Mimic

Jewelry

The moment Bruce signed the papers, we were on the front page of the Gotham Gazette, and I was the talk of Gotham Academy. I went from being New Girl to Wayne's Brat Number Two, but I didn't mind. Well, I lived in constant fear of Father finding out and killing me, but other than that the spotlight didn't phase me. Naturally, Dick loved all the attention.

But of course, becoming the ward of Bruce Wayne had its problems. For example, Barbara.

"I just want you two to know," she said at lunch while reading the newspaper, "That I hate you both."

"Ah, don't kid," Dick smirked, "You know you love us."

Silence.

"I'm sorry for not telling you Julia lived with me," Dick said, although he was more teasing than sincere.

"No," Barbara sighed, "I should've figured it out on my own. It was obvious, but I just thought you drove her to and from school."

"Well, now you know my big secret that you've been trying to guess," he laughed and took a sip of his drink.

"This isn't your secret," Barbara scoffed, "It's not the secret anyway. I'm still on to you, Grayson."

"I'm glad, Gordon," he smiled. Once again, I felt like a third wheel, but I'd gotten used to it. The three of us had just gotten back into normal conversation when someone else stormed towards us, annoyed that she wasn't aware of my home life.

"You seem distraught," Dick told her with a mischievous smirk that I was sure Artemis wanted to slap off.

"Yeah, extremely," Artemis said, then began pointing her finger at the two of us, "Explanation. Now."

"After, y'know, my parents," I started, not quite sure how to explain this without exposing both the secret of my heritage to Artemis and my crime-fighting to Barbara, "I needed a place to stay. So Dick let me stay at his house, and because of all these legal problems, Bruce had to become my legal guardian."

"So you two are like," Artemis narrowed her eyes, "Siblings?"

"No," Dick answered quickly, "She's not legally Bruce's daughter."

"Okay," Artemis nodded, "Are you going to tell Wally and the others?"

"No!" I said, way too quickly. Way too suspiciously.  

"Who are the others?" Barbara asked, forking a piece of lettuce, "Sounds ominous."

"Babs," Dick said slowly, as if lecturing a child, "I have other friends."

"The eighth wonder of the world," the redhead muttered.

Artemis laughed at the jest, then said, "I should get going, Bette's waiting on me."

"Tell Bette I said hi!" Dick shouted after her as she walked away. Without saying a word, Artemis did a half-hearted wave to show she had heard Dick's request.

"I swear, you're the shadiest person alive," Barbara murmured.

"Nah," Dick chuckled, "That title goes to Julia."

Barbara scanned me with her eyes, shrugged, then said, "Actually, I think you're right."

***

By this time, I'd been patrolling with the Dynamic Duo multiple times. Every Friday and some Saturday nights. Nowadays, the three of us went together.

"Please," Robin said to Batman as we jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

"No."

"I know we're not supposed to tell people our secret ID's, but can't we make an exception?" Robin pleaded.