Watch and we basically just watch the live stream of the events and play Wingo—Wayne Bingo—and laugh at all the stupid stuff the Waynes do."

Nico kept his expression schooled, but that was one of the funniest things he'd heard in a while. "So, when the bats are gone—because they're on patrol—you just sit around and watch the Waynes?"

Artemis shrugged as they walked into the kitchen/living room, going over to the cabinets and beginning to pull out piles of snacks. "Basically, yeah. Half the time it is just footage from the like red carpet before the event, but sometimes—tonight included—they'll have some cameras in the building so we can watch what goes on inside."

"Okay, but why?" Nico asked. He understood why it could be entertaining, but he wanted to know her answer.

Artemis, arms full of snacks, turned to look at him in shock. "Oh my god, have you never seen them? They are like reality tv characters, only 10 times funnier. I went to the same school as the oldest, Dick Grayson, and he was fine enough as a person, but I swear, something happens to them at these galas that makes them go crazy stupid."