Aqualad woke up in a strange room. It took him a second to remember where he was. Wayne Manor, right.
He rubbed his eyes and got out of bed slowly, looking at the clock on the wall. The continuous tick, tick had annoyed him to no end and he hadn't been able to sleep much because of it.
It was six in the morning and Aqualad groaned. The Wayne brothers wouldn't be up at a time like that, it was a habit the team had developed during their time together. Maybe they had time debriefing and thinking up a plan.
He looked around the room and found a door that led to the bathroom. He quickly showered and dressed in his civilian clothes, then he heard a knock on the door. To his surprise, he saw the youngest Wayne brother standing with crossed arms. Aqualad couldn't remember weather he was Tim or Damian.
"Breakfast is in twenty minutes. Tell the others." Then he slammed the door in Aqualad's face and left. "Friendly," murmured Kaldur.
The team; a very grumpy Artemis, an excited Megan, a hungry Wally, a uninterested Conner and a very tired Kaldur, reached the kitchen half an hour later. They hadn't been able to find their way back from their rooms. They were greeted with the smell of bacon and eggs.
Kaldur's stomach growled. Artemis seemed to be just as hungry. "Why are you up so early?" She questioned, hiding a yawn.
Jason, who was fighting with Dick over a butter knife, replied, "It's a habit." Turning to the oldest, he growled, "give me the fucking knife, Fuckface!"
He suddenly punshed Dick in the nose, who let go of the knife and glared at his younger brother, holding his bleeding face. Kaldur gasped and moved forward, but Wally held him back.
He cleared his throat. "Eh, is it normal for you to punch each other in the face?" Damian, who once again was fiddling with a fork, looked up. "Yes. Constand kidnappings have heightened our pain tolerance and Jason's used to dealing with his problems with his fists."
"Oh, okay..." Tim, who stood by the stove, muttered, ignoring the turmoil, "So, who wants bacon? Oh, and Dick, get the blood off your nose, I'm not cleaning the kitchen again."
During breakfast, the Young Justice team was introduced to the boys. "The youngest is Damian Wayne, the hot head over there is Jason Todd and this is Tim Drake." Dick ruffled Tim's hair, who looked slightly uncomfortable.
"Well, as you probably know, I'm Aqualad, but call me Kaldur," introduced the Atlantean. "This is Megan and Superboy's name is Conner Kent. Then there is Artemis-" he glanced at Dick, "as some of you already know. Kid Klash is Wally West, who eats more than any elephant-"
"Hey!"
"Robin couldn't come with us, he and Batman are on a mission in Germany."
He frowned at Jason, who snort and jabbed Dick between the ribs with his elbow. Dick groaned and rubbed the sore spot. "Ouch." Damian face-palmed and glared at Jason. "Do you always have to act like an insolant brat?"
"Shut up, Demon Spawn!"
"Or what?!"
Tim slammed his fists on the table. "Can we eat now?!"
Damian and Jason glared at him. "We don't want your stupid food!" Dick groaned as his brothers went into another round of screaming and yelling. "Would you shut up!" He yelled, steam coming out if his ears (not literally, of course).
"And who made you leader?" Challenged Jason, raising his eyebrows.
"I am the oldest."
"But I'm the best fighter!"
"And I'm the smartest!"
"You are twelve, Tim!"
"But my brain is twice the size of yours!"
"And I am the blood son!"
"I'm the best fighter, not you!"
The team watched them like a tennis match.
"You think it's always like that?" Whispered Artemis, as Jason tried to strangle Damian, who threw his plate at him. "Even we don't fight this much."
In the end, Jason had a full plate of eggs in his hair, Damian had a broken nose, Tim was hiding under the table and Dick looked ready to explode. "CAN WE EAT NOW?!"
No one said much afterwards and they ate in an awkward silance.
"So," muttered Aqualad, nervously scratching his neck. "What should we do now?"
The brothers grinned at each other. It seemed like their screaming match was already forgotten.
"Gym," they said simultaneously.
A smile crept across Kaldur's face. "You got your own gym?" Dick nodded. "And a swimming pool, a game room, a dungeon-" Megan gasped. "You have a dungeon?"
"Yes."
"No, we don't have a dungeon," groaned Tim. "Dick just likes to refer to the basement as a dungeon. Just ignore him, we all do." Wally laughed and Dick pouted. "But it looks like a dungeon!" Jason rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Can we go to the gym now? I wanna kick Grayson's but." Dick snort. "You can try."
The gym was huge. There were all kinds of weapons on the wall and a lot of gymnastic stuff. There was a trapeze and robots. Why where there robots?
"What are the robots for?" Questioned Kaldur.
Damian grinned dangerously. "We sadly are not allowed to maim each other." Artemis eyed the weapons warily. "Swords? Axes? Bõ-staffs?"
Dick pursed his lips and shrugged sheepishly. "Bruce insisted that we learn how to defend ourselves." Artemis raised her eyebrows. "All of that for self-defence?" Dick seemed like he didn't know what to say.
"And the trapeze?"
A sad look crossed Dick's face. "I- uhm..." Jason laid a hand on Dick's shoulder, a guarded look in his eyes. Did they just flash green? Kaldur couldn't place a finger on it, but there was something going on with the second oldest brother. Something about Jason seemed... different.
"Dick's a fucking wonder up there."
Wally grinned, something in his eyes Kaldur couldn't name. "Show us," he demanded. Dick still seemed hesitant. "I'm not that good." Jason hit him across the head. "Yeah, right, and the Replacement his not a wussy." Dick sighed and looked up to the trapeze. "Fine."
Dick was undoubtedly amazing. Even Wally, who knew about Dick's athletic backstory, couldn't close his mouth, as Dick flew threw the air, doing flips and stuff no one could even name and just looking amazing.
Dick felt free. There was always the reminder of his parents' death when he was up there, but the feeling of the wind through his hair and the freedom of weightlessness was worth it.
Megan smiled. "He is a natural." Jason nodded, watching his brother. "Yeah. He is."
As Dick finally joined the others on the ground again, Tim high-fived him. "That was awesome!" Dick blushed and looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. "Thanks."
"Where did you learn to do that?" Asked Kaldur, looking at him curiously. "Before Bruce took me in, I was traveling with a circus. My parents and I were trapeze artists." Dick's eyes watered at the mention of his parents. Kaldur glanced at his teammates, but they seemed at a loss, too.
Tim patted Dick's back. "Well," the twelve-year-old said, "I don't know about you, but I'd like to spar."
Kaldur literally felt the sadness dissapear from the brothers.
"Sure. Didn't Jason say that he wanted to fight Dick?"
Jason smirked. "Yep. You accept the challenge, Circus Freak?"
Dick grabbed a bõ-staff from the wall, a grin stretching across his face, the sadness from before completely gone. "Get ready to lose, Zombie."
Jason narrowed his eyes at the nickname. "You didn't," he growled, snatching a knife from the wall. Damian snort. "He did."
"You're dead, Grayson!" He threw the knife at Dick, who was laughing his head off and swiftly ducked, successfully avoiding being impaled.
Megan took a sharp intake of breath. "If they continue like that, we don't have to worry about the Joker, they will've killed each other before he even gets a chance to kidnap anyone."
Kaldur nodded. "Is it me or are they acting strange?"
"I don't know," shrugged Megan. "Do humans usually act like this?" she asked Artemis.
"No. Normal people don't break their brothers' noses or throw knives at them," she deadpanned.
So there was something fishy about them. Kaldur wondered whether it would be best to just ask the brothers or if they should keep it to themselves.
"Wait, where are they?" asked Connor, searching the room.
The team looked around, slightly panicked. The Wayne brothers were gone. How in his King's name could four boys sneak past a team of highly trained heroes and a Kryptonian? Kaldur was seriously beginning to lose his mind. Only one day in and they had already trouble keeping the boys from each other's throat.
They heard screaming from above and raced up the stairs. Dick and Jason were wrestling, while Damian and Tim tried to separate them. "You son of a bitch, I swear I'll kill you!" cried Jason, punching his older brother in the face. Dick grabbed Jason's hand as he took another swing and pulled it back, sending Jason flying. Before the boy could jump back up, Damian and Tim grabbed his arms and legs, pinning him to the ground. "Calm down or we'll knock you out!" Jason glared at Tim, still raging. "Don't you dare, you little brat. You ar-" Tim punched him in the temple, successfully knocking him out cold. "Finally," grumbled Dick, wiping the blood off his face. "So, who wants to watch a movie?"
Kaldur looked at him incredulously. Beating each other up can't be that normal for them!
Artemis seemed just as confused.
"What about Jason?" She asked.
"What about him?"
Artemis looked at Kaldur for help and he ponted at the knocked out boy. "I think what she means is whether you just want to leave him here, or..."
Damian frowned and looked between Jason and Kaldur. "What else should we do? This happens every day. He will wake up in a few hours, be pissed at first, but we'll just ignore him- like always- and then everything starts all over again." Kaldur was at a loss for words and so was everyone else.
Dick jumped up and down, impatiently waiting for the others to follow him. "So what movie should we watch?" He repeated.
"Well, I found a really interesting one," grinned Tim, taking a movie out of a box. "Batman Robin."
Wally burst out laughing. "Wait, there's a movie about B. and Rob?!" Tim nodded, trying not to grin at Dick's red face. Artemis chuckled. "Well, I'd like to watch it." Dick groaned and his his face behind his arms. "Do we have to?" Damian smiled innocently. "Why not? Do you have a problem with that?" Dick glared at him. "No, not at all," he growled through gritted teeth. This was going to be a long night.