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It's quiet on the beach. Dick doesn't try to make conversation as he sits next to Brion on the rock, and neither does Brion. They're both silent, which is okay, except…
Brion said they were okay. Dick doesn't think he's lying, but he also knows that Brion can be impulsive and rash. He also knows that Brion feels things very deeply. That usually shows itself in his anger, but considering everything that's happened to him recently, Dick can understand that.
There's a reason Bruce couldn't keep him from becoming Robin, back when he was nine.
Brion doesn't know any of that, though. Brion only knows Dick as Nightwing, as the adult leader of his team, as the person who's keeping him from running after his sister and who keeps telling him to be patient. Dick remembers how he felt when Bruce told him to be patient when they were investigating Tony Zucco, and he winces internally. He understands Brion's anger and impatience and grief, he really does, and Brion needs to know that. Dick has helped him as Nightwing already, and now, he thinks he needs to help him as Dick Grayson.
"I grew up in the circus, you know," he says.
Brion looks at him out of the corner of his eye. "You did?"
"Haly's. Have you ever heard of it? I think we visited Markovia once or twice."
"I think you visited Markovia once, when I was small," Brion says. "I don't really remember it properly. I think I was… four, perhaps? I remember liking the elephant. My brother loved the aerial show."
"The elephant was Zitka," Dick says, smiling a bit. "And the aerial show was me and my family."
"You?"
"The Flying Graysons."
"Yes," Brion says slowly, "I remember now. My brother got a poster. I got a stuffed elephant. Tara was too little to really understand what was happening, but I told my parents her favorite was the elephant too, and they bought her a toy to match mine."
Love and pain are both clear in Brion's voice. He adores his siblings, Dick can tell. His close eye on Markovian affairs and his urgency to find his sister have shown that too, but this is different. This shows a different side of Brion, one Dick hasn't seen before. He's not just an angry, grieving young man. He's also a brother, one who loves his siblings and wants to be reunited with them desperately. Dick wants that for him too, and seeing this glimpse under Brion's armor only makes him want it more.
"But wait," Brion says, "I thought your father was Batman."
"He is," Dick agrees. "My parents died not long after that show in Markovia."
Brion's eyes widen. "I… didn't know."
"I was nine," Dick says. "They died during a show in Gotham, so I went into the Gotham foster care system. Bruce took me in." He looks over at Brion. "The circus was my home. It was all I knew. And then my parents died, and I had to leave and couldn't go back."
"Ah." It's clear that Brion sees the parallel. "If I may ask… How did your parents die?"
"Their ropes were sabotaged," Dick says. "They snapped while we were in the middle of performance. My parents fell."
"They were murdered."
"They were."
"And… Did you…"
Brion clearly doesn't know how to word what he wants to say, but Dick can take a guess. "Why do you think I became Robin?"
"So you understand," Brion says. "You understand why I have to do this. Why I have to act. I know the training is important, but my parents were murdered and my sister was kidnapped. I have the power to do something about it. I have to do it."
"I know," Dick says. He risks putting a hand on Brion's shoulder and is relieved to find that his skin is a normal human temperature. "And when Bruce first took me in, I snuck out of his house to try and find the man who killed my parents. The urge you're feeling right now, the urge to act, I get it. But sneaking out didn't help. All it did was nearly get me killed, just like my parents."
"You were nine," Brion counters. "I'm seventeen."
"And I was just looking for a normal mobster. You're looking for the League of Shadows."
Brion takes a long, slow breath. "Did you ever go back to the circus?"
"Not really," Dick says. "I visited a few times. I still visit sometimes. But I made a new home."
"And did you stop missing your old home?"
"I wouldn't say I exactly stopped," Dick says, looking out at the water. "I miss my mom and dad every day. I miss the life I had at Haly's. But I can't go back to that now. I'm a different person than I was before my parents died. There's no use in hurting yourself over and over with the past. I miss it, but I've learned how to move on."
Brion is quiet for a long moment. "Do you think I'll be able to move on?"
"I do," Dick says. He looks over at Brion, but Brion's eyes are fixed on the horizon. "I know it feels like you never will right now. I know you feel lost and alone, and it doesn't feel like anything will ever be able to fill that void. But you're not lost, and you're not alone. We're right here. And it might be a little soon to say we're a family, but…"
"I would like to be," Brion says quietly. "Do you think the others would be alright with it?"
"I know they would be. Hell, I think M'gann and Conner are already halfway to adopting you, Conner especially. And you and Violet and Forager are already a little family. Sorry, hive."
Brion's lips twitch into a small smile. "I do enjoy being part of Forager's hive."
"So we'll all be a hive," Dick decides. "You, me, Violet and Forager, and M'gann and Conner, and Jeff and Artemis. How does that sound?"
"Brion Markov is pleased to be part of Dick Grayson's hive," Brion says in his best attempt at a Forager imitation. It's awful, but Dick laughs anyway, glad to hear him making a joke.
"Dick Grayson is pleased to have Brion Markov in his hive," he replies, and he slings an arm around Brion's shoulders. "You're a good kid, Brion. You'll be okay."
Brion is tense under his arm for a moment, then, slowly, he relaxes. "I agree," he says, and he even leans into Dick's touch a little. "We will be."