From Camp Half-Blood to Gotham (Nico x Batfam)

Conversations were so not Nico's thing. (3)

Nico felt the 'movie night' invite was not so much of an invitation as it felt very required.

Now Nico was regretting ever leaving more so than ever. He felt awkward as he sat in a corner of the movie room as the four other boys debated on the family life depicted in a certain 'Incredibles 2' movie. Nico had never watched a movie like this before, the idea of masked superheroes running around sounded so ludicrous it made Nico smile. Except, Nico ran into one of them, and suddenly the movie didn't seem as funny. Maybe 'hero' wasn't the right word, because Batman didn't seem as friendly or comical as the movie portrayed the Incredibles as.

Nico's eyes darted around the room and peered out the windows for the thousandth time. His all-powerful and always right, demigod tingle, was still unnervingly absent. Nico was appreciative of the break from monster attacks but being a child of the big three, in a room where a Television was actively playing, surrounded by cellphones and other electronic devices, made him nervous. And the anxiety that came from constantly waiting for something terrible to happen around his new mortal 'family' was definitely not welcome in Nico's brain. Not that he could stop it.

"What do you think Nico?" Dick asked, shoving his face full of popcorn. Nico blinked. He hadn't even registered that there was a conversation happening and that it had somehow been directed at him.

"No stupid!" Jason shouted indignantly; Nico had to wrinkle his nose at the sight of chewed-up food spraying from his mouth. "He obviously agrees with me," Jason said, crossing his arms. Nico had no clue what was going on, luckily Tim leaned into Nico's ear and whispered.

"Which vigilante do you think is cooler, Nightwing or Red Robin?" Nico had no clue who either of these people were but if they were anything like Batman he would rather not meet them.

"Nightwing," Nico said simply, the name sounded cooler to him. Dick shot to his feet and laughed. The tiniest of frowns appeared on Tim's face but it disappeared quickly. Nico couldn't resist the eye roll at the sight of Dick sticking his tongue out at Jason and waggling his wingers over his head like floppy reindeer horns. Then Nico's eyes met Damian's and he was reminded that there was something different about this family.

Damian had his eyes fixed on Nico and it made him nervous. Nico was used to the analyzing and cold look that he had received from many, many different demigods and monsters alike over the years he had been a demigod. But this one was a little different. It aligned more with the monster's looks. Damian's went to his neck and his hands, something staring straight at his chest. Nico would have had no clue what Damian was looking at if he didn't remember his camp necklace was dangling around his neck. Nico knew the few beads he had collected probably looked a little strange, with the bow and arrow bead Nico had placed front and center as an honor to the summer his sister died.

Nico also knew that Damian was looking at his camp Half-Blood t-shirt that Nico had changed into a few hours ago. Nico had a 'special' camp Half-Blood t-shirt that Leo and Piper made as a 'haha funny joke' t-shirt. It was black and there was a skull that was cracked neatly in half, as if it were revealing the letters CHB that had been placed neatly inside, printed right in the center. Nico loved this shirt, even if he made a huge deal about never wearing it when either Piper or Leo were around.

As for Nico's hands, he knew they were scarred. Probably more scarred than they should be. But Nico decided that he shouldn't waste his already little amount of energy on controlling the mist (a skill Hazel had insisted on teaching him) to hide them in case of a dangerous monster attack.

Nico just smiled at Damian, hoping that he didn't look like the cold glare he was receiving affected him at all. Nico forced his eyes to return to the television, pretending to focus on the scenes that were taking place.