Been working on this one for a few days. Kinda buildup/background. Timing for it was harder than I'd like all things considered. Hmmm... My have to edit earlier stories to make it work out better. Who knows. Enjoy!

Dick-16 Jason-12 Cass-11 Tim-8 Damian-2

Just a Party Right?

Roy was bored. Not that unusual because it was a high end party made for snoody adults with too much money and not enough sense to really have a good time at these things. He had to be one of a dozen of teenagers and maybe thirty who were in school. There may have been two or three who were younger, so this must really be boring for them. He could swear at least one of them was asleep and another was getting there.

And there he was near the snack table, watching annoyed as Ollie blustered away at some contact or another, drunk. Seeing his guardian drunk and laughing at some cheap joke another dumb drunk executive told. There were a lot of drunk adults there, most of them rich. Maybe the only way to actually enjoy these kinds of parties, drunk.

Roy looked over to the table where the drinks were waiting for people, wondering how wine tasted. He knew Oliver wasn't paying enough attention to care. Dinah might be, it was hard to tell what she was and wasn't paying attention when she was working the crowd. Sure she was his guardian's date, but she had her own ways to handle these things. Bet if he was careful though he could get away with it.

Slowly he inched towards the table. One drink wouldn't be so bad.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The redhead jerked around at the voice, his hand snapping back in an instant. Just two feet away from him was a grinning teenager about his age with dark hair and shining blue eyes. The impish knowing look on his face was slightly unnerving. "There's at least two people here I know would tan your hide if they caught you. Plus you'd be setting a bad example for the others."

"I wasn't…" Roy shook his head to clear it. "Exactly what are you accusing me of?"

"Hmmmm…. I wonder…" The guy flashed him a grin. "I don't think we've officially met. Richard Grayson." He offered his hand to the older teen. "But most people call me Dick."

"Seriously?" He raised an eyebrow at the guy. That was a nickname asking for trouble, and considering this kid seemed more comfortable than he was in that three piece suit, it was very tempting to play off of it.

"It's an old nickname my dad gave me." Dick kept up his grin, probably used to the idea. The kid seemed excited for some reason. "You're Roy Harper right? From Star."

"Uh… yeah." Blinking in surprise that he was known by this guy, and realizing he left him with his hand hanging in the air, awkwardly gave him a handshake. "How did you…"

"Bruce mentioned you'd be here." There was a slightly wild look in his eye, as if he were meeting a celebrity.

Which kinda freaked him out. "Bruce?"

"Bruce Wayne, Gotham City's 'Crowned Prince'." Now that was a name even he knew. Roy heard Ollie talk about 'Wayne' from time to time, not always in the most positive light. But the guy was famous, nearly worldwide. Roy was hardly known even in Star City! Well, he was known fairly well as Speedy, but no one there knew that.

Unless this kid knew. He eyed the teen a moment longer as their hands parted. Dick was starting to have a debate with himself. "Don't you think he's too old to be a 'crowned prince' thought? I mean, he's got to old enough to be a king or a duke or something. They also call him a white knight, but then the tabloids get a look at one of his old girlfriends, or supposed girlfriends, and just call him a playboy. You'd think the paparazzi would have had enough of slamming people's private lives by now though right?"

"I guess…" Okay, this guy had a motor mouth. Almost as bad as Kid Flash. He was lucky to understand even half of what that guy said most days.

"I mean, you've been on the receiving end too right? Like when Oliver Queen first brought you home. Must have been a huge deal, with cameras and interviews and the phones going haywire."

"Not really." Roy leaned against the nearby table, shrugging to himself. This kid really was odd. "S'not like he adopted me or anything. He kinda snuck me in through the back door."

"He didn't adopt you?" Dick looked genuinely surprised. "I thought with the stories I've heard you two were—"

"I'm too old for that." He shrugged, burying the pain inside him of losing two father figures already and his third not really taking it seriously. "There's just too small an age gap for him to be my dad anyway. I'm his ward, that's all. He's just keeping me out of the system and looking good for the press whenever they look his way."

A touch of saddened understanding appeared on his face. "Ward huh?" He leaned against the same table, contemplative. "I always did hate that word. Really means nothing after a certain age."

"It's not that bad." 'Crap!' he thought quickly, trying to save his mentor's image now. 'Can't get this kid all depressed because Ollie and I have issues.' "I mean, he's still there for me and—"

"There has to be a way to make it an official adoption," the boy continued to murmur. "I mean, being Bruce's ward was okay at first, but the kids at school started calling me things like 'charity case' or his little pet. When you're officially adopted, then they have to acknowledge that you have a tight bond of some sort."

"Whoa wait there!" Roy jerked up right, looking straight at the kid in bafflement. "What exactly are you saying here?"

"Just that your guardian needs to hurry up and adopt you so you can stay together easier." Dick blinked at him innocently, as if it were the most normal thing in the world (which it wasn't).

"No I mean about being Bruce Wayne's ward?" This is what really took him for a spin. Was this kid… like him? "I thought you were just friends with him or something."

"Well…" The guy blushed a bit, looking away for a moment. "That too. I'm from the circus to tell the truth, and when my parents died my social worker royally screwed up my paperwork. The fastest way Bruce could get me out of that juvie center I was—"

"Juvie?!" He looked up and down the guy. Circus? Dead parents? Juvie? Seriously?!

Dick gave an abashed shrug. "Only for a week or two. Bruce knew what it was like to lose your parents like I had and took me in. The 'ward' title was the easiest to get, and back then he was really not sure if he wanted to be a dad yet. But after a year together we talked it over and got the paperwork done. You should have seen his face when he was trying to bring it up. So nervous and scared, and I was just nine! He's somewhere between big brother and father to me.

"So what about you and Oliver Queen? What's your story? How did you two meet?" All his attention suddenly fell on him. It almost felt like being under a microscope. He really didn't like telling it to tell the truth, because it really wasn't impressive.

Then again, this kid said he came from the circus.

Roy tried to give a not caring shrug. "I was in an archery contest and the two of us started talking. We became friends and when Brave Bow died…" He took a breath, missing his old mentor and friend more than he let on. "Ollie came over and asked if I wanted to stay with him over being passed around the tribe or going to the local orphanage. I said yes and moved in the next day."

"Tribe?" Dick cocked his head to the side.

"Navajo." Looked like the guy didn't have all the answers after all. "I lived on a reservation a good portion of my life."

"But…" He really looked confused now. "You don't look…"

"My dad was a ranger who worked that area." Why was he telling this kid this? Maybe how he introduced himself and was far more causal yet respectful than others did it for him. Either way, the guy was pretty easy to talk to. "He died saving Brave Bow and a few others. He took me in to repay him."

"Ah." Dick smiled, remembering something. "Makes sense. Grew up there and probably everything from them. That'd be so cool. Wonder what it'd be like if they could have kept me with them."

"Circus?" Time to turn the tables.

"Yeah…"

"Which one?" Let the kid prove he was telling the truth about his origins. Roy wasn't quite convinced yet.

"Haly's. Ever seen 'em?" The strange smiley teen perked up greatly at the mention of his old abode.

"Can't say that I have." Haly's Circus? Was that some kind of two-bit road show? He'd have to look it up later to verify the guy's story.

"Ah man! That sucks." He pouted dramatically. "It's one of the best. Way better than the Ringling Brothers or Barnum and Bailey. And when we were in the center ring, the crowd went wild."

"We?"

"Me and my parents."

"You performed in the circus?" Roy looked up and down the kid, not quite seeing it. But the guy was pretty lean and athletic looking. Definitely not one of those lazy rich kids he met at other parties, but with that suit on it was hard to tell just how skilled he was.

Dick opened his hands to him, showing him calluses, well-worn ones. "Trapeze. The Amazing Flying Graysons. I still practice and even teach it to others. My dad took me up on a wire when I was two months old. Taught me nearly every move I know before he died. Keep it up so I don't forget him.

"You got anything like that? Some thing you and your dad did?" The tables turned back on the redhead. He was not expecting that.

"Uh… not really. I was a bit too young when it happened." He looked away, vague memories of his father coming to his mind. It was really hard to remember him to tell the truth.

"What about Brave Bow?" Some thought struck the kid before he could answer. "Wait, I know. Archery! With a name like that and being a Native American, he must have taught you that."

"Uuuhh…"

"Must be pretty good if you went to a competition. Did you win?"

"I… ah…" This kid was getting way too close for comfort. Next thing he knew he'd be accused of being a vigilante. "No… I just…"

"Rule 3 Dickybird!"

Roy nearly leapt out of his skin as another weird kid appeared seemingly out of nowhere on the other side of the table. Black hair with a stark white lock hanging just in his impulsive green eyes looked at his new acquaintance. Course he could swear the new kid was grinning at him too. Shorter than the other guy, clearly younger and broader built, he really wondered how they knew each other.

And Dickybird?

Said 'bird' rolled his eyes, not looking back. "Whatever Jaybird. One of us was gonna get close to that tonight. Oh!" He straightened off the table and waved a hand over to the new guy. "Roy Harper, my brother, Jason T—"

"Wayne. Jason Wayne." He gave his brother a look before offering his hand across the table to the young archer.

Dick raised an eyebrow at him as Roy took his hand. "I was going to add that. Why are you dropping—"

"I don't exactly want to think of my birth parents right now thank you." There was a little bite in his voice, and something else the new acquaintance couldn't recognize. Maybe a bad history about said parents? Wait…

"Hold on." Roy raised his hand to silence both of them for a moment. Things were a bit confusing there. "You're brothers."

"Yep." "Legally."

"Both adopted?" He pointed between them, only seeing mannerisms as a commonality between them. Seriously they held themselves the same way and even had the same expression when they confirmed what he said.

"That's typically what 'legally' means when 'brothers' are involved," Jason stated flatly, smirking slightly.

"Besides, we hardly look alike," Dick added, bemused. "And we sure don't look like Bruce."

"That's for sure. How old would he have to be to have us anyway?" The first shrugged, both having made their points.

"Are you both from the circus?" Roy had to know how they both managed to give out a normal guy feel and were somehow in this life now. Imagine, three orphans all stuck at the same boring stiffs' party.

"Nah, I'm from Crime Alley. Dickybird is the only circus freak in the house."

His brother both glared and rolled his eyes. "Do you really want to go into that now?"

"What? I'm bored!" Jason thumbed over his shoulder, pointing to where a younger black haired boy was playing with his father's phone, and still getting a bored look in his eye. "Timmy's almost to the point of hacking the security system and seeing what they'll do when everything goes off."

"Can he actually do that?" Dick said exactly what Roy was thinking. Hearing these guys talk was just weird.

The kid shrugged. "He can set them off no problem. Whether he'll get caught is the real question."

The older brother groaned slightly, shaking his head. "We better find him something to do. I don't want to explain to Bruce why the cops turned up here."

"Wait," Roy tried again, not understanding what's going on between all of these boys. "How many of you are there?"

"Of me?" Jason mocked lightly, blinking in surprise. "Just the one."

"There's five kids at Wayne Manor if that's what you're asking." Dick looked over to where a large man was talking to… was that Dinah? Well they were talking, two of the few sober people there, and the man had a toddler asleep on his shoulder. "And it looks like Dami's out cold. Err… You want to pester Bruce into getting back to the hotel while I keep Tim out of trouble?"

The boy shrugged, grinning slightly. "Sounds like more fun than causing havoc. Where do you think Cass—"

There was a sudden shrill scream from one of the debutants, then another and another. An Asian girl not much younger than Jason casually slipped away from the general direction of the screams, a hint of humor in her eyes. The brothers smothered snickers. "Never mind."

Roy found himself a hidey-hole near the exit of the room about ten minutes later, Dinah's iPhone in hand so he wouldn't be bored anymore. Having told her how bored he was, and about the weirdest conversations he was having with kids his own age there. Well, younger than him. He was sure Dick wasn't his age, not yet. And all those other 'Wayne Kids' (he wasn't sure what they really were frankly) were getting weirder and weirder. He was beginning to feel almost in place, had they also been vigilantes. And that disturbed him. Couldn't risk getting too close to civilians who may have good guesses.

Working on beating Ollie's scores on her phone on Angry Birds, and waiting for Dinah to fetch him so they could leave, he couldn't help but overhear others talking as they passed by.

"Cassandra," a deep voice started, exasperated, "next time, don't ruin their dresses. The screaming was unbearable. You could have woken Damian up."

"They earned it," came a girl's short reply.

"Well it beats what Tim was going to do." Roy jerked his head up at Jason's voice. He was holding back a laugh. "He was gonna set off the security grid."

"Was not," was a young boy's retort.

"Then what were you planning Timbo?" Dick and the rest of their voices were getting closer. He peeked out of his hole to see them. Dick had Tim (he guessed) on his back while their 'father' carried what must be Damian against his shoulder, just behind him. Jason and Cassandra (that Asian girl) were leading the way out of there. The younger ones seemed likely to fall asleep any minute and the youngest was long past gone. Well, it was past nine. Most little kids were in bed by then.

"I was going to change all their security passwords," the kid stated smartly before resting again against his brother's back. "Then place an anomnis… anomommis…amnom…"

"Anonyms?" the teenager guessed to be helpful.

"Right, call. Then see them try and figure out what happened."

Bruce Wayne gave him a strange look. "You can do that?"

"That's what I asked!" Jason butted in.

Tim shrugged as he yawned. "I can try."

Their father shook his head, unable to think of what to say. "I really shouldn't be encouraging that. Maybe we need to make a few new rules." The kids' collective groan was enough for Roy to sneak back into his hiding place. "What? Rules are good for you. Without rules or laws, we'd only have chaos and no one could do anything without fear of retribution."

"We know Dad. We know!" Jason seemed the most exasperated of them all. "But we've gotten official rules already and about a hundred unofficial ones. And we still keep breaking them."

"They're there to break habits and add protection in certain situations."

"Like rule 3 Dick was close to breaking earlier?"

"What?" There was a slight edge to the man's voice. Roy was so glad he wasn't watching them now, but their voices were practically next to him now. They'd be gone soon.

"I was just talking to him! Getting to know him as a person!" Dick insisted, somewhat desperate.

"Who?" The edge was still there.

"Roy Harper."

At the mention of his name, the guy's heart stopped. He was a subject to argue over? With them? What was 'rule 3'?

"I see…" The edge was leaving his voice, but Mr. Wayne still didn't sound pleased. "I thought I told you—"

"Your way's too slow," the oldest insisted. "Bruce, we've waited… Well I've waited for years to just talk to him. It's not like I went into too much detail you know. Just said hi, gave my name, and a little history. You know, how I got here. He told me basically the same thing on his end. I was hoping to talk to him about life with Mr. Queen as his ward and maybe getting the guy to adopt him officially and all that, or maybe talking to him about school and pranks and stuff, but somebody," he stressed the word sarcastically, probably looking at Jason, "interrupted us. I bet he thinks we're a bunch of crackpot weirdos now and I'm the worst of them."

Roy blinked. The guy had waited how long just to talk to him? Why? He thought about it for a moment then started to figure it out. Dick said he was Wayne's ward before he was adopted. He came from the circus, nearly the lowest of the low socially, kinda like him. It must have taken some time before his adoptive father and he had gotten along this well, and even then the age difference made their relationship unique. It was a lot like his situation with Ollie. Dick wanted to talk to someone he could relate to, probably ever since his guardian took him in and made it public. He wanted a friend.

That explained a lot. No wonder the kid was nervous and rambling. At least he was friendly and somewhat down to earth. Talk about an awkward introduction. The guy was weird, but not the bad kind. He kinda reminded him of Kid Flash. Bet those two could be friends easy. Maybe even them.

And the man seemed to agree. "Dick, I don't think that's the case. Did you ask for his number or email so you could message each other?"

"Didn't get a chance." He heard some shifting around as they passed him. "And it'll be creepy if I start messaging him without asking for that. Really don't want to lose out on this Bruce. Bet I made the worst first impression ever."

"Hmph! Have I told you exactly how I first met Clark? Or even Oliver? Not the best situations, believe me."

"There's always facebook," Jason offered. "I think I'll friend him too. I mean, he seems pretty cool. Bet we could play zombieland there together!"

"Who knows."

Their voices disappeared by that point and Roy couldn't hear the rest of their conversation. Stepping out of his shelter, he looked towards the exit, wondering what was really going through their heads. FB friends huh? "Well, they don't seem too crazy, for rich kids."

"What are you mumbling about?" He turned around to see Dinah slightly supporting a drunk Ollie next to her. It was high time for them to leave and for him to sleep it off. No patrol that night, but it wasn't Star City anyway. A night off.

Roy shrugged. "Oh, nothing."

A/N: can anyone remember rule 3? Dick was getting pretty close to breaking it, and was definitely hinting at it, a lot. So now Dick's met Roy, and so has Jason. They even got a brief history of both of them and their relationships. I just thought with all the rambling and stuff Dick did in his intro that he may have sounded a bit crazy, just a bit. It's just an introduction with hopes of them staying in contact in the future, that's all.

Can Tim at 8 hack into some place's security and rearrange their passwords? maybe. DOn't think so but maybe. Trip them, yeah. What did Cass do? No idea. and dami gets to sleep. Yeah, I made Ollie drunk and Dinah sober, but that's because I have no idea how to make him cool in a social setting. I can see him fighting and mouthing off to different leaguers, but there's a lot I don't know about him. really looking forward to Arrow tomorrow. X3

Well back to work, or bed. Whichever comes first. =P