The Teen Titans didn't need Raven's ability of sensing others emotions to know Nightwing returned to the tower after a two day absence to see an old friend marginally happier than he'd left.

He hadn't exactly been a depressed person so to speak, he was always chipper and happy and goofing off with Cyborg and Beast Boy on top of his serious hero side, but he came back just that much changed. He smiled just a little more often, and those smiles conveyed just a little more warmth. His laugh took a lighthearted feel to it, and he laughed more easily as some jokes he might not have found funny before. He was the same person, he hadn't changed in that respect, but he was just… a little lighter.

No one noticed it more than Raven, who DID have the ability to sense emotions and clearly recognized the serious—no, majorly overwhelming—jump in his mood. He was suddenly brimming with excitement before missions and honestly entertained and amused by Starfire's bad cooking and the stupid/dorky things Beast Boy did. He wasn't so aggressively irritated and personally insulted when a villain got away. He'd look to the window and feel a rush of satisfaction as he looked out at the city, instead of worry and preoccupation like he used to. But most importantly of all, when hedging around questions alluding to his past or his personal life, he avoided them with a playful air about him, instead of a defensive aggression and a 'no room for arguments' tone in his voice. It was like he was just counting the days now until they figured him out and was ok with that, instead of avoiding it at all cost and feeling a stab of mourning and pain when the subject came up.

Amazing? Yes.

Suspicious? Completely.

Nightwing himself was enjoying this new life he found himself in quite nicely, and easily ignored Raven's frowns and curious/suspicious looks every time he felt a bit happier than he normally would have under the same circumstances. Life was by no means easy, and he still suffered stress from a massive work load, mission failures, Bat insomnia, villains and current ongoing missions, Slade (who deserved his own category of stress apart from other villains), roommate troubles, and an underlying general stress/alertness that never seemed to go away no matter how peaceful the moment, and which Nightwing had mentally started calling Bat paranoia.

He still had stress and troubles and things to overcome on a daily basis that never seemed to go away, but it was with the overarching idea that he was doing good. He was confident in everything he did that he did it because he was doing what he was supposed to be doing, not just because he was hiding from Batman and dealing with Jason's death. This was his life now, and it was something he actually wanted to work at for his future, not just as a mean to forget the past.

Jason wasn't dead anymore, he kept in better contact with both his brothers, and he'd deduced through that increased contact (through Tim mostly) that Bruce was giving him just as wide a berth as he was giving to him, and therefore didn't have to stress so much that Batman was going to hunt him down and drag him back to Gotham randomly one night.

It was all working out nicely.

This life was far from perfect, with half his family disconnected from him (ok, most of it except two seeing as he viewed the League, and even some of the villains he'd grown up fighting and therefore also had a part in raising him—kinda, sorta, hard to explain relationships—were all out of contact seemingly permanently). But still, he had two brothers, which was two more people from his past than he'd had before, and that was just fantastic.

But the main thing was that Dick had come to this city because of Jason's death. He'd avoided talking about his past because of Jason's death. He'd avoided and closed off from everything because of Jason's death…!

And now, miraculously, Jason wasn't dead anymore.

That doesn't mean it still didn't happen, but the effects on Dick's life were suddenly not so vice-like as they were before. Things had an opportunity to heal, and get better. It was actually a conversation with Jason that opened his eyes to the new life he might consider taking:

"You're telling me the Titans don't even know who you are? Or, uh, were? Not even your team?"

"Uh, not really." Dick admitted offhandedly, hacking into stock files as he talked into his earpiece one late night when both Bat children knew neither of them would be sleeping.

"Well, you really are Bruce's clone, aren't you?" Jason spat sarcastically into the com.

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

"Lemme guess, you told them it's "safer" for them not to know about your past, right?" Jason snapped.

Dick blinked, shocked he knew that. Then again, he probably shouldn't be so surprised. Jason and Tim had a tendency to know things about him that even he didn't realize he had a habit of doing, and vice versa.

"I thought so." He said smugly. "Well let me tell you, Golden Boy, that the Bat does the same thing. 'It's too emotionally difficult to talk about, therefore I'm gonna claim it's a security risk and that I have a noble reason for lying and leaving you out of it' right? That's SO Bruce's M.O. and don't try to deny it."

Dick scoffed. "Says the guy who claims to not have emotions!" He accused right back.

"OI! I'm NOT like him, thankyouverymuch! When I find it too emotionally difficult to talk about, I tell them to f*** off, I don't LIE and say 'oh, I'm doing it to protect you!'" He mocked bitingly. "Insult their intelligence much? They're vigilantes just like us you know, and if they can't handle the f***ing truth, then they shouldn't be heroes at all, and if you can't trust them with— not you're real identity even, but a FORMER mantle— then they shouldn't be your teammates at all—'nuff said. You're only being a wimp about it at this point." He said bluntly.

"When did this turn into a therapy session?" Dick complained under his breath, going back to the files. "And, I HAVE been hiding it from them for over a year now, how am I supposed to just bring it up? 'Oh hey guys, before we have lunch, I'd just like to tell you I was actually the original Robin and have been lying/hiding who I was for the past year even though I'm supposedly one of your best friends and teammate who you've all trusted you life to on a daily basis… so, who's up for pizza?'… uh-huh, that'd go over well."

"You CAN'T do that?"

"And by 'well', I mean incredibly horribly awfully terrible. 'Train wreck with nuclear waste next to a preschool' level bad."

"Wow. Overreact much?"

"Possibly, but that's not the point. How the hell am I supposed to just bring it up after all this time? Wouldn't it be random and a worse shock after waiting a year?"

"Well, if you're really telling them the truth then the story will explain itself for you now won't it?" Dick could practically hear Jason rolling his eyes. "It would explain the timing and why you didn't tell them: easy enough."

"Says you."

"Seriously, if you ARE their teammate who they've trusted their lives to on a daily basis as you say, they'll get it. It's not like you're not still YOU, just, now they'll know a little more than strictly necessary. Get off your high horse, forget the 'noble' act, and just freakin tell them already."

"Yeah, I'll get right on that." Dick huffed.

"You're just patronizing me, aren't you?"

"What am I? Your wife?"

"No, and thank GOD for that! Neither of us know how to cook."

"Shut up. You're one weird bastard, you know that?"

"Aw, but you love me."

"I'm seriously debating it right now."

"I'm hurt Goldie, truly hurt, ya know?"

"You'll live."

"You sure about that?"

"Yes, positive."

"Well, Smarty Pants knows best… but you are telling them right?"

"Ok, that's it, I'm hanging up now."

"Wimp."

"I'm not taking advice from a psychopath!"

"Still a wimp."

"GOODBYE Jason."

"Wimp!"

*Click!*

As much as Dick protested against the blunt way Jason had put it, it did get him thinking at least. He knew Raven was suspicious, and had grown accustomed to their occasional questions… so maybe it was time to start giving something back rather than shutting them off completely.

Truly, he didn't have a reason to keep them on the outs anymore, and Jason—who has never been on a team outside Batman before, he might add—really did have a point that if he couldn't trust his team, he was doing something wrong. Here he was talking about team dynamics as he assembled a brand new Titans Central, and he couldn't even trust his teammates with this one little detail about his past…

That he'd been a hero a lot longer than they thought he was.

That he'd been the hero, the first young hero.

Ok, so maybe it wasn't such a little detail. Still, that only made it harder to bring up… hard as it was to ignore it too.

Beast Boy especially, who knew Robin—or at least thought he did—was nagging on Dick's conscious. It felt like lying by omission to the others, but it felt like flat out lying to BB, and even if he was a hundred percent used to lying by now and truly thought he deserved an award for the incredible lies he's pulled off in the past, it still didn't make it any easier to lie to his team. He'd always had such a hard time keeping his ID from Young Justice, but back then Wally had known too which made it slightly easier.

He knew he'd probably never tell them his ID, for the same reason he wouldn't tell YJ. Personal issues aside, he would never risk Bruce like that, or Barbara or Tim. He didn't know if that counted for Jason now, with the public thinking he was out of the picture anyway, and the heroes/villain world thinking him dead. Still, it was a fundamental Bat secret.

But saying he was Robin?

He was only risking his own cover from the League and from Bruce. And was 'risking' even the right word? It wasn't like he was in danger, he just didn't want to deal with the mess that would ensue if word got out. And it wasn't like his team would go blabbing, right? He trusted them! They wouldn't do that to him, even if it wasn't any real danger, save the occasional Gotham villain that stopped by to say 'hello' (and anyway, he was sure both Jason and Tim would both be in Jump within hours to help should that happen).

Nothing save that fixable problem was stopping him. Technically.

…Only him being a wimp.

God, he hated it when Jason was right.

Nightwing was working away at the computer, messaging the possible new members for Titans Central and stewing about this dilemma, when a message bubble popped up, signaling he had an incoming call.

From Tim.

He was very much aware of the rest of his team behind him, Raven meditating and Starfire watching in confusion as BB and Cyborg argued over which movie they were going to see that night while playing video games simultaneously. They decided whoever won the game would decide, and thought it best to argue their points while playing.

Nightwing wanted to just disconnect the signal and message Tim that he was a pawn, but knew that wouldn't go over well. He knew Tim was calling him now—instead of at night when there was less chance of the team being around—because Jason had told him to, just to spite Dick and make his point that he should tell the Titans. The bastard had been trying to sabotage Dick's cover for over two months now with terribly timed calls and intrusions when the Titans were most likely around, and was stubborn as ever in believing he was in the right.

It was… nice of him? Sort of. It showed he cared at the very least, annoying as it was. No, forget annoying—bloody freaking infuriating. But nice in Jason's own way.

He was just lucky he didn't leave Bludhaven very often and that Dick didn't leave Jump frequently either. They loved each other, they really did, but Jason didn't need to die twice, and by the hands of his own brother at that.

With a defeated yet silent sigh, he opened the link.

"I know he sent you." He huffed without preamble.

"What can I say? He's persistent." Tim's voice came out, and Dick could hear him smirking.

"You're such a pawn, you know that? You shouldn't let him order you around." Nightwing pointed out, going back to his researching to take his mind off Jason's irritating tendencies.

"And he says the same thing about you." Tim sighed dramatically. Nightwing couldn't help but smirk. Poor Tim, always the youngest and always being bossed around. Unfortunately for him he was a right little solider to a tee and followed orders perfectly even if it annoyed him, which only prompted more and more orders, knowing he could be trusted to follow through.

"Who's that?" Starfire wondered aloud, losing interest in the boys' game and coming to hover behind him.

"A friend." Nightwing told her with a warm smile, but didn't elaborate.

"Well, since I can't see them, care to share?" Tim pointed out as Starfire looked curiously at the blank screen his voice was coming from.

"This is Starfire, a teammate." Nightwing said simply, knowing full well Tim already knew all of the Titans (he WAS a Bat whose brother was on a team—no duh he knew all about them).

"Pleasure to sort of meet you Starfire." Tim said politely in that formal way of his. "Call me Rob." Dick figured that was a decent enough answer- YJ used to call him Rob all the time and they couldn't make the connection that easily, could they?

"Hello new friend Rob!" Starfire said cheerily. Nightwing was suddenly very thankful it was Starfire who'd noticed his side conversation rather than one of the other three, because she didn't seem too interested in pushing for details, too happy about making a new friend.

"Hello friend Starfire?" Tim repeated in confusion at the odd way she phrased things. Dick bit back a laugh as he pictured Tim's furrowed brow and how he'd shake his head and brush it off like he always did when encountering things his logical, practical mind couldn't comprehend and just went with it.

"Anyway, while calling you for Red is an added bonus, I actually had a reason to call besides that." Tim said, and Wing tilted his head.

"Really?" he said doubtfully.

"Actually yes. It seems that last time you visited you forgot to stop by and tell a certain redhead that you're alive and ok."

Dick immediately thought of Wally, but dismissed it quickly knowing his best friend would know better than to worry about him, or another Bat for that matter. Besides, even if he did worry, Wally knew trying to get information from Tim or another Bat would be a waste of breath and time—second fastest person on earth or not, he was busy enough without dashing over to Gotham (where metas were not welcomed very warmly to begin with) to waste his breath in a useless argument.

Then he thought of Roy, but dismissed that too. Even if the older boy did worry, he'd never admit it OR give in and ask after his adopted little brother to broadcast that he was concerned. He'd think that as a sign of weakness and he was still always trying to prove he was a capable hero, even though he'd been on his own for quite some time now. "Speedy", or a young archer who'd adopted the original mantle of Green Arrows apprentice after Roy's very public split from the emerald archer, was actually a Titan now, and he—who was part of Titans East— was more independent of a hero than Roy, who'd yet to leave Star City and split contact and connections from his old mentor. No, Roy was too proud to inquire after him.

Then he thought of Barbara.

…oh crap.

"She's pissed, isn't she?" He sighed.

"Yep." Tim said matter-of-factly.

Nightwing shook his head sadly. This was so not going to end well for him. Forget Bruce, he suddenly decided he was going to avoid Babs now too.

"She's taking it out on me, you know." Tim said knowingly and Nightwing paled, knowing what was coming. "That's actually why I gave in to Red and called you. I think I might agree with him now."

"Traitor." He muttered darkly.

"I could easily tell them all now. They can hear me now, right? Would that make it easier? Or better yet, I could just tell her where to find you and watch the fireworks from a reasonable yet safe distance."

Dick stared in horror at the blank screen.

"You wouldn't!" He gasped.

"Do you even want to know what she did when she found out I knew where you were?" Tim demanded. "Or that I knew you were in town and didn't mention it to her?" He sounded slightly hysterical and Dick thought perhaps he should be thanking Tim for holding out this long rather than internally cursing him for threatening to call Babs on him. He didn't need his imagination to know how she would have reacted with only Tim there to take the brunt of it. Dick had always been the only one that could get her to see a lick of sense when she really got pissed.

"Who's 'she'?" Cyborg asked from behind him.

"A friend." Nightwing said tensely, suddenly trying to figure out ways to bribe Tim into not telling Babs his location. Facing a furious Batgirl was one thing—being tracked down by a Barbra Gordon hell-bent on revenge and angry at him was another thing entirely. He almost wished Bruce would find him first.

But… truthfully he wanted to see her more than anyone else. Since he got his brothers back, she'd become the main person he missed the most.

Unfortunately, that didn't stop it from slipping his mind in the chaos of discovering Jason was alive again and just telling her that he was ok. She always got worried when she didn't need to, but hid it well… but he was sure she wasn't happy- and probably vocal about it- after not hearing a word from him in over a year now.

"A good friend?" Beast Boy hedged suggestively, appearing from nowhere beside him and watching the blank screen too.

Nightwing shot him a look. "Not like that." He defended.

Tim scoffed very audibly and Wing glared at the screen even though Tim couldn't see him. "Oh, don't give me that look, you know what I mean." He dismissed, and the Titans exchanged surprised looks while Nightwing just rolled his eyes.

"She's my best friend Rob, it's not like that and you know it." Nightwing scoffed.

"Uh, no, KF's your best friend, but whenever I say that you say-"

"That's different! He's like a brother to me and she's-"

"Exactly my point! You can't have two best friends and say 'it's different' when one of them is a girl. I know you better than you know yourself dude, and I don't 'know' what you mean when you say that except that you don't mean what you think you mean…!"

Nightwing made a face.

"You're acting like a child." Tim's deadpanned in response, and again the Titan's exchanged alarmed looks at his knowledge of Nightwing's reactions.

"Seriously dude, who are you?" Cyborg asked, good-naturedly but still slightly suspiciously, "And what girl are we talking about? Who's KF?"

"Old friends." Tim said smoothly.

"From… before I was Nightwing." Dick said in a forced natural tone. No one said anything for a minute, the Titans staring at him in shock and afraid to comment for fear he'd back off and block them out again, and Tim simply silently communicating his approval for Dick's baby-step towards telling his team about his past.

"I call that progress for today." Tim said approvingly, and Nightwing scoffed.

"You're still a pawn." He muttered darkly.

"A pawn being used by your not-girlfriend, mind you. Please remember that detail next time you consider ignoring my messages—my life depends on you being cooperative in this, understand? She will kill me if I don't give updates."

"You're ridiculously overdramatic." Nightwing pointed out dryly.

"And where do you think I learned that from, Mr. Theatrics?" Tim drawled sarcastically.

"You are still a pawn."

"And you are still a coward."

"I'm hanging up now."

"Goodbye Wing."

"Whatever, pawn."

He quickly cut off the connection and went back to his searching/hacking, trying not to pay attention to the curious/shocked looks his team was giving his back.

"And he knew you from before you were a hero?" Cyborg asked curiously, but also with the note of hesitancy just in case Nightwing decided to shut them out like he normally would have.

"… before I was Nightwing, yes. He knows my civilian identity better than my hero mantle at least." He qualified, not wanting to straight out answer that question and lie, because technically Tim didn't know him before he was a hero because he didn't know him when he was six. Tim would have been what, one or two years old when Dick became Robin? No, he certainly didn't know him before he was a hero, but he did know him as Dick Grayson more than he knew Robin, not having been a hero himself while Dick was ever Robin or even his later "mantle" when he was in stealth mode.

"Is he a hero too?" Starfire asked excitedly. "Can he be a Teen Titan?!"

"No!" Nightwing said automatically, almost defensively—more to the idea of Tim being a Teen Titans rather than her first question. And it wasn't like he didn't love the idea of his little brother being part of his hero network, because he would've loved having that, it was more the idea that Tim leaving Bruce and joining another hero network would get all the Bats and the entire League on his case—and not with good attention either.

He could already see the betrayal on Diana and Dinah's faces, could already see Wally barging in here to make sure Tim was on a good team, could already picture in in-depth investigation the Bats would launch on the Titans, the attention from both the hero, villain, and public world… god, it was too much. And that was coming from the guy who led a team, ran an underage hero network, hacked the stock market, and created fake lives for himself around the world all before lunch.

No, Tim joining the Titans would upset the boat far more drastically than anyone but the three brothers in the know could even comprehend.

Unfortunately, his sharp and immediate answer combined with his rather stressed posture at that mental image was the sign he was closing off again to the Titans. They simply shrugged and went back to their own business, Starfire looking slightly confused but accepting, believing they wouldn't get any more answers from him that day.

And, maybe they wouldn't. He didn't know how much he felt like sharing.

Besides, he needed some time to come up with a plan of action should Babs decide to abandon trying to get to him through Tim and track him down herself.

Again, he almost wished Batman would find him first.