"You brought the streets of Bludhaven to Gotham," Damian notes as way of greeting. He looks me up and down before letting out a scoff. "Whatever makes you feel at home, Grayson."

I give him the nicest smile I own. "Hello to you, too."

Dick glares at Damian from across the table. I watch as they lock stares and seem to have a silent conversation between each other. Eventually, Damian rolls his eyes and breaks the staring contest.

"I meant hello," he corrects, though it's not even halfway convincing. Still, Dick accepts it and starts cutting into the plate in front of him. I do the same, not bothering to make small talk with Damian. Unfortunately, he doesn't accept this. "And how long will she be staying?"

Even though the question is directed at Dick, it's clear the hostility is meant for me. Wonderful. Luckily, I don't take offense easy.

Dick glances at me. "As long as she likes."

I fight the urge to stick my tongue out at him. Reluctantly, Damian nods and turns to his plate. As nasty as he is, it's clear he respects Dick.

The moment of relief is over before I get two more bites in my mouth.

"There are rules while you are here," Damian announces. As I turn my attention back to him, I see Dick rolling his eyes to the ceiling. "My room is off-limits. So are all of Father's. You can do whatever you like to Drake and Todd's room." Dick snorts. "Do not touch anything expensive." I risk a glance up at the chandelier and Dick stifles a laugh. Damian's glare intensifies until he gets our attention again. "And do not approach any of my pets. They will likely kill you."

What, does he have a lion? I wouldn't be surprised. "Which rooms are which?"

"If you enter the room and I do not kill you, you're fine." He folds his arms.

Alfred coughs politely. Or maybe laughs. I can't tell; the butler is an absolute sass master. "Master Damian, that is no way to treat a guest."

"No, it's fine," I say, looking over at Damian with a smile. "Now we're even. See, I don't know how to treat a host, so I'm going to break all those rules."

Damian narrows his eyes and we start a staring contest. Dick looks between us and laughs. "This is fun!"

"This is not," Damian huffs, turning his glare on his brother. Unperturbed, I take another bite of chicken. "You bring someone new in before Father's even been dead three weeks!"

"I believe Master Bruce would have proud," Alfred puts in. "It is, in truth, the only way to properly honor him."

Dick blinks at Alfred's comment before he laughs hysterically, leaning his forehead into his palm with his shoulders heaving. I raise an unimpressed eyebrow at his shaking form and look up to find Damian doing the same.

"I wonder what your midlife crisis will be." With that random comment, I go back to eating.

To my surprise, Damian picks up the topic. "I thought you were it."

I scrutinize his face but find none of the condescension from before. I take that to mean he's kidding, in his own way. "I'm his early twenties crisis. What will it be when he's going bald and has lost the ability to do a backbend?"

Damian thinks about it. "Ringmaster of the circus," he concludes.

"Can ringmasters be bald?"

"I'm not going bald," Dick protests, though the laughter is still twinkling in his eyes.

"Yet," Damian and I warn at the same time. A humored smile spreads across my face and I see the faintest ghost of one on Damian's. Once he notices me, his expression curls back into its normal distaste.

The meal morphs back into normal conversation, as Dick highlights a brief outline of my life and Damian interrogates every detail. I keep my answers short, wary of adding anything unnecessary in case Damian decides to hone in on it. The brief truce we had was completely forgotten as we began arguing about how much I should tell him.

Dick wears a content smile as he watches our back-and-forth, showing off his exhausted eyes. I hadn't noticed how worn he looked-he probably did that on purpose- and feel a wave of sympathy. His dad died. Clockwork knows how wrecked I would be if Danny died.

Still, even though I feel the sympathy, I don't express it. Bruce Wayne has plenty of contacts that are probably flooding this place with gifts. Dick doesn't need my two cents.

When dinner's through, Alfred clears the table, ignoring my attempts to help.

Dick addresses me, "I have a couple things to take care of before the night is through. Alfred can take you up to a bedroom and we'll meet up tomorrow at breakfast, is that all right?"

"It's only eight," I note, though it's more of a question than a complaint.

"You can go wherever," Dick replies, waving his hand around. "This place has plenty of cool stuff; mostly from when I stayed here. You have free reign. Just please don't leave without telling anyone. Gotham is dangerous and I'd rather know where you are."

I roll my eyes. "And Bludhaven was… what? A library?"

Dick smirks. "Call it a courtesy. You get to stay here and in return, you won't get yourself killed."

He says it jokingly, but I recognize the undertone of worry. While my first instinct is to completely disregard the request, I try to see it as a reasonable compromise. It is, after all. "Fine, whatever."

"Grayson," an impatient Damian snaps. "Let's get going."

I narrow my eyes at the thirteen year-old. "Why are you going?"

"Grayson is useless in Father's business. Though how remains unclear, as business is the easiest and most straightforward concept-"

"Anyway! The point is, he gets it, I don't, and that's that." He all but shoves Damian out the door. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll be here."

Wow I've been writing like crazy! I have so many chapters done and I just want to update them all! Oh, and in response to a couple comments, as per usual: Yeaaah so the story line I chose for this fic is awesome, but yes, you will notice many mistakes in regards to my following its plot. I read that series and was confused the entire time. If any of you guys have read it, you'll back me up here. I read a lot of outlines on the internet for the series, trying to track down what exactly was happening, but they were almost as confusing. (There's a dude who Batman gives money to and he ODs and Bruce wanders around with the dude without his memory only to find the guy had died a day before? What?)

Sorry. Off track. To the review where he was buried with his parents: ugh, I wish I'd known earlier, though, because if I add it in now I'll have to have a whole side plot going on that I didn't account for. So he'll stay incinerated for simplicity's sake.