Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Is it possible for me to be a hero, even if I don’t have a quirk?”

Years of pent-up frustration, pain, and ridicule boiled down to one simple question to All Might, his biggest idol. A last spark of hope in what felt like a pit of despair begging for someone, anyone to just acknowledge was there. That maybe, just maybe it was all worth something.

“No. I honestly don’t think you can become a hero without a quirk.”

It was like the floor dropped out from underneath him. All Might lay before him a hallowed husk, telling him to be “realistic”. Brushing off his hopes and dreams like they were worthless…. Like he was worthless.

“He finally gets it. He’ll never be a hero.”

“Better to find out now than later.”

“There’s just nothing medicine can do.”

“You’re nothing but a worthless Deku!”

“Just pray you’ll be born with a quirk in your next life. And take a swan dive off the roof.”

All the negative things people had said about him were swirling. He sensed more than heard All Might get up and leave. But he felt his feet moving on their own in the opposite direction towards the railing. Maybe it would be better to just jump and save himself the trouble. Maybe what Kac- what Bakugo said was true and he could be reborn as somebody more useful.

Before he could start climbing over the rail, he heard the sound of footsteps running across the rooftop. Part of him hoped it was All Might who had come to tell him it was all some mistake (a darker part of him wanted him to watch him drop), but when he turned instead he saw two people running towards him. He couldn’t tell much about them due to their dark clothing and masks covering their face. But one appeared to be a black-haired man and the other a blonde-haired woman.

“Crap, what’s a kid doing up here?!” The man yells to the woman as he skids to a halt and looks around frantically. Now that they’re closer Izuku can see they had a duffle bag full of wads of cash. Did they rob a bank or something?!

“I don’t know but we gotta get rid of him quick before that hero fucker finds him!” She yells and rushes towards him. “We can’t have any witnesses! Time out!”

Izuku’s mind goes blank as both of them grab and for a second he thinks they’re gonna shove him off the building themselves. (Isn’t it ironic he was going to do that anyway). But instead, he feels a sickening pull in his stomach as the world… tilts is the best way to phrase it. His vision swirls and every fiber of his being feels like they’re being compressed and it’s all too much!

ToomuchtoomuchtoomuchTOOMUCH!!!

And as everything seems to reach its peak, he finally passes out.

—--------------------------------------

When Izuku wakes up, he finds himself standing in the middle of a large crowd in a place he’d never seen before. “Wh-where am I?!” He cried out only to wince when he knocked into somebody causing him to scramble out of the way only to knock into more people earning him more disgruntled noises from the adults around him. “I’m so sorry!” He kept his head low as he pushed through the crowd trying to find someplace to gather himself. In his frantic scrambling, Izuku fails to notice a pile of rope curled in his path, sending him tripping through an opening in a tent.

“Oh!” A woman yelps when she sees him and rushes to help him up and brush him off. “That was quite the fall young man. Where are your parents?” Izuku just stares at her. She’s speaking in what he’s pretty sure is English, but he can only understand half of what she said. Was he in a different country? Where did that woman’s quirk send him???

“I…. Do no know… where am?” He winces as replies so brokenly in English now wishing that had paid more attention in his English lessons. He feels like he’s about to have a panic attack. Was there a timer on how long this quirk would keep him here or was he stuck? Where is he???? Nothing looks familiar! His mom is going to be worried sick! Oh! His cellphone! He could call his mom and let her know he was ok!

Izuku instantly turned from the woman and started rummaging through his backpack earning him a bemused chuckle from her. She was asking him another question but he couldn’t hear it as his hand finally grasped the familiar shape of his cell phone. He immediately swiped to unlock his phone only to frown to see that it was dead. And he didn’t have his charger in his bag. This day couldn’t get any worse.

That’s when he noticed his reflection on his phone’s dark screen. He looked odd. Not odd… younger. Like he did back when he first heard the terrible news about him being quirkless. And that’s when he saw his hands were smaller too. He frantically looked up into the worried face of the woman still talking to him. But she sounded far away to his own ears as he took in the fact that he was definitely shorter. Everything seemed so much bigger in that way that comes from being a little kid. His breathing grew even more rapid as that was the last straw to tip him into a full-blown panic attack. His last conscious thought was that he had as his vision closed to a narrow point and he fell fitfully into the woman’s arms.

—---------------------------------------

The weeks after that were a whirlwind of alien experiences. Turns out he was still in Japan, but the city he was in was one he’d never heard of. And when he tried to explain to the police what happened to him and where he lived, they all gave him confused looks. It was as if they’d never even heard of Musutafu before, which is crazy! It’s one of the biggest cities in Japan! And no one was letting him call his mom! They said they tried but the number was disconnected. But he knew that it was his mom’s number! And his mom wouldn’t just change it overnight!

As Izuku was walking through the fairgrounds he saw the date on a newspaper somebody left scattered on the ground from one of the circus patrons and it all finally clicked. January 5th, 2002. He was over 300 years in the past. His hometown of Musutafu hadn’t even been founded yet let alone his mom or anyone else he’d ever known. There was no way for him to return to the life he knew before unless the quirk that sent him here timed out. But with each passing day that felt more and more unlikely.

He’s not ashamed to admit he cried that day. Mary was the one to find him and scoop his still foreignly small body up and comforted him as he sobbed about his lost life. He admitted to them that his mom was gone and he had no way of going back home. She took him back to her and her husband’s tent and they talked. It was a stilted conversation with a weird amalgamation of English and Japanese, but at the end of it, he had decided to let the Graysons adopt him.

The police were unable to find any records of him (for obvious reasons) so they had to create a new birth certificate for him. Izuku decided at that moment to let his past life die. He didn’t want to be poor, quirkless Izuku Midoriya who would only ever be useless. He asked John and Mary to name him instead so he could fully be their son including in name. Mary actually cried when he told her that because what could have happened to this little boy for him to talk like that? But in the end, they agreed. And within a week Richard Grayson was the newest member of Haly’s Circus.

He loved helping out around the circus in any way they’d allow. And the rest of the circus helped him in return. Everyone in the circus had something they wanted to teach him. He learned to speak the native languages of the other members of the circus. English, Polish, German, Farsi, Romani, Russian, Italian… He chalked it up to his now younger mind, but he took to them all like a sponge eager to see their smiles and loving head pats when he responded to their greetings in their native tongues. He found he loved making people smile (maybe that last little bit of his love for the ever-smiling All Might) and soon he was a bright spot of the circus, always cracking jokes and puns whenever he found the chance. Charlie and Lou the clowns would lovingly say he was trying to put them out of a job.

But that’s not all he learned. Everyone was also eager to show him their skills in the circus. He learned how to juggle, how to ride horses and elephants, how to throw daggers (though for now just the rubber kind for obvious safety), gymnastics, and the basics of sleight of hand magic. It was refreshing in a way he could barely describe to have so many adults itching to teach him. They didn’t see him as quirkless Deku who was destined to never amount to anything. He was just the son of their good friends too who they wanted to show their world.

They didn’t even mind when he would ramble excitedly about the intricacies of their acts and constant questions about how each skill worked! They would smile indulgently while quietly basking in the praise he would lavish them in and answer each of his questions with fond patience. And when he would list off new suggestions for how to take their acts to the next level they would actually listen. All to fantastic success that took Haly’s Circus to the next level of fame. Now a year later, it had become a tradition that as they traveled between cities to convene in the train's dining car as Dick gave his feedback and critique of what they could do to make the show better.

But among all the performances though nothing could beat that of his new parents in terms of his favorite to watch. At first, Dick thought for sure that the Graysons had to have quirks, or are metas as they call them in this day and age. Because surely what they did in the air was more than anything someone who’s quirkless could do. He watches their act every night they perform with stars in his eyes. He memorizes every twist and turns they make in the air, perfectly in sync to be able to catch each other in the air all without a single room for error by having no net below to ensure their safety. It may not have been because of a quirk, but it was like watching a superhero in action.

When his new parents asked him if he wanted to learn with them he was beyond excited. “Do you really mean it? Even if I don’t have superpowers like you??” He couldn’t help but ask which made his parents laugh.

“Oh, Dick! Neither do we!” Dick’s mother laughed and gave him a tight bear hug, unable to deny how cute her son was. “Remember honey: With enough hard work and effort you can do anything.”

Dick tearfully nodded as his mom and dad laughed at his serious expression. Together his parents walked him through how to fly on the trapeze. And he took to it like a fish to water. He started off on what was basically a normal swing but by the end of the year, his parents were showing him the ropes on the same trapeze they used themselves. His mom joyfully called him her little Robin with how he seemed born to fly through the air. And in the next few months after that, he was part of the acts and the Flying Graysons became the top act of Haly’s Circus. He was truly the happiest he’d ever been. He may not have superpowers, but at least he could still fly!

Chapter Text

Dick Grayson was 9 years old when his life fell apart for the second time. And it was all his fault. He knew that man (Tony Zucco, his mind bitterly supplied to him) wasn’t supposed to be there. He saw how he was threatening Mister Haly before the show. But he had said nothing. Done nothing. And now his parents are dead. “ And I wanted to be a hero. ” He thought bitterly as he made himself as small as possible under the police’s shock blanket. He could hear the police talking about what to do with him. Apparently, he was a key witness to putting Zucco behind bars. Which means it wasn’t safe for him to stay with the circus. He’d likely be put in an orphanage or a foster home. He’d probably never even get to bury his parents let alone see anyone from the circus ever again. He must be cursed. He wanted nothing more than the floor to open up again and swallow him whole. Anything to ease the crushing grief of losing the people he loved again. To hide from the guilt that it was his fault that it happened.

“Excuse me….Richard, isn’t it?” A voice called to him breaking him from his downward spiral. “I know you don’t know me, but my name is Bruce Wayne. And if you’d like, I’d like you to come live with me.” The man in front of him looked solemn but there was a kindness to his voice and a grief in his eyes that reminded him of his own.

“I was only ever called Richard when I was in trouble.” Dick couldn’t help saying this as he sheepishly wiped away his tears. “Call me Dick. It’s what Mo-… It’s what everyone calls me.”

“Well, Dick, what do you say about staying with me?” Bruce asked with a patient smile.

Dick thought it over. He remembered Mr. Wayne was the benefactor of Haly’s Circus being in Gotham in the first place for a charity event. Mister Haly even gave him the spotlight at the beginning of the show tonight. He didn’t know much about him other than the fact he had a lot of money. It seemed odd that he’d even be interested in taking him in in the first place. Who knows if the guy isn’t secretly a creep underneath that charming playboy persona. But on the other hand, staying in Gotham could mean he’d be able to hunt down Zucco himself and bring his parents' murderer to justice.  He nodded to himself and held out his hand. “You’ve got a deal, Mr. Wayne.”/

Bruce laughed and took it, clearly amused by the emotional journey he went through. “Please call me Bruce.”

So he said his tearful goodbyes to everyone in the circus who all promised him that he’d always have a place with them if he ever needed it. He gathered all his things and loaded them into the car with the help of Mr. Wa- Bruce. And in what felt like a moment between blinks he was being greeted by Bruce’s honest to god Butler Alfred. For an old man, Alfred showed a surprising amount of strength lifting Dick’s trunk out of the car and carrying it up the steps of the mansion.

“Welcome to Wayne Manor, Dick. I hope one day, you’ll be able to come to see this place as home.” Bruce said with a cheerful smile as he led Dick up the steps after his Butler. Dick took a moment to truly take in the imposing mansion. It was old is the best way to put it. He could practically hear the history of the place screaming at him. The manor was dark and all sharp angles relayed its gothic origins. All so drastically different from the colorful tents and cozy train cars he’d grown used to over the past five years. Or the cozy little house he shared with his mom in the future. 

He kept expecting to hear his mom or dad come running up the steps calling for him to come back. That he’d just wandered too far from the circus and he missed the part of the show where it was all just part of the act. Instead, a hand gently gripped his shoulder making him jump.

“You okay there, bud?” Bruce asks in solemn concern.

“I just keep thinking that this is all just some twisted nightmare and I’ll just wake up to mom calling me for breakfast.” He says tearfully looking down at the pavement. Which mom is he talking about? He’s not quite sure.

“I know how you feel.”

That makes his head snap up. “You do?”

“Let me show you something.” Bruce leads him the rest of the way into the foreboding mansion and through the halls. The inside of the mansion was just as dark as the outside. It felt like he was walking through a haunted house instead of a home one of the richest men in the world lived in. Everything just felt so… Lonely.

Eventually, Bruce leads him into an actually cozy-looking library. Unlike the rest of the manor he’d seen this room had the curtains drawn allowing more light into the room. . There was even a fireplace to add some much-needed warmth to the cold manor. Bruce walked up to the fireplace and indicated to Dick to look up at the portrait hanging above the mantle. It showed a man, a woman, and who he could guess was their son looking dignified into the camera. The boy looked a lot like Bruce.

“Are those your parents?” Dick hesitantly asks as he looks up at Bruce. 

Bruce nods with a melancholic smile as he keeps his gaze fixed on the portrait. “Yes, it is.” His expression grows more somber as he turns to look at Dick. “I was about your age when I lost them too… It was late at night. We were walking home after seeing a show and I insisted on taking a shortcut through an alley to get to the car faster. A man was waiting there to rob us… He killed them. ”

Dick could feel his eyes beginning to tear up. Here was someone who went through what he has. “Does it ever get easier? The pain?” 

“No. But while the pain will always be there, you learn how to carry it.” Bruce says honestly. Despite the harsh words, it actually brought Dick comfort. He reaches out and hugs Bruce and finally, truly gives himself a moment to mourn the loss of his parents. Bruce kneels down and holds him tight as he sobs. 

Dick doesn’t know how long he spends in the library clinging to Bruce, but eventually, they break apart when there’s a knock at the door. Alfred steps in as Bruce stands back up to his full height. “Pardon the intrusion Master Bruce, but I think it would be good for Master Richard to rest in his room.”

Dick rubs his face clean of tears and mutters, “Just Dick please.” Earning a light chuckle from the two men in the room.

“Master Dick then, I think you’d benefit from a good shower and an early bedtime,” Alfred replied with a slight teasing lilt to his voice. “If you would be so kind, I’ll show you to your quarters now.”

Dick looks to Bruce who gives him an encouraging nod. “We’ll have plenty more time to talk later Dick. Have a good night's sleep and I’ll see you in the morning.”

Dick followed Alfred to his new room and was happy to see that Alfred had placed his trunk at the foot of his bed. He instantly started rummaging through it until he found the photo of him and his parents. It was taken by another one of the performers right before his first performance with them. He looked at it for a long moment before standing and putting it on his bedside table. 

“You’ll find the bathroom through that door there and the closet through the other door there. If you need anything at all my room is just down the hall and Master Bruce’s is down at the end.” Alfred interrupts his quiet reverie making him jump.

“Th-thank you, Alfred,” Dick said with a small smile and breathed a sigh of relief as Alfred nodded and moved to leave.

“Have pleasant dreams, Master Dick,” Alfred says as he quietly shuts the door behind him.

Alone with his thoughts, Dick moves towards the bathroom and is happy to see it fully stocked with everything he needed to just shower and pop into bed. It takes him ages to fall asleep as he stares at the ceiling of his new room. But eventually in the early hours of the morning sleep takes him. His nightmares are filled with shattered screams, the sounds of broken ropes, and the tauntings of his past telling him how he will always be worthless.

Life in the Wayne manor was definitely different from anything he’d ever experienced in either of his lives. Bruce was rarely ever at home because of his job. Alfred, while nice, was busy caring for the massive mansion on his own. And Dick himself was enrolled at the premier school in the city Gotham academy where the other kids looked down at him as nothing more than Bruce Wayne’s pet than as an actual peer. Regardless of the fact that his past life as Izuku and his world traveling in this one made him one of the top students in all his classes almost instantly. Which just added to his alienation from his classmates. Part of him is actually glad for his bullying as Izuku. Compared to the actual physical threats from other quirks, especially the many burns given to him by Bakugo, the taunts, and snide comments were nothing to him.

But his lonely days meant he had plenty of time to focus on one thing: finding Zucco. He had taken to keeping a journal much like in his past life. Keeping notes on anything that could be relevant to finding Zucco. Bruce had provided him with a computer in his room, the latest model from Wayne Tech Industries, so he could do his homework and whatnot anytime he wanted. What Bruce doesn’t know is he’s been using it to comb through the internet for every news article and police report even mentioning the man. He thinks now he has a pretty good idea of the general area Zucco hangs out.

It’s been two months now and neither the police nor Batman had been able to find him. Maybe the murder of two acrobats from a traveling circus wasn’t a high priority for them. But that’s not going to stop him. Tonight he was going to find Zucco and bring him to justice. Bruce was out on another late-night meeting and Alfred always went to bed precisely at 9 pm like clockwork. No one would be around to notice him slip out of his bedroom window and into the busy streets of Gotham’s nightlife.

In his backpack, he packed a flashlight, his training daggers, some cash from his weekly allowance, and most importantly a picture of Zucco. He donned the same clothes he’d worn helping Molly clean the animal cars to blend in as just another street kid and headed towards his bedroom window. It was easy to use his acrobat skills to jump down from the second-story window and off running across the lawn to the gate. He was grateful for his slim athletic build that he could easily slip through the bars. 

It took him nearly 30 minutes to walk along the desolate road leading up to Wayne Manor to reach a bus stop. And another 15 for a bus to arrive to take him into the city proper. From there it was a subway ride and a second, much shadier-looking bus ride to take him to the part of Gotham officially named Park Row but more commonly called Crime Alley. The bus driver gave him a worried look when he saw him step off the bus alone into one of the most crime-ridden parts of the city at night. But Dick paid him no mind as he walked off with a purpose in his step. Now it was just a matter of donning an innocent face as he looks for his wayward “father” that he was supposed to go live with.

—---------- 2 Hours Later —----------

He did not think things through the past: get to Crime Alley, find Zucco. He thought all it would take was showing a picture of Zucco to a few shopkeepers and passersby and they would just point him in the right direction. But he didn’t take into account that people who live in the most crime-ridden part of one of the most crime-ridden cities in the world would not want to talk to a stranger about what was likely another criminal. Most people ignored him outright as if he didn’t exist. Those who didn’t ignore him would shout at him to go away and take his prying nose somewhere else.

He walked dejectedly out of the fourth bodega of the evening when he heard yelling from the other end of the alley. “Just what do you think you’re doing with my money, bitch?!”

“I didn’t take nothing, Bosco!” A woman screams back which is swiftly followed by the sound of a harsh smack and the woman’s pained-filled scream.

Dick’s feet were moving before his brain even realized what he was doing. “Leave her alone!” He yells and tackles the man to the ground.

“Where the hell did this kid come from?!” The man yells and kicks Dick roughly off of him into some trash cans.

“Leave him alone Bosco! He’s just a little kid!” The woman yells to his defense as she grabs the man's arm to stop him from striking him.

“He’s started it!” Bosco childishly remarks as he roughly shoves her to the ground and stalks over to the. “I’m gonna teach this kid a lesson about keeping his head out of other people’s business!” 

Dick tenderly stands up and looks for anything that could help him in this fight. It’d take too long to pull out his throwing knives and the man’s size means he can’t just brute force his way through this fight. That’s when he notices a ladder for a fire escape just over his head and an idea strikes. Quickly he jumps and snags the ladder and pulls his legs up just in time to miss the man's first lunge. Before the man can recover from not landing his hit, Dick vaults himself up onto the first landing of the fire escape.

“Get back here you little punk!” The man yells as he easily grabs and rips down the fire escape ladder and follows after Dick.

This time Dick carefully steps back looking every bit of a scared little kid as the man climbs onto the landing after him. Just when the man was about to lunge Dick grabbed the railing and launched himself over the side. As he dangles in mid-air, Bosco is not so prepared for the disappearance of his target yet again and ends up tipping haphazardly over the railing and into the open dumpster.

“Now that’s what I call taking out the trash.” Dick cheekily calls as he jumps down and walks up to the woman. “Are you alright, ma’am?”

“I’m perfectly fine thanks to you.” She says and casts a look towards the dumpster where Bosco is still screaming but unable to get out before giving him a cheeky grin. “How about I treat my hero to something to eat?”

Soon Dick found himself at a diner down the road sitting in a booth across from Sasha chowing down on a slice of apple pie. “Slow down there tiger! If you haven’t forgotten, humans need to chew!” She laughs and leans on her elbow as she watches him.

“Sorry,” Dick says as he swallows his last bite of pie. “That was the best pie I’ve ever had.”

“Yeah, Shirley really knows how to bake.” Sasha nods toward the elderly woman behind the counter. “So, what brings such a brave hero to such a dark place like Crime Alley?”

Dick looks down as he feels a bright blush fill his cheeks. That part of him he tried so hard to bury reared its ugly head at being called a “hero”. “I’m looking for my dad. Mom kicked me out and said to go live with him. But when I got to his address he was just gone.”  He slid the picture he had of Zucco across the table to her and she picked it up to look at it.

“Can’t say I’ve seen him before.” She says with a concerned look on her face that almost makes him feel guilty for the lie. She slides the photo back across the table and he leaves it there just looking dejected. This whole night was just a massive bust.

The waitress comes around to collect their plates and give them a check. She looks at the table and frowns in annoyance. “Hey, I know that guy.” 

“You do?!” Dick can’t help but yell as he stands in the booth. Finally a lead! 

“Yeah, he and his buddies come every week to empty out the till for their “insurance” policy.” She says with a roll of her eyes.

“Any idea where I can find him?” 

“Well you’re just in luck tonight's the night he likes to crawl out of whatever hole he sleeps in and terrorize everyone like the hobgoblin he is. Can’t really understand why anyone would wanna be around that dirtbag but to each his own.” Dick’s pretty sure that last part was to herself so he doesn’t respond. “Just wait an hour and he’ll show himself.” She says with a final nod and walks back to the kitchen.

“Well, I’m glad that little problem solved itself.” Sasha stands and places a few dollar bills on the table. “I hope you’re able to find who you’re looking for, kid. Take care of yourself.” She says with a fond hair ruffle.

Dick waves goodbye to her and settles into the booth with a sigh. He just had to be patient and soon his target would show himself. He ended up ordering himself another slice of pie (He was a growing boy and the pie was reeeaaaallly good!) in the meantime. But sure enough, a little over an hour later Zucco and a small gang of goons burst through the diner’s doors like they owned the place.

“All right you know the drill by now, Shelly,” Zucco says cockily as he walks up to the counter. “We’re gonna need that insurance money if you want to assure our protection.” 

“All your “insurance” does is line your pocket.” Shirley snaps angrily as she throws her dish towel at one of the goons.

The goon easily reaches over the counter to slam her face into it making her scream in pain. “Stupid bitch! Don’t forget who you’re talking to!”

A memory rises unbidden of a bleach-blond teen and two other lackeys cornering him in a shady corner of their middle school classroom after everyone had gone home. “You think you’re better than me just because you scored higher than me on that test, don’t you?!” Kaachan screams in his face as he grabs him by the collar.

“N-no! I don’t!” Izuku cried as he did everything he could to make himself stronger.

“All you ever do is get in my way!” He growls and lifts his hand which has begun sparking from his rage. “I’m gonna teach you your place! I’m gonna be the top hero one day! And you’ll only ever be a quirkless Deku!”

Dick shook himself off the memory. He wasn’t that scared kid anymore, powerless to be anything but a punching bag to everyone else around him. He had finally learned he didn’t need a superpower to be able to do amazing things! He needed to focus ! His target was standing in front of him right now. So what was he going to do about it?

“Now that wasn’t very nice,” Zucco says sarcastically and sighs dramatically. “Now I'm gonna have to charge ya double for damages.”

He carefully slid under the table and crouched in wait. He quickly dug through his backpack and pulled out the dagger Nikola had given him to practice his knife throwing with. Unlike all the ones he’d had in the past though, this one was real. A last parting gift to remember her by. It felt fitting to use a remnant of the circus to bring Zucco down. He only had one shot at this so he had to make it count!  He waited for the perfect moment just as Zucco was walking past to get to the entrance around the counter. His knife sails through the air and hits home in Zucco’s shoulder. 

“What the hell!!” Zucco screams in pain as he clutches his shoulder in pain.

Dick acts quickly and runs to tackle the man to the ground. Zucco’s goons immediately rush to grab him but Dick rolls out of the way and sweeps his leg to trip the burly men causing them to crash on top of the downed Zucco making them dig the dagger further into his shoulder.

“Stop goofing around and get the damn kid!” Zucco yells as he kicks the goon off of him.

Dick backed up as the two men walked towards him menacingly. His mind was working a thousand miles a minute as he looked for what his next move would be. The bigger one, the one he had tripped onto Zucco, was limping slightly. He must have twisted his ankle in the fall. He could use that. There on the table next to him was the glass of water he’d ordered to wash down his pie. Perfect.

He kept his facade of a scared kid as he backed up toward the table. Once the glass was within reach he put his plan into action.  He grabbed the glass and threw it at the goon’s head which was smacked away easily by the man. “You sure like throwing things doncha kiddo?” He sneered with a laugh. “Doncha know someone can get hurt?!” The man screamed as he lunged at him.

Dick would give it to him that he was fast but Dick was faster. He used the table for leverage to kick out with both his feet into the man’s chest sending him once again sprawling back. His feet slid on the water that he helped spill all over the floor, making his already injured foot twist painfully until a snap rang through the air and the man was howling in agony on the floor as he clutched his leg.

The other goon scowled at him as he stepped over his fallen companion. “You’ll pay for that you brat!” He yelled as he reached out and yanked his arm painfully up into the air. Dick cried out in pain as he was drawn up close to the man’s face. The guy was tall enough that Dick’s feet couldn’t even touch the ground. “Watcha gonna do now, you little shit?” 

Dick squints through the pain at the sneering thug and spits in his face. The next thing he knows, the air is forced out of his lungs from a harsh punch in the stomach. He was then harshly thrown into the wall where he crumbled into a heap. He fought back tears as he struggled to get his breath back. He could faintly hear the men gather themselves back up and start to make their exit. He was so close. He was so sure he could finally do something! Was this really the best he could do? He was so stupid for thinking he could protect anyone. He really was a worthless Deku. I’m sorry Mom. Dad… I failed you again.

He was so caught up in his negative spiral he didn’t see a dark figure burst through the back door of the diner to cut off the gangsters. “Fuck! It’s the Bat!” The thug yelled and dropped his companion to run the other way out the front door. He didn’t make it far as a dark bola flung through the air and tied them themselves around his feet.

“It’s over Zucco,” Batman growls as he stalks towards the gangster that had ripped everything from Dick. “Your days of extorting and threatening others are over.”

Zucco snarls and grabs Shirley by the hair from where she was lying prone on the counter. “Not a step closer Batman!” He screams as he holds the very knife Dick had embedded into his shoulder against her throat. “One more move and I slice her fucking throat!”

Batman backs down a bit, not willing to risk the life of the woman quite yet until he has a chance to remove her from danger. Dick grit his teeth in frustration. Zucco was getting away again! Who knows when he’d be able to be found again if he left now. He felt helpless as the man slowly inched his way towards the door, dragging the waitress across the counter to keep his bargaining chip close. 

Dick slowly inched himself up from his crumpled position on the floor. Zucco had his eyes firmly on Batman and seemed to have completely forgotten about his other unwanted guest. He probably assumed the kid was out for the count. But Dick had a whole other life of being disregarded by everyone around him. He knew how to use that to his advantage. He slipped closer, unnoticed by the gangster, and crouched into his path in wait. The same way many of his old life’s bullies would use to trip him to the ground for another beating. He felt a twisted sort of joy at the irony of being on the other side of it to his own advantage. Just like he planned, Zucco failed to notice him and tipped backward over him to the ground.

The shock made Zucco release his grip on Shirley as he was once again sent sprawling to the floor. With the hostage out of the way Batman quickly descended on the man and wrestled him into a pair of handcuffs. And then it was all over. Batman wrangled the three thugs together and tied them in a cord to be found by the police and then turned his attention to Dick. 

“That was incredibly reckless what you just did tonight.” He said in a gruff voice that had Dick flinching back. He closed his eyes reflexively, waiting for yet another hero to tell him how idiotic he was to try and play at being a hero. “But they would have gotten away if it wasn’t for your quick thinking. So for that, you have my thanks.”

Dick looked up at Batman (His mind finally caught up with him that this is THE Batman! One of the greatest heroes in all of history!) like he’d strung the stars in the sky. He wasn’t rejecting him outright. He even thanked him. “I-, you-, y-you’re welcome?” He stuttered out, finally feeling his cheeks heating up even as the words leave his mouth. Even after all these years of trying to bury his past life, he was still a hero fanboy at heart.

Batman smiled a little at that. It was soft, barely noticeable, but still there. Dick couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness in it. Why did that smile seem so familiar? “Please wait here for the police to take you back home,” Batman said finally and then turned to leave through the back kitchens. 

Dick could hear the faint sounds of sirens now as he sped towards the diner. It would be simple just wait and let this all end. He had accomplished what he set out to do. Zucco was captured and would face justice for his crimes. He could go back to Wayne Manor and live out the rest of his life in the comfort and security of being the foster son of a billionaire. He’d never have to want for anything again. So why did he still have a yearning for more?

His feet were moving before his brain could process what exactly he was doing. A manic energy that had him overlooking all his aches and bruises as he struggled to catch up before Batman disappeared back into the night. He chased him into the alley behind the diner and looked around frantically.

There! He watched Batman shoot his grappling hook up into the air to go flying off through the streets of Gotham. He was struck again by the similarities to his last life as he’s once again clutching the legs of a superhero just as they go rocketing through the sky.

Batman notices him immediately and changes his course to land safely on the roof of a nearby building. Already a better alternative to having almost been kicked off mid-flight like with All Might. He shook his head to try and clear off the horrid memory to moderate success. At least this time he could relish the rush of swinging through the air. The memory of swinging on the trapeze helped ground him in a way he’d never expected. He shut down the wave of disappointment as they land and Batman gently pries him off his legs to look at him.

“That was a dangerous thing you just did. That could have gotten you killed.” He growls but somehow Dick doesn’t feel fear from it. He could almost feel the waves of concern about his well-being as Batman checked him over. Who knew the Bat was actually a worrywart? They don’t teach that in the history textbooks. “Why didn’t you wait for the police as I told you?”

“I-I-I- well- um- you see-” He’s stuttering again. God, how does one night suddenly throw him back to being that stuttering mess of a  kid begging for anyone to notice him? He took a steadying breath and looked up to meet Batman’s gaze. “I-I want to ask you something.”

Dick couldn’t see most of his face, but he could practically see Batman’s raised eyebrow. “You put yourself at risk of taking a ten-story plunge off a skyscraper to ask me a question?”

“Y-yes.” He gulps and averts his eyes down to his feet as he twists his hands into his sweater to stop himself from fidgeting under Batman’s intense scrutiny. “I-I wanted to know if- if you think it could be possible for- for someone like me that is- to be a-a hero like you?”

There is a pregnant pause between them and Dick braces himself for the harsh truth to be about to be thrown his way. But even so he needed to hear it. Just once more. Because if he couldn’t be a hero even in a world where quirks did not exist yet, then he could finally bury that last little piece of his life as Izuku Midoriya away for good. He could live out the rest of his days in quiet peace like everyone in his life always told him to. 

“Why do you want to be a hero?” 

“W-what?” Dick looks up in astonishment at Batman who has returned to his full height to stare down at him.

“Zucco is being arrested as we speak and will be in prison for a long time. You could say you’ve already brought your parents' justice. Being a hero is dangerous, thankless work. You don’t do it for fame or fortune or revenge. If that is why you want to be a hero, then do something else with your life. You can become a police officer or fireman for that.” 

Dick flinched at how close this sounded to the speech All Might gave him. But something about it didn’t feel like the flat-out rejection like last time. First of all, Batman was waiting for a response. “All my life people have looked down on me as someone who is weak.” He finally starts at barely above a whisper. That bit of Izuku still left in him was boiling to the forefront again and refused to let him back down again. “They didn’t see me as anyone worth protecting at best and as someone who needed to be put back into my place at worst all for the crime of just existing. I-I know I’m not the biggest, or the strongest, or the-the smartest. I know that the world is cruel and would love nothing but for me to just lie down and accept my place in the world to always be someone else’s punching bag.” He looks back up at Batman with a look of determination in his eyes. “But if I can save just one other person, show someone like me that there’s still hope for something better, in the process then it would all be worth it.”

Batman stares him down for another minute as if testing his resolve and hums. “If that’s the case… You’re going to need training.” He holds out his hand to Dick with another almost invisible smile. 

Dick stares wide-eyed at the man. Batman, a hero so heralded throughout history as a pinnacle of justice it could almost be considered sainthood, thought he had the potential to be a hero. He could feel the tears leaking down his cheeks as he took the offered hand. “You’ve got a deal, Batman.” 

Batman laughs a low, grave thing, and shakes his hand. Together Batman repels them down another alley where his Batmobile lies in wait. And with that, the two of them are zooming off into the night. Less than ten minutes later Dick finds himself in the Batcave looking around in wonder. 

The place is huge! There’s a helicopter and a submarine and a whole display cabinet of various weapons and gadgets! And a dinosaur! A giant freaking dinosaur! And the Batcomputer! It’s absolutely massive with six massive screens that take up nearly a quarter of the room! He knows he’s babbling to himself but he can’t be bothered to care. He’s in the Batcave! With Batman! A Batman who looks to be trying to reign in his obvious amusement at the kids' antics.

“Dick,” Batman calls his attention back from the computer console. “There’s something we need to go over.” Dick immediately reigns his inner fanboy in and heads over toward the man standing in the middle of the room. “If we are going to work together there is going to need to be a strong bond of trust between us. I need you to understand everything that goes on here, everything we do while we’re in costume must remain a secret. If anyone finds out our identities it can put not only our lives but the lives of the people we care about at risk.”

Dick nods in understanding. “Understood Batman. Can I ask you another question?” Batman tilts his head but nods so he continues. “Since we’re partners and all, I was just wondering, what’s your superpower?”

Batman lets out a short bemused laugh. “Superpower?”

“Yeah I mean there’s been a lot of rumors. But nothing’s ever been confirmed.” Dick rambles on. Maybe he’s more than a little sleep deprived (It is nearly 3 in the morning after all). But once a fanboy always a fanboy. “Some say you can manipulate shadows, but others say you have superhuman accuracy, but then there's that other theory saying you can induce emotions like fear, and others say you gotta have super intelligence because of how great a detective you are and all the gadgets you build. So what is it?”

Batman lets out an honest to god, deep-belly laugh that echoes off of the cave's high ceiling. “Let this be the first secret you learn tonight then. The answer is none of them.”

“So then is that fringe theory that you could turn into an actual giant bat true???” Dick can't help but ask 

Batman snorts but shakes his head as he takes off his cowl. “No. The truth is I am just a regular man like everyone else. No powers, alien origins, or scientific accidents necessary.”

Dick stares in shock. He felt like his entire worldview just got rocked completely out of place. Two of history’s greatest mysteries are solved in two short sentences. “I- what- B-Bruce?!” 

As if the universe wanted to prove he wasn’t hallucinating, Alfred appears from the elevator in the corner carrying a tea tray laden with first aid supplies and a cup of tea. “I do hope you were successful in your capture of that nasty fellow Zucco, Master Bruce.” He says as he sets the tray on the blank space on the Bat Computers desk before fully turning to the duo. Dick has to give Alfred credit. He doesn’t even flinch when he notices Bruce has company in the cave. “Good evening Master Dick. If I recall I left you in your bed quite some time ago. Imagine my surprise to find you here instead.”

Dick can’t help but flinch at the reminder that he had in fact just been caught sneaking out. “S-Sorry Alfred.”

Even without the cowl on Dick can see the switch from Bruce to Batman. Something in the way he sets his jaw and straightens his back into something more rigid. He walks to the computer and sets about typing in notes from the night before. “Zucco has been apprehended by police and is on his way to jail as we speak. The intel about his other marks proved useful in tracking him down. Came just in time to find him and a few lackeys holding up the diner downtown. Dick here was engaging all three at once. In the end, his distraction aided in me getting an advantage on them to make their capture a success when Zucco decided to take a hostage.”

Dick couldn’t help but blush as Alfred leveled him with an unimpressed stare. “If that is the case, I request we have a look at any injuries you may have had during your late-night escapades.” He says as he beckons Dick further into the cave towards an area that seemed to be a designated medbay.

He follows dutifully, not wanting to further get on the butler's bad side. He pulled off his sweater and allowed Alfred to treat the scrapes and bruises he sustained from the night. All the adrenaline had drained from his system at that point leaving him nodding off in exhaustion. And what felt like the space between blinks, he was shuffled back upstairs, into a new set of pajamas, and safely tucked back into bed. For the first night since his parents died, his dreams were peaceful. 

Chapter Text

And so Dick’s days were filled with his classes at Gotham Academy, quickly getting his homework done, and heading down to the Batcave to train. He’d start with stretches, some light gymnastics (by his standards at least), and then go through the various katas Bruce taught him. By that point, Bruce would return from work at Wayne Enterprises and they would either spar, first hand to hand and then with weapons, or Bruce would teach him the finer points of stealth. They would have a quick meal brought to them by Alfred and then Bruce would go out on patrol while Dick monitored through the Batcomputer. A part of his training involved using the computer to hack into various security cameras, and police radio frequencies, and break into relevant police files to feed to Batman. 

He wasn’t ready to go on patrol with him yet. But Bruce was always upfront and honest about his progress so that way he knew what to work on. His hacking skills had grown in the past few weeks to rival even Batman’s in terms of speed and effectiveness. And while most days he was usually wasted by Batman in their sparring, he was starting to be able to land a few hits of his own on the way down. He says that at the rate he’s improving, he should be able to join him on patrols soon enough. He just has to be patient. It’s frustrating, but he can’t help but agree with the logic that any other way would just make him a liability.

“This isn’t a game of make-believe, Dick. When you’re a hero, people are depending on you to save them. Any mistake can result in your or their deaths. Going in unprepared is as good as signing the death warrant yourself. Remember that.”

Tonight was a quiet night. Nothing but a few dime-a-dozen alleyway muggings and drug deals that were all swiftly dealt with. Quiet nights always made Batman antsy. But Dick was kinda glad for the mental break as he lazily stared at the computer screens looking for anything to make the night go faster. He can’t help but have his thoughts wander in the silence. He reaches into his pockets and pulls out the dead phone that came with him from the future. Despite trying so hard to bury his past life, he couldn’t bring himself to get rid of that last reminder of it. Proof that his memories of his life as Izuku Midoriya aren’t some hallucination.

He needs to tell Bruce about it though. He doesn’t know how long he would stay here. Even if he wishes with his whole heart to stay. H̶e̶ d̶o̶e̶s̶n̶’t̶ k̶n̶o̶w̶ w̶h̶a̶t̶ h̶e̶’d̶ d̶o̶ i̶f̶ h̶e̶ o̶p̶e̶n̶e̶d̶ h̶i̶s̶ e̶y̶e̶s̶ b̶a̶c̶k̶ o̶n̶ t̶h̶a̶t̶ l̶o̶n̶e̶l̶y̶ r̶o̶o̶f̶t̶o̶p̶ a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶.  He can’t leave Bruce in the dark about it though. He’s only resided here in Wayne Manor for a little under 6 months at this point, but he knows it would send Bruce into a downward spiral of obsession if he just disappeared one day. He can’t be responsible for doing that to him.

Soon enough he hears the tell-tale sounds of the Batmobile roaring through the cave. He sighed and steeled himself for the awkward conversation ahead. He waited while Batman pulled into the cave and slipped out of the car with a heavy sigh as he slips down his cowl. “You can turn in for the night Dick.” 

Dick takes a steadying breath and speaks. “Actually there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

Bruce pauses and studies the serious look on his face. “Let’s take this somewhere more comfortable.” He finally says and walks to the changing area to switch into his more comfortable civilian clothes.

Dick quietly follows along and soon he and Bruce are back upstairs sitting on opposite sofas in the study. Dick took the time while Bruce changed to grab his old backpack that he had when he first appeared. It would help to have as much proof as possible for this conversation. “So what is it you want to talk about?” Bruce finally asks.

“There’s something I have to tell you about my past that could possibly affect all of us in the future. But I’m afraid if I tell you, you’ll think I’m lying or making up stories or that it was all just a trauma response because of my young age.” He answers honestly and starts fiddling with the bottom hem of his shirt.

Bruce raises an eyebrow and hums. “You’re not the kind of person to make up stories, Dick. I promise whatever you have to say, I’ll listen. Then we can talk about what I think about it.”

Classic Bruce, forever the pragmatist. He'd laugh if they were talking about anything else but this. Instead, he decided to begin. “About 300 years from now the first human child will be born with a superpower without the need for the activation of the metagene called Quirks. The next 50 years would follow a partial societal collapse as the world learns to cope with humanity where nearly everyone had a quirk of some kind. Villains and untrained heroes alike would rise at a rate the Justice League couldn’t keep up with. Soon hero agencies will pop up all over the world to cope with the strain. By the 2400s roughly 87% of the earth's population will have quirks and becoming a hero is the number one most sought career over every other profession.” 

Bruce raises an eyebrow but doesn't say anything else. He's in full Batman mode at this point. It's easy to talk about the background info. Now the part that's gonna hurt. He takes a steadying breath and pulls out the old notebook he was carrying the day his entire world changed. It still had burns and water damage scars, but it was still mostly readable. Not that he spent much time trying to read it. The title “Hero Notes for the Future #17” just felt like a cruel joke now.  

“I was originally born in the year 2432 in Musutafu, Japan to the name Izuku Midoriya. Growing up, all I ever wanted was to be a hero like my idol All Might. You could consider him our version of Superman. He’s the number 1 hero in Japan and is basically considered by everyone to be the kind of hero everyone should be. Fast, strong, charismatic, and always there to save the day with a smile…” Izuku stopped his rambling and shook his head. This wasn’t about him. “I wanted to be just like him when I grew up. That dream was shattered when I was diagnosed as quirkless at the age of 4. You need to understand that by that point in time, being quirkless is considered the same as useless by the rest of society. From then on, I was treated simultaneously like I was more fragile than everyone else and that my only purpose in life was to be someone else’s punching bag.”

Dick couldn’t help but curl in on himself as the memories of his past life came flooding in. “...My first bully was actually my best friend Katsuki Bakugou. He was gifted with an exceedingly high powered quirk where he could create explosions in his hands from his nitroglycerin sweat. The perfect quirk for a top hero he was clearly destined to be.” He couldn’t help but laugh darkly at that. “Despite having grown up together, after I was deemed quirkless something in him came to see me as a weight holding him back. He’d do everything in his power to remind me of our places in life. Name-calling, threats, destroying my stuff, and worst of all using me as his prime target practice. All the while the adults around me turned a blind eye. Any time I would try to tell our teachers, they would find a way to spin it that it was my fault and was just trying to ruin Bakugou’s chances of being a hero.”

He tilts back to stare up at the ceiling wistfully. “I still wanted to be a hero though. I would go out of my way to watch any hero fight I could to analyze their tactics in hopes I could recreate them. Each of them is painstakingly cataloged in these notebooks.” He says and tosses the book onto the table. 

Bruce immediately picks it up and flips through it. “Surprisingly thorough notes.” He comments after a moment. “But all this begs the question: if what you say is true, how did you end up here?”

“Wait.” Dick immediately perks up and slams his hands onto the coffee table. “You believe me?”

“First: as I already told you, you’re not the kind of person to make things up for the fun of it,” Bruce says as he sets the notebook on the table. “Second: this is all more elaborate than just some delusion. I've read through more than one Arkham patients' journal. This looks nothing like those. Which brings me to my final point: you would not be the first time traveler I’ve met.”

Dick could feel his eyes begin to water. This was the first time an adult just believed what he said. “Thank you.” He can’t help but choke out as he wipes away his tears with the back of his hand.

“I’ve done nothing but look at the facts,” Bruce says in lieu of drawing attention to Dick’s tears. Dick can’t help but be grateful for that fact at the moment. “Let’s get back to task. How did you end up in this time as a four-year-old in the middle of a fairground?”

“That’s where things get complicated.” Dick sighs and flops back down onto the couch. “Like I said before, everyone my age wanted to be a hero. But to do so you have to go to a proper school for it and then pass a licensing exam. In my last year of middle school, they had us all list the top three high schools we wanted to apply to. Of course, everyone in my class put UA, the top hero school in the country, as their top school... Including me.” He sighed and looked away again. “I was of course made a laughing stock of the class by our teacher.”

“Sounds like a horrible teacher.”

“You can say that again.” Dick snorts derisively. “After class, Bakugou and his lackeys cornered me. He took the notebook there, burned it in front of me, and then tossed it out the window into the pond. He then proceeded to threaten me to forget about applying to UA and that I should accept I’ll only ever be useless. And as a parting gift, he told me if I ever wanted to be a hero my best bet would throw myself off a roof and pray to be born with a quirk in the next life.”

Bruce’s face turned to stone. “He what?” 

This was honestly the scariest Dick had ever seen him before. It floored him to see Bruce get so angry on his behalf.  “He told me to kill myself.”

“And this is a kid that said he wants to be a hero?”

“The next number 1 hero actually.” He chimed in making Bruce scowl even more. “And to make my day worse, on the way home I was attacked by a slime villain. He had a quirk that made his whole body sludge so he could slip through storm drains. He was on the run from a hero and wanted to use my body as a meat puppet to escape notice. I was slowly being suffocated by the guy as he was literally forcing himself down my throat when All Might showed up. He punched the villain away knocking me out in the process because the thing was attached to my face. Woke up a few minutes later to the guy slapping me in the face to wake me up. He then signed my notebook and jumped off into the distance.”

“He slapped you awake and then just left you there? Without any kind of other checks to ensure your safety after you were suffocated by this criminal and then knocked unconscious?” Bruce was furious. On a good day, he hated showboat heroes. But to leave a victim without even taking a moment to make sure help was arriving? That is the most irresponsible thing he'd ever heard of. And this was supposedly the top hero???

“Well… tried to,” Dick said sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. “I may have latched on to his legs as he was jumping away.”

Bruce shoots him a teasing smile. “That sounds familiar.”

Dick blushes darkly and looks away again. “Y-yeah. But in my defense! I probably had a concussion and tried getting his attention prior to him bouncing off. He just happened to jump at the same time I was reaching out to grab his shoulder. The next thing I know, we’re in the air and he's trying to shove me off him.”

“In midair?” The man wasn't going to be born for another 300 years but Bruce wanted to wring this guy's neck. 

“He stopped when I reminded him of that fact and we landed on a rooftop.” Dick waved his hands to try and dissipate the tension. “You gotta understand All Might was my idol. My room was basically a shrine to his greatness. He was the beacon of hope for all of Japan. So I had to ask him if I had any hope of being a hero myself. Because surely a hero as great as him, who has seen so many different kinds of people and heroes, would know if I had even a chance of making it as one even without a quirk!”

“That also sounds familiar,” Bruce says in a deadpan voice.

“Yeah.” He lets outs a self-deprecating laugh. “But he had a much different response than yours. He showed me a near-fatal wound he got fighting a villain and told me that with the dangers heroes have to face, it’s impossible for a quirkless person and I should look into a more “realistic” career choice.” Despite not regretting what happened, Dick still feels tears gather in his eyes from the memory of that day. “It was just another on the long list of people to look at me and see nothing of use. And then he just left. Just walked off like it was nothing to crush the hopes and dreams of a person. And then I was alone on the roof of a twenty-story building with no one around to stop me.”

Bruce feels ice run through his veins as he leans forward. “Please tell me you didn’t.” 

A few tears drip down Dick’s cheeks as he silently shakes his head. “... I didn’t.” Bruce lets out a shaky breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “But that’s because someone else interrupted me.”

Bruce can’t take it anymore. He can’t sit across from this child who has been through so much that he almost ended it all. He is by Dick’s side in an instant and wraps his arms around him. Dick can’t help but lean into him and lets himself truly grieve his past life. All the while Bruce doesn’t say a word. Just like his first night in the manor, Bruce is a calming presence as Dick falls apart all over again.

Eventually, Dick sniffles and pulls away. “Thanks, Bruce.” He says shakily as he wipes away his snot and tears. It’s starting to get embarrassing how many times he’s cried on the man now.

“If this is too much, we can always talk in the morning," Bruce says as he places a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“... I-I know.” He can’t help but wince at the stutter. He took a deep breath to calm himself and sighed. “I need to finish this tonight. I don’t know if I’ll be able to otherwise.” Bruce nods in understanding and so he continues. “... Like I said I was going to, but got interrupted. Two villains came bounding over rooftops when they came across me. I think they’d just robbed a bank or something but I don’t really know. They were apparently on the run from a hero of some kind and they didn’t want any witnesses telling them where they went. So they both used their quirks on me to take me out of the picture. And the next thing I know I’m in the past as a 4-year-old tripping my way into Mom’s circus tent.”

“Did the Graysons know you were from the future?” Bruce can’t help but ask. 

“I did,” Dick can’t help but smile sadly, “I think they chalked my story up to an extreme trauma response. I was only a 4-year-old to them who had gone through something traumatic. If I had escaped some kind of kidnapping or abuse, it would make sense that my mind would come up with a story of villains and time travel to cope. But I didn’t need them to believe me.” He didn’t realize his hands were shaking until Bruce placed his own over them. A quiet moment passes between them as Dick stares up at him with thanks. “I wanted to end my life that day. And while I wasn’t expecting it to happen this way, I got what I wanted in the end. I’m not Izuku Midoriya anymore. And while there are some things I would like to go back and change in this life, I will never regret becoming Dick Grayson and have no desire to go back to the future.”

“So why tell me all this if you don’t want to return to the future?” 

“I have no idea how those two villain’s quirks work. I’ve been here for just over 5 years now and have been aging like a normal human so there’s a chance that the effects of these quirks are permanent.”

“But you had to cover for the chance that it’s not.” Bruce finishes the thought for him and Dick can feel the tinge of pride in his voice for coming to the conclusion on his own. “It took an enormous amount of trust to tell me all this. Thank you.”

“I didn’t want you to worry if I just disappear one day.” Dick lets out an embarrassingly huge yawn at the end of his sentence and blushes.

“We can start making contingency plans in the morning,” Bruce says finally and stands. “For now, I think it’s high time both of us go to bed.”

Dick nods and follows him out of the study and to his room. Before he opens the door he turns to Bruce who’s walking towards his own at the end of the hall. “Thank you, Bruce. For everything.”

Bruce gives him a small smile in return. “Of course Dick. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” Dick yawns and closes his door behind him. He immediately walks over to his bed and flops on it without even peeling back the covers. He’s asleep before he can even think to do so. 

In the morning he wakes up safely tucked in bed and smiles.

Chapter Text

And so began the hero career of Robin, Boy Wonder. He learned to fly across rooftops faster than those who could fly. He learned to take down opponents three times his size. He learned how to hack some of the world's strongest security systems in minutes. He stood with the best of the best and his name was known worldwide.

Their little family he and Bruce started together grew. Barbara, Jason, Tim, Cass, Steph… Soon that lonely mansion out on the cliffs of Gotham was filled with life. They had their ups and downs. Their adrenaline-filled successes and soul-crushing failures. And while some of them may never get along. But when times are hard they would always rise to protect each other. The title of Robin became a mantle passed through their family like a security blanket until they were ready to fly under their own names. Dick can’t help but think his mom is happy that her silly little nickname will always be remembered.

And through his actions, he was able to make friends. Real friends who loved him, just as he did them. He knew he was strong, but with the Young Justice League, he and his friends soared to even greater sights. Learned how to break down the faintest clues of a crime scene to track down a criminal. Taking down even stronger threats to Earth that even the Justice League itself struggled to neutralize.

Their little group would shrink and grow in numbers over time. At times it felt for every friend they made another had to leave through more permanent measures. But they continued on. Learned to carry their grief for the sake of those still alive and to honor those who were gone. Batman called it The Mission. Superman called it The Call. Wonder Woman called it Duty. But in the end, it all meant the same thing. A hero’s purpose is to protect those who can’t protect themselves.

Dick struggled sometimes under its weight. There were so many times over the years he entertained giving it all up for a normal life. But no matter how hard he tried to hide, there would always be something that would bring him back. 

But even through the heartache and pain and near-death experiences, it wasn’t all doom and gloom like Bruce liked to think it was. His friends were always there to help snap him back into reality. They helped support each other through their darkest moments and came back out the other side of it together. 

And to ensure that fact they would always make time to get together outside of the costumes. It helped remind those still in the Life that they were still human and those who’d left it to not feel pressured to return to it. 

And boy was today a day to celebrate. Today everyone is gathered for a picnic on the Kent family farm to celebrate Conner’s 25th birthday. It was one of the few places everyone could be themselves away from prying eyes and big enough to host everyone. Over half the League, the Team, and their families were there to celebrate. 

Dick smiled as he walked up to Conner and threw his arm around his shoulders. “Happy birthday, man! The big one-oh!”

“Dick!” Connor laughs and playfully shoves him off. “You know it doesn’t work like that!”

“I don’t know…” He draws with his largest shit-eating grin. “On paper, you may be 25, but you can’t hide from us your real age from me!”

“Yeah yeah.” Conner huffs with a frown that made him look like the hot-headed teen he was when they first found him. But then he broke out into his own grin as he locked Dick into a headlock and gave him a noogie.

Dick laughs and playfully shoves his way out of his hold. “H-hey come on!” 

“What can I say? I’m just acting my age.” Conner makes a show of a huge shrug and put-upon frown. The two of them stare at each other for a few seconds and burst out laughing.

They eventually made their way over to one of the picnic tables where Kaldur, Megan, Garfield, Artemis, and Will were all catching up. It was rare to see all of them together and not on some world-saving mission. The last time they were, was at Conner and Megan’s wedding a year ago.

“So then Lian goes up to the kid with the snakeskin in hand and tells them ‘these snake pajamas mean a snake’s nearby and it's gotten even bigger!’ Making all the kids scream and run while she chases them around the playground with it.” Artemis tells the group as she casts a fond look at her niece playing with Don, Dawn, and Amistad. 

“Glad to see she liked that children's animal encyclopedia I gave her for Christmas.” Garfield laughs sympathetically. 

“She loves it.” Will laughs and shakes his head. “Especially all the entries about anything creepy crawly. When I asked her why all she said was 'They're not creepy! They’re just misunderstood!’ With the cutest pout on her face”

“It's good for her to learn how to give things a fair chance, no matter what they look like on the outside,” Megan says and giggles when Conner ticks into her side to give her a kiss.

“Yeah, it is.” Artemis agrees and turns back to the group. “The world needs more people like Lian.”

Dick places a hand on their shoulders and smiles at them. “Well they say learning empathy starts at home, so I'd say you're doing a great job.”

“Thanks, Dick,” Will says earnestly then turns to Conner. “So enjoying your party, birthday boy?”

“I really am,” he says as he wraps an arm around Megan’s waist. “The party’s definitely a lot livelier than that first one back on Mount Justice.”

“Yeah, for one you no longer pretend to hate parties.” Megan chirps as she leans into his side dramatically.

Conner clutches her a little tighter. “Let’s just say I’ve had someone help me find reasons to want to celebrate it.”

They all sank into their usual rhythm of inside jokes and banter. It was a nice break from all the doom and gloom in the world. He soon found himself giving an impromptu one-man circus performance for the kids. (“Come on CK! It’s your tenth birthday! You gotta have a circus performer of some kind and we all know clowns are out of the question!”) He was in the middle of showing off his rarely-used juggling skills when he felt a sickening pull in his stomach. 

“ Time- in!”  

He dropped the various kid's toys he’d been throwing around and sank to his knees. Dozens of shouts of “Dick!” filled the air as he was swarmed by everyone. He looks at his hands and sees them begin to fade in and out. 

Ice runs through his veins as he feels in his soul what’s about to happen. Everyone tries to hold onto him. Begging, screaming, pleading with him through tears. He’s pretty sure Zatana is trying to use her magic to hold him in this time. And he tries to fight this pull for as long as possible. But in what felt like the space of a blink he was gone.

—---------------------------------------------

When he woke up all he saw was blue sky. It was easy to think he’d just had too much to drink at the party and passed out. But the harsh concrete beneath his fingertips and the sounds of a struggle said otherwise. Slowly he pulled himself into a seated position despite wishing with every fiber of his being to just lay there and let his grief swallow him. 

Right. Batman Rule #3: Push past all emotional distractions and focus on the task at hand. He was presumably back in the future. Which meant he was in Japan. He looked to his left towards the sound of fighting and saw the villains he remembered from all those years ago. They were fighting what looked to be that deflated All Might and some blur. A speedster hero maybe? He vaguely remembers the villains mentioning a hero chasing them before sending him to the past.

Batman Rule #4: If you can stand, you can fight.

And never let it be said Dick Grayson ran away from a fight. He hauled himself up using the roof’s handrails and evaluated his options. He was still in his civies which meant he didn’t have his usual gear on him. But Bruce raised the entire family to be paranoid about downtime. It’s not much, but he always kept his collapsible escrima sticks in his pocket. 

The villains were distracted by the other two heroes which lent him the element of surprise. He quickly entered the fight to aid the struggling All Might who seemed to be playing keep away with the pink-haired female villain. He snuck behind her as best he could, using All Might as his unknowing distraction. Then as her back fully turned to him he struck out with two well-placed blows knocking her out cold on the pavement.

All Might looked at him in shock. “I don’t know where you came from, but thank you.” He said honestly as he clutched his side. Dick can see the trail of blood leaking from his mouth and can’t help but wince in sympathy. Time had a way of shedding new light on his former hero. But there wasn’t time for that now.

“Thank me later, we still have company,” Dick says and man isn’t he grateful to have kept up his Japanese practice. He turns towards the fight between the male villain and the unknown speedster. “Please get yourself to safety while I handle our other guest!”

“You should do so yourself! This is a job for heroes!” All Might yells at him as he goes rushing to engage the other fight.

“Well newsflash asshole: I am one!” He can’t help but spit out at the man as he jumps in the air over the speedster running circles around the guy to try and land a hit. Dick has to give this man credit. He does not go down as easily as his partner as he dodges the attack. He grabs Dick’s arm as he goes down and twists it behind his back. Dick is wracked with the sickening feeling of vertigo and for a blessed moment, he hopes that it means he’s sending him back to the past. But instead, the feeling just grows with every second he stays in his grip until the speedster knocks the guy off him. The man slides across the roof until his head slams into the railing, knocking him out cold.

“Hey now! Don’t go forgetting about me!” The speedster calls out as he comes to a stop in front of him. Why does that voice sound so familiar??? The man turns and kneels down to lend him a hand. “You okay there buddy?”

Dick takes the offered hand and looks up. When he does he feels all the air leave his lungs. It can’t be. He must be having another stress-induced fever dream as he did during the fight with Granny. Because there is no way that standing in front of him is- 

“ Wally?!”

“Dick?!”

Chapter Text

“ Wally?!”

“Dick?!”  

They stood there looking at each other for a long moment before Dick finally closed the distance between them and hugged him tightly. He clutches to him like he’s his last lifeline. He doesn’t care if this is a fever dream, he’s already lost everything. The universe can let him have this. But then Wally wraps his arms around him and he feels it. His arms around him, the warmth of his breath on his back, the sound of his heartbeat in his ears.

Wait. Why is he pressed into Wally’s chest? He and Wally are supposed to be the same height give or take an inch. He pulls back and actually has to look up to see Wally’s face. But even his face is younger than he remembers. He was 21 when he- well died isn’t the right word anymore- sucked into the future? Now he looks 16 at best. “ Uhhh Walls? …Why do you look like a teenager? ”

“ Dude, look at yourself! ” Wally laughs and points to him. “ You look like I could fit you in my pocket! ”

At that, he can’t help but look down at himself, and true to Wally’s statement, his clothes were absolutely swimming on him now. “ Man .” He can’t help but whine and lean his face into Wally to just shut everything out for a minute. “ Really feeling the aster here .”

Wally laughs a little at that and looks to where All Might was staring at the two of them in shock. “ Dick, we got a civie and two downed villains .”

Dick sighs and turns back to face the shocked hero. “Listen, I'm sure the cops are on the way so we don’t have time for explanations. But right now, we need All Might to be the one to talk to the police and take credit for this takedown.”

“I- wh- I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Toshinori panics. How could they possibly know he’s All Might??? “I-I’m just a concerned citizen!”

Dick recollapses his escrima sticks and pockets them then levels him with a deadpan look. “Like I said we don’t have time to explain right now. So tell me, can you be All Might long enough to explain and take credit for the arrest to the police?”

Toshinori sags under the look. This kid- man- manchild?? Had a look that reminded him of being caught by his mom doing something he shouldn’t. Who were these people??? But they’re right. He needs answers from them and he’s not gonna be able to get that from them if they’re arrested for vigilantism. Plus if they were, he ran the risk of them telling all those villains about his weakened form. He can’t let that happen. “Yes, I can do that.” He says finally.

“Listen, we’re not going to out your depowered form to the police or the media or whatever,” Wally said as he finishes tying up the unconscious villains with some zip-tie handcuffs he’d swiped from Dick’s utility belt. “But for now, it’s best for my friend and me to leave. Just be careful of handling these two. Their powers seem to require touch and you do not want to be on the receiving end of it.” He gestures to himself. “I mean I know I have boyish good looks, but I was not a teenager at the start of this fight. The guy seems to be able to de-age anything he touches.”

“And the girl can send you through time.” Dick supplies as he glared down at her. Ok, a lot of ways he should thank her. She inadvertently gave him everything he’d ever wanted. But on the other hand, she also was the one to take everything away from him. Part of him wants to wake her up and force her to send him back. But he knows there's no guarantee when he’d end up next. He couldn't risk it. At least here, he apparently has Wally.

“Let me give you my address and we can talk after all this is settled.” Wally chimes in, drawing Toshinori’s attention away from this enigma. He pulls a notepad out of his pocket and jots down the address to his apartment on it.

Toshinori takes it in shock at their preparedness in all this. “Just who are you, people?” 

“Like I said before,” Dick says as he walks past him. “We’re heroes.”

—---------------------

The walk back to Wally’s apartment was quiet. Not the awkward kind. They both seemed to be processing what just happened. Now that the fight’s over, all the feelings of grief have come crashing back around him. What the hell is he supposed to do now? His family was dead. Most of his friends are probably dead. He only had what he stashed in his emergency utility belt. He doubts his bank account is still around for him to withdraw money from. He was apparently a teenager. Again. For the third time!

When they finally reach the apartment, Dick immediately heads towards the ratty couch and flops onto it face first. “Ugggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Wally follows and sits on the edge of the arm of the couch. “Yeah.” He groans as he flops back to lean on the back. “That was a disaster.”

Dick picks his head up to look at him. He still can’t believe he was alive. “Yeah…. But I’m glad you’re here. Out of everyone, you were absolutely not the one I was expecting to see first if I returned to the future.”

“Yeah. Honestly, me neither.” Wally sighs sadly and stares up at the ceiling. “When I joined Flash and Impulse in defusing the energy from that Reach bomb, I honestly thought I was gonna die. And then the energy started using me as a lightning rod and I thought for sure I was gonna die. The next thing I know, I’ve been sucked into the Speed Force. At least I think it was the Speed Force based on what Flash had told me. I think it sensed what was happening to me and did the only thing it could save me.” He gripped his chest tightly and took a shaky breath. “I don’t know how long I was running in that space, but when I was finally able to stop I was alone in the Arctic. I ran back to the US to try and find Artemis. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but I needed to find her and at least apologize…”

“And I’m sure the moment you did you noticed you weren’t in Kansas anymore.” Dick finished sadly. He’s starting to be able to sympathize with the feeling. 

Wally snorted and turned fully towards him. “ Yeah. That’s putting it mildly… After that, I immediately went to a library to try and find anyone who might still be around… Found a lot more who didn’t…”

Dick tries to swallow the massive lump that formed in his throat. Tears spill from his eye as he reburies his head back into his arms. He knows. Sure there were some immortals and League members with extended lifespans compared to the average human. But so many of them were painfully mortal. His family is the number one example. Unless something massive changed that world order after he got sucked back to the future, they were long gone.

Wally places a comforting hand on his head and allows him the chance to grieve. After a few minutes, he continues. “... Buuuuuuut I did find some still kicking around.” 

Dick sniffled and cautiously picked up his head. “... who?” He can’t help but ask.

“Superman and Wonder Woman are still alive.” Wally starts counting off on his fingers. “Though apparently, Clark decided to found a new Kryptonian population on one of Jupiter's moons that he’s named New Krypton. And Diana has become the queen of Themyscira. So they aren’t really out and about anymore.” 

“I remember Bruce discussing the possibility of Kryptonians having a significantly longer lifespan than humans.” Dick hummed in thought. These were the ones he was prepared to see if he ever made it back here. 

“Exactly! And you know what that means?” Wally asks, absolutely brimming with excitement.

Dick immediately perks up and springs into a seated position. “Conner!”

“Yeah, dude! He and Megan are still back in the States!” Wally grins at him. Dick can see he’s practically vibrating in his seat. “They run training and rehab facilities for kids with mega-powerful quirks!”

“Just like the Meta-Human Youth Center,” Dick says with a smile. It fits them to be running a place like that.

Wally quirks his head in confusion. “The meta what?”

Dick sobers up then. “Right. The meta trafficking crisis didn’t happen until after the Reach.”

“How about we both go over what we’ve been missing,” Wally says after an awkward pause. “You tell me everything that I missed. And I tell you everything that’s been going on here.”

“Deal.”

—----------------------

They talk for well over an hour catching up with each other. If it wasn't for the content of their conversation, it'd feel like the ones they'd had a thousand times before. Of course, Dick had loved his other friends on the Team. But Wally was the first friend he’d had both inside and out of the costume. The first he'd told his secret identity too outside of the Bat Family. The first friend he'd told the story of his adventures in time travel to. 

“So after crashing at Megan and Conner’s place for about a year we started going over the plan.” Wally as he took a sip from a cup of water he'd gotten over the course of the conversation. “Conner used one of his contacts to forge some fake credentials for me so I could actually exist in society. And then I moved to Japan after Megan downloaded a crash course in Japanese into my brain. As a speedster, I could easily comb to find you when the day finally came back to the- future? Present? Whatever you want to call it!" Wally waved his hands in annoyance. Man time travel was annoying. "That was what I was doing when I came across diet Team Rocket and stepped in to chase them down. I think the pink girl was using her power to avoid me whenever I got close enough. But I managed to track them down to that rooftop and boy am I glad I did.” He laughed. 

“You and me both,” Dick says and smiles sadly. Many of his friends are gone. But the ones still around are still looking out for him. It doesn't erase the grief he feels. But it does make the weight of it a little easier. 

Wally looked like he was about to say something when a knock came from the front door. “Show time.” Wally sighs and walks over to answer it. 

On the other side is the same deflated All Might they'd met on the rooftop. But it looks like he brought a guest with him. Standing beside him is a giant bear? Rat? Dog? Animal-looking fellow in business attire. He curls an eyebrow at them but lets the two of them in. It's an odd sight. But by far not the weirdest he's seen. 

Once the door is shut they all settle into awkward silence around the kitchen table. “Well, I believe introductions are in order.” The talking animal starts. “You already met Toshinori here. And I am Nedzu, principal of UA High School.”

Dick and Wally shared a look having a silent conversation even without Megan’s mind link. Looks like they were just laying all their cards on the table then. “I’m Wally West.”

“And my name is Dick Grayson.” 

“Great!” Nedzu says cheerfully either not noticing or not caring about the tension in the room. “Toshinori here tells me you were able to figure out his best-kept secret. So how did you come about this information?” The temperature drops by a few degrees as the principal's cheery demeanor drops. They’re definitely being evaluated right now. Dick is positive that it would freak anyone else that wasn’t raised by THE Batman.

“All cards on the table then.” Dick sighs and leans back in the chair to make a show of how unbothered he is by Nedzu’s intimidation factor. There’s no use hiding the information he’s about to tell them really. Plus this might lend them some powerful allies later down the line. “I know you’re All Might because you showed me this form by accident and then explained your situation to me yourself while simultaneously trying to crush my dreams in the process.”

Toshinori coughs up a wad of blood as Nedzu levels a flat stare at him. “Wh-I don’t rememb-” He cuts himself off as he stares at the kid wide-eyed. Now that he’s looking at him there are so many similarities between that kid asking him if he could be a hero and the one glaring down at him now. Their clothes are different, the hairstyle tamer than the wild curls before, but they were definitely the same person. 

“Yeah, I see you’ve finally connected the dots.” Dick snorts clearly unimpressed. “Y’know, after that lovely conversation I almost threw myself off that roof.”

Toshinori completely stills as he stares at the boy in front of him in horror. Everyone in the room is glaring at him and he honestly agrees he deserves it. 

“I was bullied my entire life for being quirkless. But the one thing that kept me going was all those times you’d go on TV saying anybody could be a hero. I used to look up to you like a god as a kid and in a less than five-minute conversation you showed me that all of that was just talk to boost your own ego. Earlier that day one of those bullies told me my best hope for being a hero would be to throw myself off a building and pray to be reborn with powers in the next life. After you walked off I was prepared to do just that.” Dick smiles to himself in spite of the grim topic as the glares around the table intensified. It honestly felt so good to put this Superman Wannabe in his place. Wally squeezes his hand under the table bringing him back to the conversation at hand. “Lucky for the both of us Knockoff Team Rocket got in the way of those plans.”

If looks could kill, All Might would be six feet under by now. “In a way, I got what I wanted anyways. The combination of their quirks sent me back to the year 2002 in the body of a 4-year-old kid. I was adopted and renamed Dick Grayson and nobody cared I was quirkless because nearly everyone was. I spent most of my childhood traveling the world in the Haly’s Circus performing in my parents’ acrobatic act. At least until they were murdered in front of me.” He clenches Wally’s hand tightly in his as the memory of their death still stung bitterly in his heart. Wally squeezed his back and helped him to be able to continue. “From there I was taken in as the ward of Batman and eventually became the first Robin. Me, Wally, and Kaldur eventually started a team for all the teen sidekicks called the Young Justice League, and together with a bunch of other teen heroes, we saved the world multiple times over. Later I would change my hero name to Nightwing, but I doubt most people know about that outside Gotham. I was never much of a public-facing hero.”

Both Nedzu and All Might might as well have turned to stone from that revelation making Wally laugh hysterically. Dick can't help but chuckle along. It wasn't quite his trademarked Robin cackle, but it was close. “They don't even know Batman had no superpowers. Probably a shock that a quirkless would be taken on as a protege to one of the Originals.” 

“That's impossible!” All Might can't help but splutter. “He helped take down intergalactic threats that could have destroyed the world! There’s no way he could-!” Before he could finish that sentence, a birdarang zoomed mere millimeters away from his face and embedded itself into the wall behind him. His eyes widen even further when the smallest sliver of blood trickles down his cheek from the cut that made itself known. 

“You will not begin to insult Batman to my face,” Dick says darkly. The amount of dark intent in the room was palpable. “Batman will always be a hundred times better hero than you will ever hope to be. And unlike you, he was able to do all of it with nothing but his own skills. The next time you do, I won't miss.”

Toshinori audibly gulped. He hadn't felt this much killing intent since he faced down One For All. 

Nedzu levels a side glare at the man beside him. These two boys in front of them are the most interesting individuals he's come across in a long time. He was not about to let the Symbol of Peace get in his way of plans to recruit them to his cause. Because they might finally be the key he needs to change this broken system. “I think you've made your point perfectly clear.” He finally chimes in. “So you were the young Boy Wonder history books have told us about. Then who is your friend here? I can’t help but wonder.”

Wally looks between the bear man and Dick before deciding he might as well do something to defuse the tension. “I was the Flash’s protege Kid Flash. We met during one of the Justice League's team-ups to fight…. was it Ivo’s monkey bot invasion or Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing trying to take over half of the country with mind-controlling fungus?”

Dick looks at Wally and can see he’s trying to lighten the mood. He knows he remembers the day they first met as clear as the day it happened. “It was Toyman who teamed up with Mad Hatter to create an army of mind-controlling Furbies.” He laughs at the memory. “We got sent into his factory undercover to get intel and you got us caught after raiding the break room for snacks and ran straight into Hatter himself. Then I had to use a remote control Barbie Dream Car to trip you up and knock you out of his control.”

The two of them laugh together and the mood begins to lighten. “So you explained how Mr. Grayson had his bout of time travel. But that doesn't explain how you’re here Mr. West.” Nedzu turns his attention fully to Wally. 

Dick ends up looking more somber than Wally at the question. Wally squeezes his hand again to show him that he’s still here as he answers, “Earth was being invaded by an alien race known as The Reach. They approached the UN as if they were ambassadors on a peaceful tour around the galaxy. In reality, they are one of the most ruthless dictators in the galaxy. They worked with a villain organization known as The Light to sabotage the League’s image in the eyes of the people. But with the work of our team, the Young Justice League, we revealed their plan and stopped them from completely taking over the human race.”

“They decided that if they can’t have Earth, no one can. They needed to destroy the evidence that they’d broken their intergalactic treaty to not invade worlds they're not invited to.” Dick was stewing in the quiet anger at the Reach for what they’d done. “They’d secretly planted Magnetic Field Disruptors around the world that would rip the Earth apart.”

Nedzu nods. “Yes, I remember reading about this invasion in detail during my dissertation on pre-quirk era heroes.”

It was weird hearing their lives, the lives of their friends and family, being talked about in such a matter-of-fact manner. Let alone something that someone would do a dissertation about. “Right.” Wally draws out awkwardly. “We were able to neutralize the 20 bombs we originally thought there were only to find out there was one we didn’t pick up on with our scanners. By the time we got there, it was already too late. It was proposed for Flash and Impulse to run counterclockwise to the blast to use the combined kinetic energy to dissipate the blast. But it wasn’t enough. So I joined them even though I knew I wasn’t as fast as them. That made me a conduit for the MFD’s energy. But that energy also gave me a boost and the Speed Force used that energy to force me to run fast enough to essentially punch a hole in the fabric of time into the future.” 

Nedzu looks absolutely fascinated. This was a puzzle just waiting to be solved. “Speed Force you say?”

“It’s essentially what gives speedsters their powers.” Wally summarizes with a hum. “But it’s also… sentient is the best way to put it. It’s capable of pulling people into itself if they’re at the right…  frequency that only speedsters are capable of achieving.”

“Fascinating. Truly fascinating.” He truly has a lot to think about on this front. Still, there would be time for that later. Time to get to brass tacks of why he was here. “So there is a reason why I joined Toshinori here besides moral support.”

Dick quirks an eyebrow. “You mean besides monitoring the threat level to your friend’s secret getting out that he’s not as powerful as he wants everyone to think he is?”

“Yes.” Nedzu nods, ignoring Toshinori’s embarrassed cough. “You two have definitely thrown multiple curveballs at us tonight, but there’s another pressing issue at hand. Regardless of your pasts, you both are now physically teenagers again. My best estimate is somewhere between 14 and 15 years old. Any IDs you have are now completely unusable. How do you plan to continue in this society now?”

Wally and Dick both turned to each other in question. A silent conversation passed between them before Wally turned to them. “I think there are some other people that need to be part of this conversation.” He said and pulled out his phone.

The phone rings for a long while until Conner’s face finally fills the screen just before the last ring. “.... Wally?” He yawns as he blinks tiredly at the screen. His hair is all disheveled like he had just woken up. And true enough in the background the window had barely the faintest trace of sunlight peeking through the shades. “It’s barely five in the morning. This better be good.”

“Oh, it’s very good alright.” Wally grins at him. “Just look at this souvenir I just picked up after stopping some baddies.”

“Wally.” He says with the most deadpan look as Wally shifts to bring Dick into view. “I don’t want to see you whatever toy or weapon you took as a souve-” He freezes when he sees Dick’s face and just stares slack-jawed.

“What was that about not wanting to see me?” Dick can’t help but ask cheekily. It felt so good to see their familiar faces right now. 

The camera shakes as Conner shifts to start shaking a still-sleeping Megan awake. She turns away from him grumbling. “Five more minutes...Tell Wally I’ll call him back later.”

“M’gann.” Conner says seriously. “Wake up. It’s Dick.”

Those words had her up in an instant. She yanks the phone out of his hands to stare at the screen. “You found Dick?!!”

Dick laughs wholeheartedly at seeing her antics. “I’m here M’gann.” He knows whatever he’s feeling, it must be ten times more for them. For him, he saw them less than 12 hours ago. They waited for him for over 300 years . 

“We have to tell everyone!” She says excitedly. She’s already up and seems to be packing things. She turns to truly look at him with a serious look on her face. “We’ll be there in an hour! Don’t move!!” She passes the phone back to Conner so she can focus all her energy on packing.

“I won’t. I promise.” He says earnestly.

Conner is clearly watching Megan with a fond smile. Probably having a psychic conversation. He finally turns his attention fully to Dick and Wally. “We’re both just so happy to see your face again.”

“Same here.” 

“I just have one question for both of you.” He says and quirks an eyebrow at them. “Why do you both look like teenagers?”

Chapter Text

The hour-long wait for Megan and Conner was beyond awkward. At some point Wally started snacking while everyone else was nursing cups of tea courtesy of Nedzu. After about 30 minutes of awkward silence it was actually Toshinori who broke it.

He stood in front of Dick and bowed deeply. “I’m sorry.”

Dick looks at him for a long moment. Over the years, he’d thought of dozens if not hundreds of different scenarios about what he’d do if he saw All Might again. Of the ways he’d get back at him. The arguments he’d have with him and what he’d say to counteract those arguments. He’d even thought of how he’d take him down in a fight to take him down a peg. But of all those scenarios, he’d never expected the man to just straight up apologize to him. No fight necessary.

He could see sweat beginning to trickle down the man’s chin and decided to aleve the guys suffering. “I’m not gonna say what you did was ok.” He starts off slowly. “I know your condition must make hero work difficult. But that doesn’t excuse the honestly slapdash work you did today.” 

Once again there’s that telltale cough of blood that seems to be connected to when he feels stressed. He should really get that checked out. “You endangered a civilian’s life multiple times with your punch first, ask questions later, schtick. I mean you definitely gave me a concussion when you knocked that slime villain off my face. And then if I hadn’t grabbed onto you, you woulda left me there without even calling an ambulance to come and ensure there was no lasting damage from being suffocated then taking a superpowered punch to the face. Then you almost kicked me off you midair because you didn’t want me to see your depowered form which would have killed me if you’d succeeded because at that point you wouldn’t have been able to change course while in the air to save me. And to top it off you left a teenager in clear acute mental distress alone instead of at least escorting me off the roof of a very tall building with easily climbable handrails.” 

He counts off on his fingers. Ok maybe he was still being petty. But this had been brewing for almost 30 years in the making and he was going to say it! 

Toshinori bows even deeper in regret. He’d failed as a hero today. His drive to maintain the image as the Symbol of Peace had resulted in him getting sloppy. He needs to find someone to pass One For All to. That just gave him an idea. “I can’t expect your forgiveness but I can atone for my mistakes.” He stands to his full height with a serious expression. “This quirk I have is called One For All and it was not one I was born with.”

Dick and Wally both tilt their heads in confusion. This guy was just apologizing and now he’s talking about his quirk? “Soooo what is this like a Captain Marvel situation?” Wally asks curiously. “That would explain the two forms thing.”

Dick nods and gets a contemplative look on his face. “But Captain Marvel had to verbally call out Shazam to transform. And call upon the gods to give him his different powers.”

Toshinori can’t help but sag a little at how unimpressed the two kids were. “No it’s not that.” He says seriously. “One For All is a quirk that has been passed for generations since the dawn of quirks. It compiles the strength of its previous user to pass down to the next. And I’d like to pass that strength on to you now.”

Dick stares at him with wide eyed confusion before he snorts. “You know, if you had told me that 4 hours ago I would have said yes.” He says darkly and looks down at his lap. “Back when all I was was quirkless little Izuku Midoriya who desperately wanted to be a hero despite his weakness .” He spits out bitterly. “But instead, despite having this quirk you can apparently pass down to anyone you want, you chose to tear my dreams apart and say it was hopeless to think that.” He sees Toshinori flinch in shame. But then he sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “But I also have to thank you too.”

Toshinori looks up at him in complete shock. “What?”

“Because of you, I was given a chance to meet the people who’d be my parents and show me nothing but unconditional love and support.” He clutches his heart tightly. “I got to meet Bruce and learn I could be a hero with nothing but my own strength, skill, and determination. I got to meet all my friends and family who I would never trade for anything.” He knows tears are streaming down his cheeks but he can’t bring himself to care. Dick feels Wally squeeze his shoulder tightly as he wipes them away. “If you hadn’t left me on that rooftop, I wouldn’t be the person I am today if you had. So despite all that you should’ve done, I’m grateful for the gift you unknowingly gave me.”

All Might can see the determination in his eyes and sighs in disappointment. “The offer still stands if you choose to take it.”

Dick shakes his head. “Thanks, but no thanks.” He laughs and waves him off. “I plan on reminding this world that quirks are not what make a hero. And I can’t do that if I take your quirk.” He then casts a side eyed grin at Wally. “Plus someone has to keep you powered superheroes humble.”

Wally playfully shoves him away and the two promptly fall into a lighthearted shoving match. Before it can escalate further though there’s a knock at the door. Wally immediately speeds off to open it and Dick is immediately scooped up into the biggest bear hug from Conner and Megan.

It’s strange. Between the fact Conner doesn’t physically age and Megan seems to have chosen the same form she had when he’d returned to this time, it doesn’t feel like any time had passed. He could easily delude himself into thinking that they were all just on some covert mission and that when all this is over they would go back to Mount Justice to be with the rest of their friends. He clutches onto them tightly as Megan sobs into his shoulder.

“I’m sorry.” He says helplessly. It’s all he really can say. 

“It wasn’t your fault.” Conner says seriously as they pull away. “We’re just so grateful to finally see you again. We did our best to cover our bases so you’d be able to contact us when our timelines finally crossed again. Though Wally finding you so soon was a pleasant surprise.”

Megan sniffles and wipes away her tears. “It was hard not to interfere with your life prior to your jump to the past. But we couldn’t risk changing anything that could affect you being sent back to us.”

Dick shouldn’t be surprised that they had kept tabs on him. He would’ve done the exact same thing. It’s still odd thinking that even during that part of his life, he had people looking after him and actually cared about what he went through. “I hope you kept files on all of that. I can think of a couple of things that need to be addressed by the police.”

“Now I’m very curious.” Nedzu chimes in, drawing everyone’s attention to him. For being the most visually unusual of everyone in the room, he sure had a way of blending him into the background when he wanted to. “What is it that you’ve gathered from watching young Mr. Grayson that could warrant the police?”

Conner’s face immediately donned a serious expression. “For one thing, Aldera Middle School needs to immediately be put under investigation for the blatant disregard for student safety. Bullying is blatantly encouraged by the staff. We have video evidence of multiple instances of staff allowing their students to publicly use their quirks on quirkless or weaker quirked students in front of teachers with no disciplinary action. As well as falsifying student records to sabotage the futures of said quirkless students to label them as the instigators of these attacks. Some even go so far as to even manipulate these students' grades and test scores.

Nedzu hums in thought as his expression gets equally stormy. As an educator himself, he could not tolerate such discrimination to continue. “I can promise you that I’ll personally see that this school and its staff are held accountable.” He says darkly.

Conner nods. “That’d be great. But there’s one thing I want to know: Who are you?” 

Nedzu chuckles at the Kryptonian’s confusion. “How rude of me. I’m Nedzu, principal of UA and the skinny fellow next to me is my friend Yagi Toshinori.” He says and takes a sip of tea. “Now, I’m assuming you have something else you needed to discuss.”

“That’s right.” Megan chimes in this time. “Considering Dick is actually from this time and has managed to end up as the same age he left he could just resume his civilian identity.”

Dick freezes in place knowing exactly where this was going. He looks down at his lap to avoid eye contact from everyone else. He’d avoided talking about his home life here for a reason. “It would make the most logical sense.” He starts quietly. He’s not looking but he can feel Megan staring him down. 

Don’t even begin to excuse what she did to you, Dick. Megan’s voice sounds through his head through a mind link.

I can handle it. Dick defends. Sure Inko wasn’t the greatest to him after he’d been declared quirkless. But it was nothing on the level of what he’d seen and heard about others' home lives. You’re making it sound like she’s as bad as Sportsmaster!

Neglect is still neglect, Dick. Megan says earnestly and Dick grits his teeth at how right she is. 

She was basically ostracized by everyone after I was declared quirkless. They’d constantly bad mouth her about it as if it was her fault. His teeth are starting to ache at how tightly he’s gritting his teeth. Especially her deadbeat husband.

A deadbeat she allowed to hurt you until a neighbor got involved.  

“He’s not even around anymore, so what does that have to do with anything?!” Dick shouts out loud, making everyone else in the room jump. “She was just as much a victim of what he did as I was!”

“But she didn’t say anything to negate all those things he said about you after he was arrested, did she?” She says with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m not saying she’s a saint.” Dick says petulantly. He’d buried this part of his past for a reason, he didn’t need her and Conner dragging it back up. But compared to everything else they’d faced, he knows he could deal with it fine on his own. “I’m saying I can handle it and save everyone some grief. She’s not even home long enough for it to matter much in the four years until I’m legally an adult again.”

“I know you must feel guilty about being forced back to this time.” Megan starts slowly as she gently tilts his head to face him. “You think you owe us for caring about you all this time. But you don’t have to make yourself suffer in a place that’s not meeting your needs for it.” He still avoids her eye contact so she pulls out her big guns. “Bruce wouldn’t want you to punish yourself for something out of your control.”

Dick feels the air sucked out of his lungs at that. “That’s not fair.” He finally whispers bitterly.

“Isn’t it?” Megan says softly as her anger dissipates.

“If you don’t want to convict her, that’s fine.” Conner steps in making Megan whip her head to glare at him. He places a comforting hand on her shoulder to quit her rage before it can reignite. “But that doesn’t mean you should go back to living with her.”

“Yeah I mean I have a spare bedroom ready and waiting for you man.” Wally chimes in supportively.

Nedzu once again chooses to chime in. “Yes but that brings me back to why I’m here in the first place. You are no longer adults physically and since you both chose to leave the scene of the crime you lost your ability to claim that as the reason for your appearance. And I am certain that you will inevitably find pushback from people seeing what looks to be two teenagers living alone without any supervision. I was originally going to propose for Toshinori here to take you on as his wards so we could better keep an eye on you two.”

That was immediately met by shouts of protest from everyone around the table. Nedzu raised a paw and the arguing settled. “I see now that plan’s not going to work.Which is why I have a different proposal.” He states in a matter-of-fact manner and then turns his full attention to Conner and Megan. “How would you feel about a new job opportunity?”

They both looked at him with raised brows. “What are you trying to offer?” Megan starts off slowly. 

“I’ve heard of your work at your Quirk Rehab Facility.” Nedzu says simply. “Your work is quite revolutionary. I would love to integrate such therapy into our hero course. We always implemented a training camp after midterms to help our hero students deepen their understanding of their quirks and push themselves to their limits. But I think it might be quite useful to utilize those efforts outside of a week in the mountains. You’d be officially hired on as quirk guidance counselors. Then you could stay here in Japan as Mr. Grayson and Mr. West’s guardians as they attend UA!”

“Wait wait wait.” Wally steps in. “Who said anything about me and Dick going to UA? I already did my time in high school! I don’t need to repeat it.” He crosses his arms petulantly. His memories of high school were not the greatest. He had no motivation to go back for a round two. 

“Agreed.” Dick chimes in sourly and glares at the principal. There’s not enough money in the world that could make him want to go back to high school. Especially not in this society. 

“While, of course, I can’t force you,” Nedzu says and takes a sip of tea. “You mentioned to Toshinori here that you wanted to show the world that someone without a quirk can be a hero. How do you intend to do that without a hero license?”

“We never needed a license before, so why should we start now?” Wally asks angrily. But the question makes Dick pause. Wally is new to this time so of course he’d think that. But Dick remembers how this society views vigilantes. Vigilante’s are considered no better than any villains they might take down. They’d be hard pressed to find any allies along that path. He knows he could handle it.  But if he truly wanted to be the hero he had wanted to see in this world, to show the society that had rejected just how wrong they were, he needed to go through the proper channels. For now at least.

“I understand the reservations of not wanting to go through high school for a second time” Nedzu starts off slowly and calmly. “That’s why I’m not saying for you to join the heroes course. I want to take you on as my students.”

“Your students?” Dick asks. Sure it’s been decades since he was in this time. But he’s pretty sure he’d never heard of Principal Nedzu ever taking on his own students. 

“It is rare.” He hums and takes another calming sip of tea. “But whenever a particularly interesting student crosses my path, I maintain my right to take them under my wing. Your exploits are well documented if you know where to look. I doubt there’d be anything our hero course would have to offer you that you haven’t already learned tenfold.”

“So then what would we be learning under you?” Wally can’t say he’s on board quite yet. But depending on what the rat has to say, he might take him up on his offer.

“You would catch up on the 300 years of history you missed out on.” Nedzu starts and places down his now empty tea cup. “Plus the laws and customs around hero work have drastically changed since your time.”

“All things I can learn anywhere else besides you.” Dick challenges. He’d been played too many times to not develop the need for the full picture before agreeing to anything. “What do you really want?”

Nedzu chuckles at that. Oh these kids were even more entertaining than he imagined when Yagi came bursting down his door begging for help. It’s been so long since he’s found a group of people so interesting. “I want you two to be TAs for the hero course.”

“Why would you want that?” Wally snorts derisively.

“Toshinori is going to be teaching the Heroics class this year. But you were able to point out some drastic flaws of his own performance that has given me some doubts about his future as an educator.” Toshinori coughs a truly astonishing amount of blood in embarrassment but Nedzu ignores it. “I believe your insights would be invaluable to helping the next generation of heroes. And in doing so finally put pressure on society on the clear biases the hero system has. I'm sure you already know how some people become heroes for the wrong reasons. By your and my contributions, we may have a chance to change hero society to the glory it used to be.”

The group was silent for a long moment as the friend group deliberates through the mindlink. 

What do you think about all this Wally? Dick starts off making Wally raise an eyebrow at him. 

Me?? This is your choice, dude!

Before you went to stop that bomb, you were trying to leave this life behind. He clenched his fists in his lap. At least until I dragged you back to it. And I almost got you killed for it!

Hey! You didn’t make me do anything! I made that choice myself!

And would you have really taken part in that mission if I didn’t conscript Artemis to infiltrate the Light with Kaldur?! 

I mean I’d like to think I’d step in to stop the end of the world even if my girlfriend wasn’t in the fight!

Listen. I’ve made too many mistakes by having people rejoin this life when they wanted out. I’m not going to do this again.

Wally huffs at that. So you’ll just go to the other extreme and exclude me from it whether I want to join or not?!

So do you want to? Dick raises a brow at him.

Well I’m not about to let my best friend go through all this by himself!

We’ve all made mistakes. Megan finally chimes in sadly. But that doesn’t mean you have to go through this life alone.

We all came here for you , Dick. Conner says and places a hand on his shoulder. If this is what you want, then we’ll see where this path leads us. 

Life has gotten a little repetitive back in the states. Megan sighs with a grin. This could be a nice change of pace.

I’m sure M’ree can handle things back at the facility. Conner supplies helpfully with an equal smile. 

Whatever you decide, we’ll support you. Wally smiles at him and Dick feels his worries and doubt slip away. Maybe this time will be different afterall.

Dick sighs and turns to the principal. “Alright. You got yourselves a deal.”

Chapter Text

It was pure chaos the moment Dick disappeared before everyone’s eyes. Many began trying to theorize what took him and what it would take to get him back. Some were rounding up the kids and bringing them inside the Kent family’s farmhouse. It was of course Bruce who was able to cut through the noise and the chaos.

“I know what happened to him.” He said just loud enough to be heard. His face was his perfectly controlled Batman mask of indifference. But to the rest of the Bat Family, there must have been something there because they all had looks of resigned grief on their faces.

“You don’t mean-?” Tim started almost breathlessly.

“Care to explain to the rest of us?” Jefferson asks with the barest hint of rage boiling to the surface. He was getting really sick of the Bats keeping the rest of them out of the loop on important information. And this seems like another big piece of information he’s been left in the dark about.

“Dick was a time traveler from the year 2342.” Bruce rummaged through his utility belt that he always kept on hand and found the thumb drive Dick had given him years ago to use in the case of his disappearance. 

“But Dick had a childhood here,” Dinah said calmly. Ever the voice of reason for de-escalating tensions before the more hot-headed league members completely snapped. “How is it possible for an infant to use a time machine?”

“Dick told us about how he was from the future.” Conner stepped in despite being clearly shaken. It was when they’d all revealed their skeletons in the closet back on Mount Justice. He’d said at the time that was why he’d been so distant with all of them. He didn’t want to get close if they’d all be taken away from him at any given moment. “He said that he was sent to the past by two villains from his time attacking him.”

Bruce nods his affirmative and draws his attention back to the thumb drive he produced. “Dick always knew there’d be a chance his presence in this time wouldn’t be permanent. So we enacted some contingencies around that fact. This flash drive has a video he’s recorded that I was to give you all in the event of his disappearance.” 

“We can play it on Baby,” Megan says, barely holding back tears.

They all shuffle onto the ship and despite the mildly cramped nature all manage to fit. Bruce soon pulls up the video and Dicks face fills the screen. He’s in what appears to be his apartment in Bludhaven wearing a well-worn band t-shirt. He looks… tired is the best way to put it. Like he hasn’t slept in a while. With a shuddering sigh only audible to those with super hearing, Bruce presses play on what is essentially his son's last will and testament.

—----------------------------------------------------------

The next morning after their conversation with All Might and Nedzu was tense. Like no one really knew what to say to each other. Conner and Megan were clearly holding back from smothering him completely. And Wally would try to lighten the mood with half-hearted jokes that never really landed and they’d go back to that awkward silence again. 

Dick didn’t know what to do. He was living his nightmare scenario. In the last 24 hours he’d gone from enjoying time with his friends and family only to be forcibly ripped from it, forced back to a time he never wanted to see again, regressed back into a teenager , reunited with his best friend he’d thought was dead, and now set to go back to school to “learn” how to do the job he’s been doing for years. He had hoped maybe someone had spiked the punch bowl with something at Conner’s party and he’d wake up with a killer hangover and a story to tell about the crazy dream he’d had. 

But here he still was back in the year 2342. His family and friends he’d tried so hard to hold onto were dead. And unless that girl escaped the police and came to finish the job, he was stuck here. It hurt ten times worse than he ever imagined it would. And the surprises of Conner, Megan, and Wally’s presence only barely kept him together enough to not fall apart.

Megan eventually sat next to him on the couch where he’d been sulking. “Dick, I know you must be going through a lot right now. But there’s something I wanted to show you.” She said softly in the same tone of voice she used when she was a guidance counselor. 

Dick looked up at her wearily hoping that it wasn’t something to cheer him up. He may be in the body of a child, but he did not want to be treated like one. He was relieved to see that instead, it was a laptop where she was pulling up some files on a thumb drive. She pulled up a video and his breath immediately caught in his throat. 

On the screen was Bruce who looked far older than he remembered seeing him. Not only did he have more gray hairs than he remembered, but the lines on his face spoke of years of stress and strain.

“Dinah recommended I record these messages as a way to… cope with your-” He clears his throat uncomfortably and Dick can’t help but smile at it. Bruce was always allergic to emotions. “With your disappearance. I know you're still alive… Just somewhere I will never have any hope of being. But isn’t that the same thing as you being dead to me? Flash warned me of the dangers of time travel and paradoxes. I can’t risk destabilizing the timeline and bringing about an even worse future for the sake of bringing you back. I understand if you can never forgive me for that. You’ve told me so much over the years of your life in the future, and none of it sounded pleasant. I feel… Helpless that I can’t save you from that fate.” He puts his face in his hands. “Even with all my best efforts, I’ve failed you the same way I failed Jason…” 

Dick had only seen Bruce like this twice in his life. The first was after a run-in with Scarecrow who was testing off a new strain of fear gas. His rebreather had been broken by a goon’s lucky shot to the face. Bruce had immediately rushed in to give him his own. It had taken him too long for his 11-year-old body was able to haul Bruce’s unconscious body out of the warehouse. Dick had been distraught the entire ride back to the cave as the antitoxin did nothing to bring him out of his fear-induced coma. When he eventually woke up three days later, he was delirious and out of it for days. He never talked about what he saw in those visions, but he could guess. 

The second time, of course, was Jason’s death. He never fully recovered from the loss of his second child nor the failure on his part that caused it. He became a shell of his former self after that. He tried to talk some sense into the man multiple times but it would always end in him leaving the cave angry and frustrated. It took Tim tracking him down and forcing himself into the role of Robin to finally pull him out of his funk enough to act like a normal human being again. At least normal enough for Bruce. So to see Bruce like this now hurt. It hurt to see the man he came to see as a father in pain. It hurt that it took him leaving to get the man to actually see a therapist for once. But most of all it hurt to know there was nothing he could do now to change it.

The Bruce on the screen rubbed his face tiredly. “The video you left for me is about the only thing stopping me from giving it up altogether. ‘You’re not just a mask, you’re a man. The best man I’ve ever known. Don’t disappoint me by having me find out you destroyed yourself.’ It’s about the only reason I talked to Dinah in the first place. I don’t know if these videos are actually going to help or if I will save them to give to you. But if I do, it’s to show you how much you’ve affected our lives for the better. You are the greatest man I’ve ever known. And I will do everything in my power to ensure the world remembers you for the hero you are.” 

The look of earnest determination on Bruce’s face at the end warmed him in a way he didn’t expect. He broke down crying in Megan’s arms at the sheer weight of how much Bruce cared about him. That he was able to care about him enough to push back the mask and actually get help for once! He hated that it took him leaving like this to do it. That mixture of rage and guilt and grief finally allows him to actually mourn his loss. Eventually, Wally and Conner join them on the couch and they spend the rest of the night talking about the night talking. About their lives before his return to the future. About the people they lost along the way. About their hopes for the next steps forward. It helped ease that vice grip on his heart that had tightened after pressing play on that video. 

Like Bruce told him that first night at the Manor: the pain will always be there, but you learn to carry it.

Chapter Text

Time moved forward as it always did. They had to upgrade to a bigger apartment since Wally’s little two-bedroom was not nearly big enough for the 4 of them. And Megan and Conner could not keep living in Baby. So they took it as an opportunity to move to a much nicer place closer to UA. It definitely helped that Conner and Megan had more than comfortable savings from putting a little away each month over the period of 300 years. That money was also useful in getting Wally and Dick new wardrobes to fit their slimmer frames.

He and Wally spent the time breezing through online classes to get the middle school certificates. Unfortunately, even with Nedzu’s meddling in making their school records, the principal had decided it would benefit them to finish up their last year of middle school themselves. 

“Consider it a way to adjust to Japanese schooling and to catch up on anything your previous education might have been lacking from the 300-year time difference. I doubt your Americans taught you much about Japanese history and literature that you’ll need for your lessons here at UA.”  He had explained to them when they called to question the missing records in their credentials packet.

Then came the fact that he was expecting them to take the UA entrance exams like all the other UA hopefuls. To make it “ believable” that he’d take them on as his students. The message read loud and clear. This was their first test to see if they were worthy investments.

Never let it be said Dick Grayson or Wally West would ever back down from such a clear challenge. So they diligently studied and passed all their middle school classes with straight As long before the school year would actually end for the average students. In that spare time they earned themselves, they worked to get themselves used to fighting in their younger bodies again.

They found a secluded area on a heavily polluted beach to spar at. The massive piles of waste allowed Wally the liberty to use his super speed and Dick to use his weapons without the worry of a concerned citizen reporting them to the police. Clearing away the debris to give them that space also gave them the added benefit of additional strength training. 

“So what was the deal with you spending like two hours in the bathroom last night?” Wally asks him one day as they walk towards Dagobah Beach.

Dick groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “I was dying my hair.” 

Wally tilts his head in confusion as he looks at him more closely. “Uuuuuh don’t how to tell you, this but your hair looks the same dude.”

He keeps his head firmly forward and walks a little faster but, of course, Wally easily keeps pace. Damn speedster. “That’s because I’ve always dyed my hair black.”

“Wait wait wait!” Wally shouts as he rushes forward to block his path. “You mean to tell me that over all the years I’ve known you, you’ve been dying your hair?? And you never told me?” He gives him a wounded puppy look as Dick shoves past him to continue down the footpath to the beach.

“You’ve seen all the crazy hair colors that exist in this time,” Dick says with a deadpan tone. “It would be too much of a dead giveaway to my real identity if I kept it my natural hair color.”

“You could’ve at least told me ! Best friends shouldn’t keep secrets like that from each other!” He whined pitifully at him before shifting into a devilish grin. “So then what’s your real hair color then??” Dick was bright red at this point meaning he was definitely riling him up. “Blue? Red? Purple?? Oh, I know! Bright pink!”

Dick finally throws a punch at him as they begin to spar. The two are soon tumbling in the sand which eventually results in Wally sitting on his back with both of his arms in a death grip. It would usually take a lot longer to pin him like this. But the embarrassment of his biggest secret had gotten him off-kilter and Wally would be damned if he didn’t utilize it. 

“Just tell me!” He laughs as he twists his arm a little.

 “... Fiiiiiiiine!” Dick groans in shame and embarrassment as he struggles to get back up. But Wally had him well and truly pinned. At least Bruce wasn’t here to ream him a new one for getting pinned like this. “It’s green.” He mutters, barely audible.”

“What was that?” Wally calls teasingly and leans closer to hear him better. “Couldn’t quite hear that!”

“I said it’s green!” He shouts and starts trying to buck Wally off. “Now get off me!”

“Ok! Ok!” Wally laughs and lets him off. “Don't get steamed broccoli head!”

Dick is blushing bright red but before he could retort he was cut off by the sound of muffled screaming. They both shared a serious look before breaking off to go search for the source of the sound.

“Over here!” Wally calls out a minute later. Dick runs to the sound of his voice and finds him trying to lift a fridge door-side down in the dirt. The two heave it over together and pull a purple-haired teen out of it. He was covered in bruises and his school uniform was in tatters. But worst of all was honest to god muzzle padlocked to his face. “What the hell is wrong with people?!” He yells angrily

“Hang on man. Hold still while I get this lock off.” Dick says trying to hold back his rage as he gently guided the boy’s head to get at the lock. The kid is visibly shaking as he does his best to hold his head still. Thankfully the lock was a simple one. Barely bigger than what you’d find on the front of a diary. It took him less than 10 seconds to pop it.

As soon as the lock was off the teen was ripping it off and threw it as hard as he could into the trash piles. Once it was out of his sight he collapsed to his knees in the sand. Wally took a step forward to check on him, but Dick grabbed his shoulder and shook his head. This kid just spent a very traumatic experience involving tight quarters. He probably wouldn’t want anyone in his space right now.

“Are you alright?” Dick chooses to ask instead of making the kid whip his head around to glare at him. He laughs and puts his hands up in a placating gesture. “Stupid question I know. But the fact you even responded means you’re not in complete shock.”

His hackles lowered as he stared at them for a long moment. “... Thank you.” He eventually says so quietly they almost didn’t hear it.

“Of course,” Wally says in a soothing voice. He takes a deep breath and finally asks the question they were both thinking. “ I know it might be hard to answer, but what happened to you?” 

The teen flinches and looks back down into the sand. He’s shaking like a leaf and they can see a few tear drops hit the sound. Wally does choose to bridge the gap between them and carefully sits down next to him. He doesn’t touch him since he’s fairly sure that it would not be welcome. But he’s close enough that the kid can feel his presence without being crowded.

Dick and he shares a look over the teen’s head and sits on his other side. They sit there for another long moment. All the while trying to let the teen know that they were there for him. Whoever did this to this kid was going to have hell to pay. He’s sure as soon as they get a name Wally is going to want to rush out and tie those responsible up faster than they’d have time to blink. But for now, this hurt kid needs them.

“... You wouldn’t be this nice if you knew my quirk.” The kid said bitterly through his knees. 

“No offense dude, but what the hell does that have to do with anything?” Wally can’t help but ask in shocked anger.

“That’s why this happened.” He said simply like that explained anything.

“Yeah, we’re gonna need more details than that, bud.” Dick chimes in. Damn Bruce’s awkward nicknames have rubbed off on him over the years. But at least this is getting the teen to talk.

The teen took a stuttering breath and drew his knees tightly to his chest. A defense to make himself look as small as possible. “... My quirk is a villain’s quirk… I can control people with my voice.” 

Dick and Wally share an outraged look over the boy’s head. “Yeah, but did you like… make somebody rob a bank for you?” Wally asks in a joking tone that barely covers his rage.”

“No.” The kid said quietly with a snort.

“Okay. So then did you control people into hurting themselves or others?” Dick asks in a matter-of-fact tone.

“No!” The teen shouts this time his head popping up this time to respond. 

“Oh, I know!” Wally laughs and points at him. “You controlled the entire school to do a massive flash mob dance to Caramelldansen!” That was something Music Meister did back in the day at the mall in Metropolis. Harmless, if not for the fact he used it as a distraction for his goons to steal from the tills of every store in the mall.

The kid actually stands up in outrage now. “Why would anyone want that?!” 

Dick sends him an easy grin. “Well, then I don’t understand where you get off calling yourself a villain for.”

The kid is huffing in anger and frustration. Why do they make it sound so simple? That it’d be ridiculous to call himself villainous? “How can you guys treat this like it’s all just some joke?!”

“Because calling someone who was muzzled like a dog, locked in a fridge, and rolled down a hill a villain is just crazy,” Wally says with a raised eyebrow. “The people who did that to you are the villains here. Not you.”

“I bet that’s easy for you to say!” He snarls at them. “I bet both of you have ‘heroic’ quirks and never had to see how we lowly folks with ‘unfortunate’ quirks have to struggle for scraps!” 

Dick snorts derisively and rolls his eyes at that. “Nice try. But I’m quirkless. And you know what? I would’ve killed to have any quirk growing up. So if you want to play the ‘Who’s Life Sucks More Game' I can with you. But that’s not the point here. The point is quirks are just tools. And sure your quirk has the potential for evil. But it also has the potential for good too. It’s what you do with your gift that matters.” 

He blinks at him owlishly at him. All the fight completely left him as they continued to not take his bait. “Just who are you people?” He asks in numb shock.

“I’m Wally West, and this is Dick Grayson,” Wally says with a huge smile and swung an arm over Dick’s shoulder. 

The kid snorts at that. “Seriously? Do you go by Dick? Willingly?”

“Yeah. My parents were old-fashioned like that.” Dick laughs and leans back in the sand. “So you gonna give us your name?”

The kid blushes in embarrassment. Now that he’s given up his defenses, he feels guilty about being so rude to the only people who’d ever saved him. “...My name is Hitoshi Shinso.”

“Well now that awkward introductions are out of the way,” Wally stands and claps his hands together. “Why don’t we get out of here? We should probably get you somewhere to get those wounds looked at.”

Shinso immediately freezes at that. “No hospitals.” 

“Come on, dude. You can’t just keep these injuries to yourself. I’d be surprised if you didn’t have at least a concussion from that.” Wally says as he goes to lay a hand on his shoulder.

He flinches away from his grasp and takes a couple of steps back away from their reach. “I can’t go to a hospital! I swear I’ll mind-control you into forgetting you ever even met me if you do!

“Okay,” Dick says placatingly as he holds his hands up in surrender. “No hospitals. Can we at least take you to our place then? We have a med kit at home we can patch you up.”

Shinso looks between the two of them trying to discern if they’re lying to him. After a long moment, he nods hesitantly. “Fine.” He says sullenly. “But if I think there’s any funny business, I’m running.”

“No funny business got it.” Wally says and waves an arm in the air in a “follow me” gesture as he turns and starts walking back to their new home. And sure enough, Shinso’s quiet footsteps crunch in the sand behind them.

—----------------------------------------

Megan is talking to M’ree on video chat in the living room when Dick and Wally walk in with Shinso. She looks between them and the battered teen for a second before turning to her sister. “M’ree, I’m gonna have to call you back.” She says in a deadpan voice and shuts the laptop before M’ree could even respond. “What happened?”

“We’ll explain later,” Dick says as he walks down the hallway. “Med kit still under the sink?” He calls from the bathroom.

“Should be,” Conner calls from the kitchen.

Wally guides him into the dining room to sit at the kitchen table. He then turns to go into the kitchen itself to raid the pantry for snacks. “Want anything?” He calls back to him.

“I’m fine,” The purple-haired teen says quietly as he tries to take in his odd surroundings. Why are none of them even remotely phased by any of this? Dick returns a minute later with almost the biggest first aid kit Shinso had ever seen. “What? No crash cart?” He asks in a deadpan voice.

“Takes too long to haul out when it’s not necessary.” Dick jokes back and laughs as the teen’s eyes widen in shock. He ignores it as he sets it on the table and begins to pull out disinfectant, bandaids, and gauze. He works quietly and efficiently on the visible wounds. Alfred was a very strict teacher when it came to first aid. “Okay, that takes care of the cuts and bruises. Now for the harder stuff. Any trouble or moving any body parts?” He asks as he does a light pat down of his legs and arms to gauge his physical reactions.

“No” 

“Any trouble or pain getting a full breath?”

“A little.”

“Scale of ‘laughing for too long’ to ‘gorilla on your chest’; how hard is it to get a full breath?” He asks as he pulled out an honest to god stethoscope from the kit.

He snorts at the descriptors instead of a pain scale. “Like I ran for 5 miles straight.” 

Dick nods then pulls out a penlight from the kit and shines it in his face. “Pupils are dilating normally and are the same size.” He says with a small smile and clicks it off. He then holds it out in front of him. “Follow this with just your eyes.” After a moment of waving it around, he nods and puts it away.  “Well I’m no doctor, but I think you managed to escape a concussion. As for the breathing, I don’t think that your assault resulted in more than some bruised ribs. Which will still suck. But not as bad if you broke a rib or punctured a lung.”

Shinso raises an eyebrow at that. “Speaking from experience there?”

“More than you know.” He laughs as he puts away the medical supplies back into the med kit.

“Seriously,” The purple-haired teen says as he stares at him in shock. “Who are you people? Are you secretly pro-heroes or something?”

“Now that’s a loaded question,” Wally says as he walks to sit at the table with a literal armful of snack food and starts eating. “Technically, no.” He says between a mouthful of chips.

“Well, me and Megan do actually have international heroes' licenses.” Conner chimes in from where he’s cooking dinner.

“Though neither of us has been active in well over a century,” Megan says with a dismissing laugh as she goes to give Conner a hand. At least that’s what it’d look like to the unsuspecting teen. In reality, it was to get a better look at their new guest.

“Century? Don’t you mean decade?” Shinso looks at them with a deadpan frown. Even a decade does not look long enough for how old these two look to be.

“Well I’m a Martian,” Megan says as she begins chopping some vegetables. “I can psychically morph my appearance to anything I want. I choose to look like this to match Conner. In reality, I’m 402 years old.”

Conner laughs at the slackjawed stare. “And I’m the clone of Superman. Even though I’m only half Kryptonian, my body doesn’t physically age. And all the doctors I’ve seen over the years agree that while I may not be functionally immortal like Superman is, I may live to at least 500 to even a thousand years.”

Shinso fully chokes on his own spit at that revelation. First a Martian, now a Superman clone. Now that he’s really looking at the guy he does resemble a lot of the pictures of the old hero he’d seen in history books. He regains his composure and turns to Wally and Dick. “So what next? You two Atlantians or secret immortals or something?”

“Close!” Dick laughs unable to resist teasing the teen. “We do know a few Atlantians and immortals if you’d like to meet them.”

Shinso drops his head down onto the table. “Of course you do.” He mutters into the table.

“The reality is that me and Dick are time travelers,” Wally says as he polishes off his last bag of pretzels. 

“Now I know you guys are messing with me,” Shinso says as he turns his head to glare at him.

Wally laughs at that. “We’re telling the truth! I used to be Kid Flash! And Dick here was Robin!” 

“The first Robin anyway.” Dick chimes in and leans an elbow on the table. “Changed my name to Nightwing to get out from under Batman’s shadow. Though if it makes you feel any better, Wally and I got here in drastically different ways.”

Shinso turns his head back around to glare at him now. “I don’t know how that’s meant to make me feel better,” He sighs deeply though and levels him with a deadpan stare. “But please explain.”

—--------------------------------

If you asked Hitoshi Shinso twelve hours ago where he’d be that night, he would tell you he’d be at home sleeping. Sure he wouldn’t mention the massive beating he’d surely be sleeping off, but he’d be at home in his own bed. And even then, he wouldn’t be surprised if you told him his fosters would take things a step further and haul him to the dump “like the trash he is”. Honestly, he was expecting something like this to happen eventually.

But if you’d told him twelve hours ago that he’d be saved by two teens who truly did not give a shit about his quirk and the threat it posed he’d tell you to stop messing with him. And that said teens would take him home with them and treat his wounds? Absolutely outside the realm of possibilities. Then for said teens to actually be de-aged heroes from the early 2000s that were living with their two immortal superhero friends under the guise of a normal family? He’d ask “What the hell have you been smoking?”

But yet all of that did happen. Here he was sitting eating dinner with the clone of Superman , the infamous Miss Martian, and two-time travelers. Part of him wants to believe that this has to be some weird coma dream. But the ache of his… well everything is keeping him grounded in the fact that this is reality.

“So Hitoshi,” Megan says as she psychically gathers all the dishes and puts them in the sink. “Did you want to call your parents and let them know where you are?”

Hitoshi looks down at the table and begins to shake quietly. He knows that he should say “yes” if only to not make them suspicious. But that left the question: where would he go from there? He can’t go back to his fosters that much was obvious. And his case worker made it perfectly clear this is the last place they’d side with his fosters if any more “accidents” happened. So reporting any of it would just lead to him being back in that hellhole. But he didn’t exactly have a chance to grab any of his stuff before his “punishment” for walking through the house without his muzzle. It’d be hard on the streets with literally nothing but the clothes on his back. But could he really ask more of these people when they’d already done so much for him? 

A hand on his own brought him out of his spiraling thoughts. “Hitoshi, I know you don’t know us well. But Conner and I have helped a lot of kids just like you in the past. Children who’ve been hurt because of things they can’t control. Would you let us help you too?” Megan tells him softly as she kneels in front of him.

He stares at her wide-eyed for a moment in disbelieving shock. It can’t be that simple. There had to be a catch. “Why do you all care so much?” He asks her quietly, barely holding back tears.

“Because no one deserves to go through what you’ve had to,” Conner says seriously as he crosses his arms. “And based on your reactions today, something tells me that it wasn’t some schoolyard bullies that did this to you.” He just stares at his lap and shakes his head. 

Megan gently guides his face back towards hers. “Since we’re licensed heroes, we have the ability to foster children when we need to. All we need is for you to be brave enough to take that first step and ask for our help.” 

She’s smiling at him so sweetly it makes bile raise in the back of his throat. “Why is this so hard to say?” He says bitterly with an angry frown.

“It’s always hard to admit you need help. Even us heroes have a hard time admitting it most of the time.” Conner chimes in and places a hand on his shoulder. His hand is still slightly damp from when he’d been washing dishes. It actually helps keep him grounded. He looks between the two of them and then to the living room where Wally and Dick were talking quietly. He takes a deep, shuttering breath that makes his bruised ribs ache and turns back to Megan.

“My foster parents were the ones who did this to me.” He finally says so quietly he’s afraid they wouldn’t hear him. Instead, they both give him reassuring smiles and the ever-present ache in his heart lifts. So this is the true power heroes have, isn’t it?

Chapter Text

It was surprisingly easy to adjust to Hitoshi as a part of their little family. Megan and Conner covered the official side of things. Wally secretly spent half the evening that first night combing through the trash on Dagobah Beach to find the muzzle Shinso had tossed. It was necessary to have as much testimony as possible as they compiled a case against Shinso’s foster family and case worker. Dick of course utilized his hacking skills into the Child Safety Service’s databases to see exactly how much the case worker was aware of. In a month’s time, all those involved in Shinso’s case were found guilty of child abuse and Megan and Conner officially became his new foster parents on a permanent basis.

One day, he returns from school and throws his bookbag into the corner, and flops onto the couch to groan into a throw pillow.

“Bad day at school?” Dick asks from the kitchen table where he’s tinkering with the wiring of his hacking gloves. He didn’t exactly have them on him when he’d returned to the future. So he’d been spending the past two weeks rebuilding them from the blueprints on the flash drive Bruce had left him. It’d been a bitch collecting all the necessary parts, but he was just about there to get them up and working. 

Shinso turns his head to the side angrily and growls “The school guidance counselor was really pushy today about “considering my other options” in case I don’t get into UA.”

Dick shakes his head in disappointment. They had put a lot of effort to try and put Shinso in a nicer school than the one he had been going to. But it seems that doesn’t stop the staff from showing their own biases. “You’ve been training with 4 former Justice League members for the past 2 months. Your stamina and combat abilities have seriously improved from where they were when we first started training. Between that and the quirk training we’ve been coaching you through, I doubt there’s anything on the practical portion of the exam that can shake you.”

“I know,” He sighs tiredly. “I even mentioned how I’d been training for the exam. But she still insisted I list at least one non-hero school on my prospective schools' list.” He clenches his fist angrily into the seat cushion. “But even if I don’t get into the Hero course, I could still be accepted into their General Studies course. But she made me feel like I couldn’t even get into that much.”

Dick thought for a moment about what he’d say before he responded, “Do you still want to be a hero?”

Shinso springs into an upright position to glare at him. “Of course I do!”

He hums and smiles at him. “Then stop letting other people get in your head about your future. If you want to be a hero, then be a hero. You already have the support of all of us. So don’t listen to the opinions of people who don’t matter.” He finishes connecting the last wire and breaks into a devilish grin as the projected screen pops up. “Now how about I give you a crash course on hacking as we delete whatever school that counselor made you put down off your record!”

Shinso dons an equally terrifying grin and nods. He didn’t know what he did in the past to get this lucky, but he loves what fate finally gifted him.

—----------------------------------------

Time moved on and finally, it was the day of the UA Entrance Exams. Dick, Wally, and Shinso were walking through the truly massive campus in various levels of awe. “Dude, not even the Hall of Justice was this huge.” Wally whistles as he looks around.

“Well the most elite school in the country is bound to be pretty well funded,” Dick says dryly as he looks up at tall buildings.

Shinso just grunts next to him. The poor kid is looking more like a zombie than usual today. If he had gotten 3 hours of sleep, Dick would be surprised. This point is further proven when he trips over an exposed paving stone. But instead of stumbling he floats. There was a literal 3-second pause before he registers it. “...Wha-?”

A girl’s giggling has him turning his head to where a girl with short brown hair is standing next to him. She gently guides him upright and when she taps her fingertips together the weightless feeling abates. “I saw you trip so I stopped you with my quirk! Sorry for not asking first.” She says with a smile.

Shinso shakes his head. “It’s fine.” He says quietly as he slips back towards Dick and Wally.

“Oh!” She blinks at the two of them. “Are these your friends?”

Dick smiles politely. “Yep! The three of us are all going to the hero course exams.”

“Me too!” She says with a smile. “Me too! This is all so nerve-wracking isn’t it?”

“Well if your response times are that good I’m sure you’ll do great!” Wally says with an equally bright grin.

She blushes and nods. “W-well I better get going! Good luck!” She calls and jogs up the steps to the school.

“Smooth moves, Romeo,” Dick says and shoots Shinso a teasing grin.

He blushes and stomps up the steps. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Wally and Dick snicker at each other and follow him into the exam room. The exam room is closer in style to a college lecture hall than a typical high school classroom. It all spoke to the sheer number of teens taking this test. Shinso walked to a random row and they shrugged and followed behind. A couple of minutes later a test proctor came to the stage to give them their instructions for the written exam. It was all eerily similar to taking a college final exam.

The test itself was over quickly. Both Dick and Wally had finished with plenty of time to spare. Between their intense three months of studying coupled and the fact that this test is still designed for middle schoolers, the test was child’s play. They earned several scathing looks from other applicants when they walked down to submit their test booklets only 45 minutes into the exam. Even the test proctor gave them a curious look.

“You sure you don’t want to take more time on that?” The dark-haired woman asks Dick when he hands her his test. 

“I’ve already checked everything twice.” He says with a cheeky shrug. “Holding onto it any further will just have me second guess my answers.”

She shakes her head and shoos him away. Only to blink in surprise when Wally appears mere seconds later to hand in his own booklet. “Let me guess: you’ve already checked things twice?” She asks dryly.

“Four times actually,” Wally says with a smile. “I like to be thorough.”

Nemuri watched the kid walk back to his seat and made a note of the two names on the front of the test packets. Nedzu had a meeting with all the staff telling them there were two students he had his eye on. He didn’t say much besides that other than that there were two candidates he was looking to make his proteges if he they pass. All the staff theorized who could possibly get the nefarious rat’s attention before they even took the entrance exam. Could these two be the ones he was talking about? 

The rest of the test passed uneventfully. After the last of the test packets are collected a new proctor comes to the stage. He had long blond hair styled similar to a cockatoo steps up to the podium. “What’s up UA Candidates?! Thanks for tuning in to your school DJ! Come on and let me hear ya!” He calls out like a typical radio announcer.

Wally and Dick immediately cheer loudly with grins even when the other students all turn to glare at them. Shinso ducks his head and scoots away not wanting to be associated with them. Dick doesn’t care. As a fellow performer, he understands that there is nothing worse than a stale audience.

“Now that’s what I love to hear!” The man calls out with a grin, regaining everyone’s attention. “Now let’s talk about how this practical exam is gonna go down. ARE YOU READY?!” 

“YEAH!” Dick and Wally call back equally as enthusiastic. They had to hold back snickers of amusement as it gained them another bout of glares. The proctor goes on to give them the rundown of how they will have 10 minutes to battle robots worth various points like they’re players in a video game. They all looked down at their ID cards to see what battle center they’d be going to. 

“Looks like we’re in different locations,” Wally muttered somewhat dejectedly after he peered over at Dick’s card. He was in C but it looked like Dick would be in B. 

Dick hummed at that and glanced over at Shinso’s which showed he’d be in A.“Probably to stop friends from teaming up and skewing the points too far in their favor.” 

“Woulda been nice to fight by each other like in the good ol’ days,” Wally says sadly as the proctor continues his explanation of the exam.

“Excuse me sir, but a have a question!” A boy with blue hair pops up a few rows ahead of them, arm-raised ramrod straight in the air. 

“Hit me!” The man calls as a spotlight shines on the teen.

“It shows here on the printout shows four types of robots but you’ve only mentioned three! With all due respect, if this is an error on official UA material, it is shameful! We are exemplary students and we should expect more from Japan’s most notable school! Additionally!” He turns to point at Wally and Dick with a glare. “You two have been screaming and muttering this entire time! Your decorum today has been atrocious! If you can’t take this seriously, leave! You’re distracting the rest of us!”

“Well since you wanna call us out on it, let me set a few things straight!” Dick says with a nonchalant grin. He holds up one finger. “One: we only screamed to give our gracious DJ here the audience he deserves. There is nothing ruder to a performer than to not interact with them when asked!” 

He holds up a second finger as he shakes his head sadly. “Two: part of being a hero is gathering information and relaying it to your colleagues when needed. If Present Mic had a problem with it, it’s his job to address it.”

He holds up a fourth finger and shoots the kid his own glare which makes the kid flinch back in shock. Being trained by Batman will do that to you. “Three: You interrupted Present Mic’s explanation to go on this tirade of yours before he had even finished his explanation. If you want to be a hero, you need to learn when to keep your mouth shut and listen when your superior is giving you a mission brief. The only one here being shameful today is you.”

The boy blushes at the thorough counter-argument to his accusations as the students around him quietly giggle. He bows toward Present Mic in apology and immediately sits down in shame.

“Ooooookay!” Mic draws out awkwardly now that the interruption solved itself. “Let’s get back to business! As the little listener mentioned, there are four robots you will encounter today! The last one is worth zero points. It’s just an obstacle we’ll be throwing in your way! There’s only one in each battle center and we recommend just trying to avoid it. Not that it can’t be beaten! Just that there’s no point if you do! So ignore it and focus on racking up those points to get to the top of the charts!” He finishes with a grin and a flamboyant twirl.

Dick and Wally share a look. “Something tells me there’s more to those zero pointers than they’re telling us,” Dick says quietly as he listens to the rest of the students muttering around them about their strategies. 

“Probably.” Wally agrees with a serious look. 

“I just want to get this over with.” Shinso groans having already reached his social threshold for the day.

“Before you go on to your battle centers let me leave you with our school’s motto. Napoleon Bonaparte once said: ‘A true hero is someone who overcomes life’s misfortunes.’ Go beyond! Plus Ultra!” The students all clap in awe and soon begin to follow the faculty to their battle centers.

“Looks like we’ll have to split off then,” Wally says while happily stretching. Having to sit for so long is hard. But it’s much harder for a speedster.

“I’m gonna be slaughtered,” Shinso says dejectedly as he gathers his gym bag from under the table. Their plan had been to team up so he’d have voluntary people to use his quirk on. 

Dick pats him on the shoulder. “Don’t sell yourself short. We’ve been training for this. Even if Wally and I aren’t there, you are more than capable of handling yourself with or without your quirk.” He doesn’t look entirely sure of himself but he’s no longer walking like a man to the gallows.

“See you after the test!” Wally calls after him cheerfully as he barely holds himself back from speeding off to his own test site.

Dick squares his shoulders and does the same. He quickly dodges through the crowd to the changing rooms and changes into his workout sweats. He clips his utility belt around his waist and double checks everything is in its proper place before heading to the doors of the testing site.

He stands relatively off to the side as he waits for the test to start. When those gates open, it’ll be pure chaos that he’d rather not chance getting swept up into. In the meantime, he sets about going through his stretching routine. He notices a few familiar faces in the crowd while he does so. The brown-haired girl that had saved Shinso is here. And so is the blue-haired teen he’d torn into earlier. Now in the proper light, he could see what looked to be exhaust pipes sticking out of his calves. Maybe a speed quirk of some kind? He doubted he could run as fast as Wally though.

He was broken from his reverie by the gates opening and Present Mic screaming “Okay, Start!” 

He immediately took out his grappling line and shot off into the city. If they were supposed to treat this like a real-life scenario, it was important to act quickly and efficiently.

Distantly he could hear Mic cackling over the intercoms. “Looks like someone has the right pep in their step! In real life, there are no countdowns! So hurry up or fall behind!”

He jumped from rooftop to rooftop scanning for robots. Any robots he spotted from his vantage point were quickly taken out with a well-aimed birdarang to the exposed cables in the necks. Any two and three-pointers he came across he would use the birdarangs he’d made to emit an electric pulse to fry the circuits. So far he estimated he’d racked up around 57 points based on robots alone. 

Down below could only be described as pure chaos. Many of the examinees were just destroying robots with little care or concern for others in their path. This could only end with someone getting seriously hurt. And sure enough, a green-haired teen with some form of mass-shifting quirk had shifted one of his arms to be almost the size of his body. He was swinging the arm around like a battering ram with little concern for the people in his way or the damage done to the surrounding structures. This resulted in one of the buildings beginning to collapse. A girl with an ice quirk was trying to fortify the structure but it wasn’t enough and the rubble was now beginning to crash around her.

Dick responded quickly to swoop down with his grappling line and swing her up to a stable building. “Are you alright?” He asks the shaken girl.

“I-I-I-I’m fine.” She says even though she was obviously in shock from her near-death experience.

“Will you be alright if I leave you here?” He asks as he scans his surroundings for other dangers. Buildings were beginning to crumble left and right from all the damage being caused by both robots and students. There were bound to be more people in possible danger from the increasingly hazardous arena.

“I-I’ll be alright.” She says gaining a nod of acknowledgment from Dick before he shot off to try and stop these kids from killing someone.

He ended up saving three more kids from a partially collapsed building with a well-placed explosive birdarang. He stopped himself from rolling his eyes when one made a snide comment about how he shouldn’t be using tools because it gave him an unfair advantage. All just the result of bruised egos than anything else. It was really no different from when people would ask about Batman in the middle of him saving their life.

Suddenly the ground began to rumble like an earthquake. Towering over all the buildings was a massive robot. It looked like the zero-pointer had shown itself. Everyone began to run as fast as they could out of the giant robot’s path, not caring about anyone else’s safety in the panic of escaping the threat of being crushed.

This was getting dangerous. Dick had to save other people from being trampled as he made his way toward the robot. The destruction this thing was causing was bound to make escape impossible for some. 

Batman Rule #2: Saving innocent lives is always the number one priority. 

Sure enough, he found the girl who’d floated Shinso trapped under a massive piece of rubble. He tried to use his escrima sticks to lift it but it was too heavy. “Can you float this?” He tries his best to keep his voice calm as the robot stomped closer to them. And based on the danger of this combat scenario, he’s starting to doubt the staff would stop the test before they get crushed.

“I can’t!” She says in a panic as the robot takes another massive step forward. It’ll probably only be four more steps before it reaches them. In that moment he realizes he has two options: continue to try and remove the heavy rubble off the girl or take out the robot. There’s not enough time to try and break the concrete into pieces without hurting her, so it’s going to have to be taking out the robot.

He shoots out his grappling hook at the robot and snags it on its shoulder piece. He zips off as the robot takes another step. Once he’s landed he finds the control panel on the back of its head and rips it off. 

Another step. 

He pulls out the cables from his hacking gloves and jams them into the robot's circuit panels and begins to download his patented shutdown virus. 

Another booming step.

“Come on! Come on!” He groans as he anxiously watches the download bar as it slowly fills. 

He feels the robot begin to move to take another step when his screen lights green that the virus successfully downloaded. The robot immediately shuts down with a loud whirr. 

“TIME!” Mic shouts over the intercom as Dick flips down off the robot. He shoots a grappling line to catch his fall and zips down to rescue the girl.

In the time he was up there, it seems the girl did manage to move the rubble off of herself. But it seemed to have some drawback judging by the pile of vomit next to her. “Are you alright?” He asks worriedly just happy to see she was still conscious.

“I’m alive thanks to you. A drawback of my quirk is I get sick when I use it too much.” She says sheepishly, clearly embarrassed as she pulls herself into a sitting position. “If it wasn’t for you I’d be a pancake right now.”

“Can you walk?” He asks in lieu of accepting the compliment.

She shakes her head. “I think my leg is broken.” She says with a wince.

“Let’s get you to the med tent then.” He says as he picks her up in a bridal carry. He carefully takes them through the rubble being careful to not jostle her legs too much. Along the way, they come across a little old lady in a space helmet using a giant syringe as a walking stick.

“Oh my, what have we got here?” She tuts as she walks up to them. 

Dick immediately recognizes that this must be UA’s head nurse and renowned her Recovery Girl. Dick carefully places the brunette on the ground in front of her. “She got trapped under some rubble and her legs got crushed.”

Recovery Girl nods, takes her hand, and kisses it. The teen blinks in surprise even though she now has visible eyebags from exhaustion. “Oh wow! The pain’s completely gone!” She says with a wide smile.

“Glad to hear it, dear.” Recovery Girl says with a grandmotherly smile and then walks off in search of more injured.

“Who was that?” The brunette asks as she watches her go.

“That’s UA’s head nurse and pro-hero, Recovery Girl,” Dick says with a laugh. “Her quirk allows her to use your body’s energy to heal injuries. I’m sure you must be feeling the exhaustion from all that.”

“That’s a super helpful quirk!” She laughs as she hops up from the ground and dusts herself off. She then turns to him and bows. “Thank you so much for saving me back there! Both with the robot and getting me medical help!”

He shakes his head but offers her a smile of his own now that all threats have been taken care of. “Think nothing of it! It’s what heroes do after all.”

“I never caught your name before,” She continues as the two of them make their way out of the battle center.

“Yeah, we were a little occupied with other things,” He hums in thought. “I’m Dick Grayson by the way. What’s yours?”

“Ochako Uraraka!” She chipperly replies with a smile then shoots him a curious look. “By the way! It was crazy cool how you took down that zero-pointer! How’d you do it?” 

“Once I got up to its head, I bypassed its firewalls to download a virus to shut it down.” He says as he holds up his arm and taps his gloves to bring up the holoscreen.

“Woah!” She gasps in surprise. “That’s so cool! Where’d you get those?”

“Made them myself!” He laughs as he shuts down the screen to focus on walking. “Can’t do half the things I do without them.”

“Do you have a tech quirk then?” She asks him curiously. 

“Nope!”

“Then what kind of quirk do you have then?”

“I’m quirkless actually.” It’s an innocent question but it still grates on him. He guesses that irritation came through his voice because she blushes.

“I-I didn’t mean it like that!” She hastily stammers out and waves her arms in front of her as if to dispel the negative thoughts. “Honestly, it makes the things you did even more amazing!”

Dick has to stop himself from rolling his eyes. He’d heard similar platitudes from dozens of people over the years when they learned he and Batman didn’t have superpowers. “Superpowers are not what makes a hero.” He chooses to say instead of a biting comment. “They’re tools, sometimes devastatingly powerful ones, but tools nonetheless. It’s the skills each person hones that make you a hero. Nothing more, and nothing less.”

She looks at him with an unreadable expression. Clearly, he had left her with a lot to think about. They walk in silence until they reach the gates of the battle center. 

“Hopefully we will see each other again in the hero course,” Ochako says with a tired smile as they part ways for the changing rooms. 

“Hopefully.” He says in return and goes to get change. He takes his phone out of his gym bag after he gets changed to a tirade of messages from Wally asking where he is and to hurry up because he’s starving. It brings a genuine smile to his lips as he responds back and walks to meet his friends at the front gate. He, Shinso, and Wally are greeted by Conner and the Bioship just outside of the gate. Bioship disguised herself as a minivan for the sake of blending into the city's surroundings. 

“Wasn’t expecting to see you here!” Wally greets him with a tired smile as Shinso shuffles past them to crawl into the back seat where he immediately passes out. Poor kid’s lack of sleep is probably finally catching up with him.

“Had to settle some paperwork with Principal Nedzu,” Conner says as he slides into the driver's seat. “Have to submit our lesson plans for Megan and mine’s Quirk Training classes.”

“Wonder when we’ll hear back with the results of the exam.” Dick hums in thought as they drive back to the house. 

“I expect you and Wally will be hearing from Nedzu pretty soon,” Conner says as he shoots them a knowing look at them through the rearview mirror. 

“What makes you say that?” Wally asks curiously.

“He was being pretty sketchy with how he mentioned we’d all be meeting up again soon,” Conner says with a soft shudder. There was something about the Principal that felt off to him. Not in a bad way. Just that there was a lot the rat had to hide.

Dick sighed tiredly and leans his head against the glass of the car. “I guess we’ll just have to wait it out.” 

UA was a school he had dreamed about as a kid. But that was almost a literal lifetime ago. Now the thought of going just made him tired. He just has a sinking feeling the next three years are going to be some of the toughest of either of his lives could ever imagine.

Chapter Text

The rest of the UA staff aside from Hizashi were observing the events of the practical exams from the control room. Nedzu calmly sipped his cup of tea as he waited for his future proteges to cause the chaos he was hoping for. And sure enough, right from the start he was not disappointed. 

“Seems like two have some semblance of sense.” Aizawa grunted tiredly as both Wally and Dick had taken off as soon as the gates were open. 

“I don’t believe we’ve ever seen two do that in the same year.” Vlad hummed in intrigue as he leaned forward for a closer look at the screens.

“It’s hard to even keep up with that speedy one.” Ishiyama grunted as he scanned the screens. “I’ve never seen a speed quirk quite this fast before. We’re going to have to go through this entire groups footage frame by frame to tally his hero and villain points.”

“I wonder where he sourced the antifriction fabric for his clothes not to catch fire.” Higari pondered curiously. 

Nemuri laughs and shakes her head in exasperation. “Leave it to you to wonder about the kids clothes more than the fact he is almost running fast enough to break the sound barrier.”

“Let’s not neglect the kids that have less flashy quirks this year.” Aizawa groans and points to a screen showing footage from site A. “This kid seems to have some kind of mind control quirk and is utilizing it to stop other idiots from killing each other.” 

The staff all turn to the screen to see the kid tap the shoulder of a blonde kid with some kind of explosion quirk and just as the kid looks to curse him out his eyes get a glassy look as the purple haired kid points to a 2 point robot about to stomp on another kid with balls on his head. The blonde mechanically shoots a blast at the robot and destroys it. He then shakes his head and turns back to curse the other teen out but the kid had already dodged away and took off down another alleyway.

“I’ve seen him do the same thing to 8 other people in similar situations.” Aizawa continues in a monotone drawl, trying to mask his clear interest in the kid.

“Oooh looks like you’ve found your favorite!” Nemuri teases him with a sly grin.

“I’m just trying to make sure those with subtler quirks get their fair shot.” He denies sharply making everyone else snicker.

“Then I think you’ll like this one.” Vlad says and points to a screen showing footage from site B. “He has no visible quirk as far as I’ve been able to see. My guess is something involving aim or eyesight with how efficiently he's been able to take down these robots.”

Nedzu chuckles into his cup of tea. “Actually if you pull up this applicants file you’ll find he is completely quirkless.” 

“There's no way!” Nemuri shouts as she stares at the monitor in shock.

“That’s 21 points he’s racked up in the last 3 minutes.” Inui comments with an impressed huff as Dick tosses an electric birdarang at another 3-pointer’s head making it power down as its circuit board is fried.

“Is he one of yours?” Ectoplasm asks him curiously.

Nedzu chuckles at that as he sets his teacup back in its saucer. “Why yes, he is.” He says with a maniacal grin. “If he and my other candidate pass the exam, I have a very special role in mind for them.”

A chill runs through all the staff present. One thing all UA faculty knows is that when something has actively garnered Nedzu’s interest, it is something to be feared. 

“Well a hero’s true character can only be shown when things start failing to go according to plan.” Ishiya says sagely as he presses the button to release the Zero-Point robot. “Let's see how these young hero hopefuls do when the unexpected happens.” 

As expected, most of the children ran at the sight of the giant robot. Some did bravely try to attack it only to fall back when their attacks proved useless. All but two exceptions. The first was from the speedy kid they'd resolved themselves to scouring footage to actually see. 

On the screen was a red and yellow blur as Wally switched between pulling wires from the robots exposed joints and saving any students caught within its path. Within a minute the giant was sparking as it was unable to move from all its pulled wires. And as it fell back, the UA staff could see as he rescued another 20 kids that would have been crushed. 

The other was from the quirkless kid. They watched as he approached a girl trapped under a large pile of rubble in the path of the robot. He seemed to be unable to lift the piece of heavy concrete. So the question was if he was going to continue to try and save her and risk being crushed or run when faced with an impossible situation? But to the surprise of everyone present he did neither. Instead the watched as he shot his grappling line at the robot and zipped off to land on the things shoulder. 

“Just what is this kid doing?” Aizawa asked with a mix of frustration and amazement. Whatever this kid was about to do was either going to be pure genius or suicide. The robot does have the program to stop before it actually crushed anyone, but the kid didn’t know that.

They all watched in stunned silence as he ripped off the control panel, plugged something from his gloves into the machine, and started typing away furiously. In the next thirty seconds, the robot had powered down completely. 

“Did that kid seriously just hack into that robot?” Nemuri asked in shock as she leaned forward in he. 

“It appears so!” Nedzu chirps happily as he sips his tea. He would have to ask Dick about how he’d hacked through his firewalls so quickly. This one in particular is always full of surprises.

As the test wrapped up the teachers submitted their notes of the students that stood out to them during the test to undergo a more thorough review. Nedzu’s AI would do most of the heavy lifting of tallying the villain points each student gained from destroying the robots. Their main goal was to observe and see which students showed the true potential of being heroes based on their willingness to help others. Some still got in on villain points alone, but this process allowed those with less combat experience a chance to show their potential in other fields such as stealth, rescue, and information gathering. Of course the two who had taken down the two pointer ended up on everyone’s list to undergo this review process. 

Nedzu smiled to himself as he review the staff’s notes. Unbeknownst to everyone else, his true test for his little hopefuls was to impress all the UA staff enough to get them to place their names down to be further reviewed. They had passsed with flying colors. “Huhuhu… This is going to be the most interesting year yet.”

“Excuse me, Principal Nedzu,” A voice interrupted his reverie. Nedzu turned his neck to see Conner standing awkwardly in the door way. “I just stopped by on my way to pick everyone up from the exam to submit the lesson plans Megan and I came up with for the school year. We wanted to submit them early enough for you to give us your notes back before the school year starts.”

“Of course!” He chipperly replies as he takes the offered folder. “This will be most helpful! I look forward to going over with you the next time we meet with everyone. Which by my estimates will be very soon!”

Conner gave him an odd look but nodded. “Sure.” He says before walking back out to likely go meet his wards at the front gates. 

Nedzu smiles again and goes about reviewing the scores for the practical exams. As expected, Wally and Dick passed those with flying colors. Perfect. Not even the HPSC could argue with him about what he had planned for these two. Now it was a matter of meeting with his new proteges and the rest of the staff to unveil his grand plans.

—--------------------------------------------------- 

A week later saw Nedzu’s plan come to fruition. He gathered all his hero course staff under the guise of introducing the new staff for this year. Another one of his reveals, but all for the sake of leading up to his grand finale.

“As you can all see, we will be adding three new heroes to our staff this year!” Nedzu starts the meeting with a cheery smile and indicates to Conner, Megan, and Toshinori in his All Might form at the large meeting table. “As all of you know, All Might will be taking over as our teacher for the heroics classes.”

All Might smiles brightly and waves at everyone as he declares loudly. “Hello! I am looking forward to teaching the next generation of young heroes!”

“Thank you All Might.” Nedzu nods supportively and then continues. “I have also decided a new set of optional lessons that will be open to the Hero Course during their free period.” He indicates to Conner and Megan. “I have hired on the heroes Superboy and Miss Martian to offer guidance in quirk exploration.” He smiles to them and nods to give them a chance to speak.

“Conner and I created a facility back in the US to help train children born with volatile quirks learn how to safely use them without hurting themselves or others.” Megan begins brightly as she places her hand on top of Conner’s. “Principal Nedzu hired us because he believes our work will help the students here and we couldn’t help but agree.”

Conner nods in agreement. “We’ve come to notice that as the years have gone on, many kids have grown complexes surrounding their quirks. Our intentions with our program will hopefully help break through them and create a deeper understanding of what they are truly capable of.”

That piqued many of the staff’s interest as they quietly muttered between themselves. “It’s about time if you ask me.” Aizawa says in his usual monotone. But his eyes showed a keen interest in the topic at hand. “I’ve expelled too many students from their reckless behavior and blatant regards to decency around here from inappropriately using their quirks. Maybe you two will actually be able to knock some sense into them.”

Nedzu nods enthusiastically. “My thoughts exactly!” He hums in delight and then presses a few buttons to pull up the screen in the conference room. “I would also like to take this time to announce the class lists for the freshman class of the Hero Course.”

The screen is filled with the class lists for 1A and 1B. There were murmurs amongst the staff as the discuss the list. Aizawa is the first to voice his concerns. “Where are the two applicants who took down the zero pointers? The points they had from combat points alone should have been enough to be placed in the Hero Course.” This garnered words of agreement from everyone else in the room. 

Nedzu smirks into his teacup. All according to plan. “Ah yes, you see I have something much bigger planned for those two.” He taps another button and Dick and Wally enter the room to the shock of everyone else except Megan and Conner. 

“Aw, good to hear we made a good impression.” Wally grins as he moves to stand next to Nedzu at the head of the table. 

“Nedzu, why did you bring these two kids to join in on a private staff meeting?” Inui asks as he sends looks of disapproval towards the three of them. “Regardless of how well these two did on the exam, there was no need to give them such a special exemption to be here.” There were nods and murmurs of agreement from the rest of the staff

Nedzu chuckles darkly at that and sets down his teacup and saucer. “Normally I would agree with you, Hound Dog. But these two are much more than unusually skilled teenagers. Dick, would you care to explain?”

Dick steps forward at that point to gain everyone's attention. “Well, long story short, Wally and I are superheroes from the past. My hero name is Nightwing but most of you would likely know me by my former sidekick name Robin. Wally is none other than Flash’s protege Kid Flash. We were brought to this time after a run-in with some villains and reduced back to the bodies of our teenage selves. Since we have no real credentials in this time and the fact that everyone thinks we’re kids, Nedzu offered us a place here to legally get our hero licenses as well as help out in the hero course.”

Everyone sat frozen in shock for a solid minute before they all started talking at once. 

“WHAT?!”

“How can we possibly verify this is the truth?!”

“You can’t be serious?!”

“Wait, does that mean you work with the legendary heroes?!”

“WHAT?!”

Nedzu raises his paw and everyone quieted. “I have thoroughly vetted them myself. Megan and Conner both worked with them in the past, if anyone could verify their true identity it's them.”

Megan's and Conner both nodded. “We saw them disappear with our own eyes. We would never let someone use their name if it wasn't true.” Conner said as he glared out at the crowd daring them to push the issue. 

All was quiet until Aizawa raised his hand. “So say your story is true, why go along with this facade with pretending to be teenagers? Why not contact the HPSC directly and just get your hero licenses directly. If your story is as true as you, you could become famous heroes over night if you wanted.”

Dick stared him down unwilling to flinch like he was sure Aizawa was expecting him to. This guy, while intimidating, was no Batman. “We've been in this world long enough to know that the HPSC is not all shining hope and justice like they want themselves to believe. I am quirkless, and I know they would come with a reason to blacklist me from being an official hero if I refuse to be their puppet under the guise of it being my lack of quirk making me unfit to be a hero.” He crosses his arms and sighs. “Attending UA will force them and the rest of the world to acknowledge me even without knowing I’m a hero straight out of their history books.”

“Plus we've seen how a lot of heroes act nowadays,” Wally chimes in with an equally serious tone. “I'm sure a lot of you can agree that a lot of kids are trying to become heroes more as a way to become famous or to just use their powers without penalty instead of out of a desire to help people. Nedzu wants us to help curb that in the new generation of heroes through some more old school methods that have fallen out of practice.”

Dick and Nedzu nod affirmatively. “So on record Wally and Dick will be TAs for the hero course while studying directly under me. Known only to those in this room, they will be no different than the staff here. Dick will help out in class 1A while Wally will be with 1B. They will join you during your home room and heroics classes and spend the periods that would normally be for the general studies classes with me with their own special assignments.” Nedzu says with a cheerful smile. 

Aizawa raises his hand tiredly raises his hand. “That’s all well and good, but what do you plan for us to tell the students about all this? As far as any of them know they are no different than the other students, if only a little more skilled. There is bound to be pushback from students and parents alike when they hear about this.”

“That’s actually the simplest part of all this.” Wally says with a cheeky grin. “We simply tell them we tested high enough that it was determined we’d require a different course of study from the normal hero course!” 

“So that’s why you took the exam in the first place.” Aizawa says and tiredly puts his head on the table. “We were being played from the get go.”

“And didn’t they put on a marvelous show in the process!” Nedzu laughs and sips his tea. 

“So now that introductions are out of the way and all our cards are on the table, let’s talk shop.” Dick chimes in as he looks down the conference table to level a stare at All Might who freezes in his seat. “I would like to talk with those I’d to talk with the people we’ll be working closest with about plans for the school year and see what we can do to help.”

Toshinori looks around the table as Aizawa and King both just nod and stand to follow them out to another room. Seeing how he wouldn’t get any help from the other two about sharing lesson plans, it’s best to just prepare for Grayson to inevitably rip his plans apart.

—-----------------------------------------------------------

It was the night before their first day at UA and Dick couldn’t sleep. The better part of two decades being spent working night time patrols will do that to a person. His thoughts just kept swirling with anticipation for how tomorrow will go. Thankfully, he and Aizawa got along quite well. Aizawa was always straight to the point in his manner of speaking and teaching. He honestly felt tempted to do a DNA test to see if he was a descendant of Bruce or one of his siblings from the similarities the man had with the Bat. He enjoyed their talks, but it left him feeling a profound sense of homesickness.

It’s what had him on is computer staring at the files from the thumb drive Megan had given him. He hadn’t watcheed any more of the videos since the first one. Even just looking at the thumbnail stills of Bruce’s face sent a pang of sorrow grip his heart. He almost shut his laptop to avoid it all together when he noticed not all of them were from Bruce. 

Scrolling further he saw there were videos from all of his family friends. Tim, Babs, Kaldur, Artemis… The list went on through almost half of the Justice League! There were even scans of hand written letters from Cassandra! It was enough to bring a sting to his eyes that he fought to keep from becoming full tears. Instead he decided to click on one at random.

To his surprise it was Alfred’s face that filled the screen. He was his usual posh and composed self, but there was a solemn sadness to him that only someone from the family could tell. “I saw how Master Bruce has taken to recording videos to you and thought it was long since time for me to do the same.” He coughed in a way that belied him choking back emotions. Dick couldn’t help but smile at the way it was just so Alfred of him. “I apologize for it taking so long, but for once I felt at a loss for what to say… Did you know I was furious with Master Bruce when he told me he was going to allow you to join him in gallivanting around the city? After we sent you to bed that first night he brought you into that cave, he and I got into quite the spat about it.” 

Dick blinks in surprise at that revelation. “Spat” was Alfred talk for screaming match. He knew Alfred wasn’t exactly approving of him becoming a vigilante. Especially the first few weeks he was actually going out on the streets with Batman. But to the point that he actually yelled at Bruce? It felt impossible.

“I barely understood his reasons for becoming Batman in the first place. But he is an adult who understood the dangers this life would bring him. And thought of him bringing you, a child, into it infuriated me. I thought he was turning you into his personal child soldier.” Alfred sighed and straightened his cufflinks. It was a tick Dick knew he did when he was angry or stressed and needed something to do with his hands. “But despite my frustrations, he brought you along with him anyways. I dreaded every night I would get a call from him telling me you were killed by one of those lunatics…” 

Alfred shook his head with a sad smile and looked up at the screen for once looking every bit his old age. “But instead you thrived. You were happier than I had ever seen you before. You gave Master Bruce a reason to not throw himself into danger as often as he once did. You made friends with other young children. You brought even more home with you to grow our little family.” He chuckled fondly in a way that made Dick’s heart clench painfully. “You have a gift, Master Dick, that I don’t think you ever noticed. A gift that brought hope back into our lives. You have done more for this family than I think you will ever realize. So please, allow me to truly thank you for everything you’ve ever done for us just by being part of it. Your loss is a devastating one. But one I would not trade for anything in the world if it means to have not met you at all.” Dick wipes away tears at the same time Alfred does with a handkerchief. “ My deepest hope is that these videos find their way to you so that they serve to remind you how many people still love and support you across time and space. Never forget how much you are loved.”

Dick smiles through his tears as he closes the video. “It did make it Alfred. I’ll try to make you proud.”Tomorrow, he would take his first steps to change hero society for the better. But tonight, he was just a boy alone with his grief. 

He stepped away from his desk and laid on his bed. He grabbed a picture frame from his bedside table. It was one from his last Hannukah he spent with his family. They had used one of Barbra’s drones to take the picture so that even Alfred could be part of the photo. He had the newly brought back Jason in a headlock as Barbra tried to smush a donut into his face. The white powder in her hair indicating where Jason had done the same to her not 2 seconds prior. Steph and Duke were trying to put a pair of dreidel sunglasses on Tim’s head much to his dismay. Cass’s head could barely be seen where she was crouched behind the table where she was stealing the pile of chocolate coins on the table. Bruce just looked exhausted by the whole ordeal as he held Damien back from trying to cut off Cass’s hands for stealing his chocolate. The only person who looked composed was of course Alfred himself. It was the best family photo they ever had with everyone together. 

He smiled sadly as he hugged the frame close to his chest. He closed his eyes and allowed the memory of that night to lull him to sleep. Just like Alfred, there’s nothing in the world he’d trade for having known his family.