Chapter Five

Size Matters

November 24th

Dick really thought he'd been pretty patient with Morgan in the beginning, but after four days of training her, he was starting to lose his temper.

He understood! He really did! Moving somewhere new and having your whole life suddenly drastically changed in a few hours was stressful. Being irritable and even angry was perfectly understandable reactions.

Snark, sarcasm and attitude were also to be expected from time to time, and Dick had excused her behavior, thinking that she'd get better once she'd properly settled in.

Hell, he sometimes even almost enjoyed the bickering, if they managed to keep it light. She was funny to exchange wisecracks with.

But..

But it had been four days now and Morgan had only become more snarky and difficult with each day. He got the impression she'd actually attempted to be somewhat polite in the beginning, but the longer she stayed and the better she got to know him, the less respectful she seemed to get.

And for a guy that was used to be respected by his team mates, and a guy that had had so much respect for his own (former) mentor, it was a tough pill to swallow.

It might've sounded vain, but in the superhero society he was used to people treating him with respect as soon as he introduced himself as Nightwing. Nightwing's reputation and his association with Batman ensured that people treated him with respect.

Heck, even in normal society he got points for being Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne's adopted son.

He wasn't used to having to prove to people that they should respect him. After working his ass off as a superhero for almost ten years, he had earned the right to be respected by default. He'd done all the proving back then.

And now he met someone that didn't understand that she was supposed to respect him, if not because of who he was, then at least because he was her mentor.

He smirked at the thought of Morgan training under Batman. She wouldn't last a day with that attitude.

So, Dick wondered, if Batman wouldn't have allowed her behavior, why did he?

I don't want to be the Batman anymore.

The smirk dropped from his lips as his own words from five years ago came back to him.

He allowed it because he wasn't Batman, nor was he ever going to be. At least, not the kind of Batman that Bruce was.

Dick glanced away from the computer on his lap and up at the clock on his living room wall. It was almost time for his patrol around Blüdhaven, and he wasn't even remotely done with his homework yet.

Well, nobody had ever claimed that the superhero life was without sacrifice.

He shut down the laptop and stood up, stretching his back to rid it of the tension it had gotten while he had hunched over the computer.

He found his thoughts drifting back to what he'd been thinking about before. He groaned quietly to himself as he slipped into his bedroom. He hadn't thought about that mission-gone-wrong in months now. He'd gotten good at ignoring it, or pushing the memories away as soon as they came. He didn't like how he still, after all these years, felt phantom hands squeeze his heart painfully at the memory of losing all his friends, some because of his own actions.

Even though the whole thing had been fake, his feelings certainly hadn't been. There was sorrow there, but most importantly, a gut wrenching guilt that almost made him breathless.

And then afterwards the realization that he'd never be able to be the Batman. That had almost been as terrifying as seeing all his friends die. His entire life plan had come tumbling around him because at thirteen years old, he hadn't considered that he could still become Batman, just not the same Batman that Bruce was.

He tried to get his thoughts back on track: He'd been thinking about what he was supposed to do with his new – and if he was being perfectly honest, kind of unwanted – pupil.

If she kept up her annoying attitude, he was afraid he'd blow his top.

At the same time, he would loath to have to talk to her about it because he knew it would probably accomplish nothing – except maybe an argument – and it would also label him as overly sensitive and being unable to handle a little wisecracking.

Neither was true, but he knew she'd somehow make it seem like he was the problem. If there was one thing he'd learned over the last four days, it was that she was good at manipulating and turning situations to her own advantage.

They were admirable traits in a superhero – traits he, Robin, Batgirl and Batman all possessed, something they had found necessary due to their lack of other powers.

Admirable traits in a personality? Not as much.

Dick pushed the false back of his closet aside and pulled out his Nightwing get-up. Slipping out of his clothes, he donned the suit. He grabbed the black mask and hesitated, twirling it in his hand, looking at the white eyeholes.

Unlike Wally and Artemis, Dick knew he'd probably never find the courage to leave the Superhero life behind. Right now, he didn't really want to either, but it would've been a comfort to know that if he wanted to, he could leave it.

Squaring his shoulders, he stood up straighter and put the mask on, securing his eskrima sticks at his side.

Then, Nightwing opened his bedroom window and slipped out, the dull 'thud' of his grapple hook firing off and lodging itself into the red brick wall of the neighboring building the only sound in the night.

November 25th

Thanksgiving was in one day, and Morgan had to admit the growing excitement in the Cave was infectious.

M'gann had dragged Morgan with her to the local mall and together they had done the grocery shopping. Morgan's back had been hurting all day from lugging the turkey around while M'gann kept remembering new things they would need. She had an incredibly long grocery list already, but as they walked around the shop, she kept finding news things that they 'absolutely needed'.

Morgan liked M'gann, she really did, but her endless optimism and cheerfulness sometimes grated a bit on Morgan's nerves, as she herself was more of the pessimistic type. Truthfully, Morgan knew that it was just because she'd lost a bit of her own life-spark because of all her years in solitude and fear. It had made her bitter, which she hadn't always been.

Back when her dad was still around, she'd been pretty chipper herself, the kind of child that always smiled and bounced around with energy.

Morgan wondered if perhaps she'd be like that someday again, or if she was too damaged now.

She liked to think that she could.

And she really did do her best to be nice to the others and try to be part of the group. They were all nice people – albeit some of them were a little grumpy – and the kind of group of people she could easily see herself becoming part of.

At least, she tried to be nice to most of them. There was always Nightwing. To be honest, she wasn't entirely sure why she treated him differently from the others, but in some way, she guessed it was a defense mechanism.

Out of all the members of the Team, he was the one who knew about her background, and he was the one who'd seen her when she was well and truly defeated.

He was the one that had taken pity on her and made her a member of the Team, and Morgan hated that. She hated pity, had absolutely no use for it.

She was embarrassed by it. Embarrassed by having shown him weakness. She'd learned the hard way that if you showed weakness to anyone, they would use it against you.

Even worse, she had to spend time with him so often because of the whole mentor thing. So her embarrassment had turned into snark and hostility. He was too calm and collected, and he had too much on her, and it frustrated her beyond belief, so she did her best to try and rile him up. Try and prove to herself that he was just a human too and she shouldn't be embarrassed.

She attempted to get a rise out of him because it would make herself feel less weak, but he hardly reacted. He was like a marble statue, and his composure annoyed her to no end. She knew he was irritated with her, but it wasn't enough. She needed a reaction.

Also, she thought he seemed kind of conceited. Like he thought he was a big deal. And, okay, he kind of was a big deal, but she could never stomach people that had too much confidence in themselves, mainly because she didn't have much confidence in herself.

There was also the fact that she did have a bit of a problem with authority figures. She felt like they needed to prove why she should follow them, and so far he hadn't given her much reason.

But she really was treating the others nicely.

She'd even offered to bake a pie for Thanksgiving.

"I didn't know you baked." Nightwing said from his leaning position against the counter in the Cave's kitchen.

It was one of the apparently rare moments where neither thought it necessary to exchange any particularly mean wisecracks, and the tone was mostly light. Nightwing had showed up after school, fully expecting to train Morgan, but she'd said that she'd already done her routine because she needed the rest of the afternoon to bake pies and cookies. Nightwing had, surprisingly, not only allowed it, but also chosen to stick around, claiming that he didn't have anywhere more important to be anyway.

"Well, when you spend years doing nothing but avoid the rest of humanity, you need to have some hobbies to keep yourself entertained." She said, shrugging. "I don't just bake, I'm also good at baking."

Her comment had been casual, but she felt a small sting in her chest from the reminder of her lonely teenage years.

"How long was that?" Nightwing asked, his tone suddenly low and serious. "When did you first start hiding?"

He was asking the exact kind of questions she'd hoped he would avoid.

Still, the same reason that drove her to snark at him made her answer his question without as much as the smallest flinch: She didn't want to appear weak.

She turned her back to him under the pretense of putting dirty dishes in the sink. "I guess it's been five years now." She turned back to him, a small rueful smile on her lips. "Time flies."

Her face was a perfectly schooled mask, but she didn't realize that her wings behind her were hanging limply against her spine and gave a sad look about her that Nightwing easily picked up on.

She wiped flour off her hands on the apron around her waist and blew a stray curl out of her eyes. She'd pulled the rest into a bun, but some hair always managed to escape.

Wisely, Nightwing didn't say anything after that. She shot a glance back at him and saw that he was busy typing away on the thing he'd explained was a holographic computer, which was installed in his gloves.

Morgan had finished the pie dough a long time ago, and was working on her cookies, which was a recipe her mother had taught her. It was a festive cookie that required a whole bunch of spices that M'gann and she had bought during their grocery shopping.

Only problem was, the spices where all in one of the top cupboards, and Morgan couldn't reach them. Sure, M'gann was used to just levitating everything, but Morgan didn't have that option.

"Nightwing, please make yourself useful and hand me the cinnamon up there." Morgan pointed at the small glass container with the brown powder in it, out of her reach.

"Why can't you just get it yourself?" He asked, looking up from his computer after he said it.

Morgan sighed impatiently. "Are you really gonna make me say it?"

"Absolutely." He said dryly, a small smirk playing at the corners of his lips.

Morgan harshly sighed again, this time in annoyance. "I can't do it because I'm too short. There. Now get your freakishly tall body over here and do it for me."

Nightwing was behind her in a second, reaching up and grabbing the spice easily. "Since you asked so nicely.." He said snidely.

Morgan growled lowly. "Tror han er så sjov.." She muttered.

By now, Nightwing had learned that she muttered in Danish whenever she was annoyed with him, and so he didn't ask what she'd said.

He walked back and settled against the counter, same as he'd been before. Soon, he was typing away on that thing again and they both started acting like the other didn't exist.

It was for the best, Morgan decided. Their bickering had bordered on arguing at this point, or at least just turned hostile, so ignoring each other was the best thing to do.

"I was thinking." Nightwing spoke up after twenty minutes of silence. By now Morgan had most of the cookies in the oven. She hadn't asked for his help to get down the other spices, rather she'd grabbed a chair and used it to reach them herself.

Morgan looked up at him. "Yeah?" She caught herself before she could say 'I had no idea you could!'

"After Thanksgiving, I'm going to start on your proper lessons. You should still keep up your other training, but I'll start teaching you some fighting techniques."

Morgan had to stop herself from letting out a whoop of joy. As reluctant as she was about this whole hero gig, she did want to start her proper training. She'd attended a few karate lessons in the summer between third and fourth grade, and she'd enjoyed it. She hoped she was still able learn the different moves as easily as she had back then.

"Awesome." She said casually.

November 26th

M'gann had been in the kitchen all day, creating the perfect Thanksgiving dinner, and then some. Morgan had helped her from time to time, when she hadn't been training in the gym or avoiding everyone by being in her room.

She'd been at the Cave for just about a week now, and while she enjoyed all the company, it was pretty tiring sometimes too.

M'gann had been glad for the help, but at the same time it was obvious that it was more because of the company than the actual help. She was perfectly capable of fixing the whole thing herself. She had three knives working at the same time, a spoon stirring the gravy, and a few other kitchen utensils floating around.

Morgan was kind of afraid of losing a limb when she helped, due to all the floating sharp objects.

Nightwing hadn't been in all day, much to Morgan's relief – she didn't mind a full day of not seeing his face – because he was home celebrating Thanksgiving with his family.

"So, are you going to attend Black Friday tomorrow?" M'gann asked conversationally.

Morgan shook her head. "Nah. I'd be terrified of someone seeing my wings. Too many people in too little space for my taste. I honestly find it totally scary. I used to go with my mother when I was younger, and couldn't ever quite shake the repulsion at how barbaric people got."

"I have to admit, it was scary for me the first time too." M'gann said. "But I like going now! With my powers, it's kind of easy to navigate through all those people."

"I can imagine. You can just float right through them or use your powers to push them out of the way." Morgan looked up at M'gann, a joking look on her face. "Or even use that jedi mind-trick of yours to convince someone that 'these aren't the boots you're looking for'."

M'gann obviously got the reference because she laughed at it, but it came out a bit forced. "If I can avoid it, I don't enter other people's mind. I've been told it's an invasion of privacy." There was a tone to her voice that made Morgan change the subject as fast as possible. She was afraid M'gann would start sharing, and Morgan didn't like sharing.

"So, when's dinner ready?" The subject change was poorly executed, but M'gann took the bait anyway.

"In five minutes actually." M'gann said. "I'll call for the others."

Morgan sat in her chair and waited for M'gann to either shout for the others or go looking for them, but instead she just stayed silently in the kitchen, scooping salad into a bowl.

"Erh.." Morgan was about to offer to go get the others, since M'gann didn't look like she was about to. Before she could, though, the two green boys both came walking out, all on their own.

M'gann noticed Morgan's surprised face and smiled at her. "Like I said," she tapped the side of her head. "Only when I have to."

The four of them settled around the table. Usually at this time of day, some of the other team members would've joined them. A lot of the younger heroes went to the Cave straight after school and often stayed there for dinner, making it a loud and interesting affair, but tonight it was just the four of them.

Everyone else had families to celebrate with.

"Hey, where's Connor and Mal?" Morgan asked, noting the absence of the only other non-alien looking people that lived in the Cave. It was ironic since Connor actually was an alien and two of the alien-looking people weren't.

"Connor's gone with Superman to stay at their parents' farm." Beast Boy explained, his eyes firmly set on the steaming turkey M'gann was putting down in the middle of the table. "Mal's with his own family."

"I thought Superman was Connor's father." Morgan realized that she was pretty clueless when it came to the background of her team members. She scratched her bare shoulder awkwardly – M'gann had insisted on them wearing nice clothes, so despite her initial instinct, Morgan had worn a nice top that left her shoulders bare, her wings horribly exposed.

"Well, most of us thought so in the beginning, but Superman was reluctant to adopt him.." M'gann winched, clearly lost in a memory. "Eventually, he accepted Connor, but as a brother and not a son. They have a great relationship now." She added the last part hastily, like she felt she needed to reassure Morgan.

Lagoon Boy grumpily changed the subject, claiming that he was hungry and wanted to eat. Morgan got the feeling he didn't like Superboy very much, or rather, he didn't like M'gann talking about him.

They did the usual thanksgiving traditions, and then M'gann started serving, cutting the turkey open and instead of just using her telepathic abilities, she did it manually. "It makes it feel more authentic that way." She claimed.

Morgan wondered if she ever went to another planet, if she'd be as in love with their traditions and way of doing things as M'gann seemed to be.

She supposed it would depend on what kind of planet she ended up on.

"Turkey, Morgan?" M'gann offered, snapping the other girl out of her thoughts.

"Uhm," Morgan cleared her throat, "No thank you."

"What?" Beast Boy – Garfield, Morgan reminded herself was his real name – demanded. "You don't like turkey?"

"I.." She cleared her throat again and wrapped her index finger around a curl. "I don't eat bird meat."

"Why not?" Lagoon Boy asked, obviously making an effort to not sound hostile. Morgan had come to realize that he was just a forceful kind of person, so she didn't mind his aggressive tone much.

"Oh, I don't know.." Morgan trailed off sarcastically, a single eyebrow arched. Then, even though every instinct in her screamed at her to not do it – don't draw attention to them, keep them hidden! – she spread her wings out and flapped them once, twice, casually.

Beast Boy laughed at the 'duh' expression on Morgan's face.

If it had been M'gann or Beast Boy asking her the same question, she probably would've answered them civilly, explaining that due to the wings on her back, eating birds made her feel like a cannibal. She wouldn't be able to use snark against them, because M'gann was, although not that close, her closest friend on the Team, and she'd been too nice to Morgan for her to behave disrespectful towards her. And Beast Boy – Garfield – was just too nice and innocent and young.

But Lagoon Boy was another story. He was rougher around the edges, and not above throwing mild insults and use snark either. In a way, Morgan felt like the two of them had more in common than they did with the others.

So she also didn't worry because she knew he couldn't take the innocent jab harshly. He'd understand that she was only kidding.

La'gaan cracked a small smile, proving that he did have a sense of humor, and passed her the potatoes instead.

She accepted them, a smile on her face too.

The four of them dug into their food, smiling and laughing with and at each other. Afterwards, they sat in the huge couch and ate the pie Morgan had baked the day before, watching some movie that none of them really paid any attention to, to stuffed to do anything but sink low into the couch pillows and groan and complain about their full stomachs.

For the first time since she had joined the team, Morgan was completely at ease and content with a sense of belonging.

November 28th

The grating sound of metal slamming into metal could be heard every few seconds in the gym. If you stepped into the small training room that housed all the weights, you'd also be able to hear the heavy breathing of Morgan, accompanied by a few groans every now and then.

Nightwing sat with his nose in his computer as usual, catching up on homework.

Normally he'd be at home doing it, but since being assigned as Morgan's mentor, he'd had to combine homework-time and training time.

Fifteen minutes went by, Morgan switching machine once in that time. Nightwing finished his homework five minutes ago, and now he was looking up Morgan's credit card history. He'd noted that she hadn't done anything to redecorate her room, and that she usually wore a combination of either one of two pairs of jeans, three hoodies and four t-shirt or tank tops.

He finished hacking and saw that, indeed, she'd only used the card once and she hadn't bought much with it.

"Why haven't you been using the credit card?" He asked, breaking the silence between them that had lasted thirty minutes by now.

"What?" Morgan panted, looking at him from around the machine she was on.

"Why haven't you been using the credit card?" he repeated himself louder.

She disappeared behind the weight again. "I don't like using money that isn't my own." She said her voice flat.

"Morgan, that money is yours. It was a gift." He shut his computer down and stood up. "We want," he cleared his throat, wondering if he really meant what he was about to say. "We want you to feel at home here. "

She peaked out from behind the machine again, an incredulous look on her face. She got off the machine, and Nightwing noted how her legs were shaking a bit, probably form the strain she'd been putting on them during training.

"So I can just use as much as I want?"

Nightwing shrugged one shoulder. "To a degree, of course. But you should at least try to make yourself more at home in your room. And you can buy more clothes, if you want. You don't have to life with as little as possible."

Her face did a sort of twitch he honestly wasn't sure what meant. Then she turned her back on him and sighed harshly, her silence clearly saying that something was wrong.

Normally, Nightwing would show concern for his team mates and ask what was wrong, but he didn't this time.

To be honest, he did find the girl pretty annoying most of the time, and whenever he'd attempted to talk to her about herself, she'd turn downright hostile and defensive.

So, anything that made her quiet and not sass at him was good enough for him.

Nightwing shook his head and firmly told himself to act like an adult.

"Are you okay?" He asked hesitantly, telling himself that it was the right thing to do.

She rounded on him, a fierce glare on her face. Nightwing immediately knew that it probably hadn't been the right thing to do.

"No! I'm not! And it's none of your business!"

She huffed and all but stormed out of the room, her wings flapping agitatedly on her back.

Nightwing sported a glare on his own and followed after her. No one just walked out on him after blowing up like that.

"Hey," he said, trying to keep the glare out of his voice, his hand closing around her shoulder.

She wrenched herself free and turned to face him, taking a step backwards to create space. "What?" She snapped, her voice thick with attitude.

"If something is bothering you, you can tell me!" He informed, spreading his arms out on what he hoped was a welcoming gesture. "As your mentor it is my responsibility to-"

"Oh please," She said, crossing her arms over her chest. "We both know you're only my mentor because Batman forced you to. Stop pretending otherwise. We're both stuck we each other and my guess is you're as unhappy about it as I am. And you don't really care; you're just doing you 'duty'."

She was speaking the utter truth, but Nightwing instinctively sought to deny it. "That's not true. I'm not heartless, of course I care."

"You don't!" Morgan exploded, uncrossing her arms and clenching her hands into fists at her sides. She got up on her toes and in his face, a snarl on her face. "You don't care. You pity. And I have no use of it."

Then she turned on her heel and marched out of the gym.

Nightwing stood in the same spot for a moment. Then he let out an angry growl and punched the wall, leaving a small dent.

Out of all people on the planet he could've had been assigned as mentor for, it just had to be her.

"Of all the childish, annoying, disrespectful, insolent.." He grumbled under his breath as he too left the gym, slamming the door shut behind him, the sound echoing through the empty room.

"Morgan!" he practically roared as he reached her closed – and locked – door. "Come out right now!"

Beast Boy was walking down the hallway, but as soon as he heard Nightwing's angry shout, he flinched and scurried away around the corner.

At least someone knew to respect him.

"Go away!" came her muffled voice from the other side. He did a double take when he realized she, despite obviously trying to hide it, sounded like she was crying.

A small sob came from the other side of the door and Nightwing felt his anger ease away slightly.

He was still angry, but now he was less inclined to just rip her head off.

"I swear to god, Morgan," He began, no longer shouting but still spoke with aggravation in his tone, "If you don't open this door right now, I'm going to break it down."

A few seconds passed by and then he heard movement on the other side.

"What is wrong with you?!" She growled out as she unlocked the door and met his mask-covered eyes. She turned around and marched back into her room. Nightwing followed her. "It's like you go out of your way to humiliate me!"

"What?" Nightwing sounded incredulous, with good reason. He wasn't trying to humiliate her, why did she think that? "I'm not trying to humiliate you!"

"Oh sure, that's why you insist on confronting me when you knew I was crying!" She wiped angrily at her eyes, trying to stop the flow of tears.

"I'm not trying to humiliate you, I'm trying to do my job!"

"Well, your job can screw me!" She said angrily. "I just want to be left alone and for you to stop trying to force me back outside when I can't!"

Her eyes widened and Nightwing knew she'd said something she hadn't wanted him to know.

He narrowed his eyes at her, trying to figure her out. "Why can't you go outside?" His voice was back to normal, his tone cautious. This was probably what had been bothered her.

She sighed harshly and let out a frustrated growl, her hands coming up to pull at her curls. "Please don't tell me you don't know."

Nightwing didn't move a muscle, clearly showing that he had no idea what she was talking about.

"My wings!" She shouted, and Nightwing finally understood, his eyes widening slightly in sudden realization."They've gotten too big, I can't hide them under my hoodies anymore, and I-I can't leave this Cave!"

There was a look in her eyes like a cage animal, her voice pitched and panicked.

Nightwing mentally scolded himself for not realizing this sooner. Her wings had grown quite a lot and were obviously too big by now to just stuff underneath a hoodie and tighten to her back with a pair of belts.

And he honestly should've known that that was going to be a problem. He knew Morgan had been doing everything she could for years to keep her wings hidden, and that this new dilemma must've been scarier for her than he could imagine. He remembered how uncomfortable she'd been the first few days whenever her wings were visible. Heck, now that he thought of it, she still seemed uncomfortable whenever she was around the others with her wings out. The only reason she didn't mind that he could see them was because she'd gotten used to it by now, Nightwing figured.

"Morgan-"

"Just leave me alone!" She screeched and pushed him out her door. Nightwing could've easily held his ground, but he let her push him out and slam her door shut in his face.

He could hear her crying on the other side of the door, and he waited for her to calm down before speaking again.

"Morgan.." He hesitated. "I'm going to help you find a solution."

She didn't answer and Nightwing left the cave soon after, his anger long forgotten. He needed to pay Zatanna a visit.

I laughed when I thought up the title for this chapter. I'm childish like that.

Fun fact: Literally every single fanfic I've written has been spurred by my frustration with the lack of good specific-superhero/OC fics.