Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Matt and Dick have been dating for over 6 months and have been healing together in a healthy way. They hang out with Foggy and Karen when they can, not having had to tell them because of Foggy’s impromptu visit the morning after they first met. Foggy had been teasing Matt about it when they were out drinking later that week and Karen had overheard them. The two of them had ganged up on him and made him tell them everything.

Well, they think he told them everything, but he did keep their conversations and details of their intimate moments to himself. (Since Foggy had already seen Dick, he had already given Matt permission to tell them about his identity. Karen didn’t really care that he was dating a supposedly famous person, he suspected that she wasn’t as well informed about Gotham’s celebrities as Foggy was.)

Matt had told them that his name was Richard, but he chose to go by Dick and that they met when he was checking up on Frank for Karen. Dick had been following Franks drinking buddy and they had gotten bored, stolen beers from them and gotten to know each other. (Foggy interrupted with what Matt could tell was a facial expression and made Karen giggle when he has said they had gotten to know each other.)

“I bet he did the face thingy when they started to get to know each other.” Foggy had had his arm over Matt’s shoulders throughout this conversation, but he rubs his hands all over Matt’s face when he made the accusation. “I think it’s a signature move for him”

“It works!” Karen had been quiet like she was thinking about something, and it was like the confession had came out of nowhere. Matt could sense the heat rushing to her face, making it hotter. She was embarrassed and now Foggy had more information than he ever needed to know about his relationship with their former secretary.

“Foggy it was a long time ago and we have both moved on, but I’ll have you know that Dick didn’t even know I was blind until you mentioned it after you showed up. It was something about how did I always attract models when I’m blind. I don’t really know if he heard you, but I explained it anyway, we were in a sharing mood.”

It quietened them up for all but 2 seconds and then Foggy had to ask a question.

“So can you actually tell if someone is like model worthy with your skills then.” Matt just knew that Foggy had been working up to ask him that one.

“No! I told you, I like the person not their face. I swear they all approach me first!”

From that point onwards, Dick had always gotten an offer to come out with them and he took them up on it when he was meeting up with Matt. They did try to give him ‘the if you hurt him talk’ when they first met, but Dick told them the truth. Matt was the first person to actually listen to him in a long time and he would make sure to try to never hurt him.

Foggy and Karen liked to see Matt fully relaxed around another person, he wasn’t as stressed as before. They could tell that they were both good for each other.

***

The problem was that since they had been meeting up with Foggy and Karen, they always stayed at Matt’s apartment. It was just easier for them because Matt knew his way around his Hell’s kitchen like the back of his hand, he knew the streets from their smells and he couldn’t get lost in his home. And that he wasn’t able to use the transport system that Dick did to move between the cities. A 2-hour minimum trip for him was a 2-second trip to Dick using the Zeta tubes, so it never really came up about Matt going to Bludhavan or even Gotham.

Dick had been working on mending his relationships with his family, he had kept too much from his brothers in the past and it made them lose trust in him when he needed it the most. There had been too much to talk about and he hadn’t found the right time to tell them that he had found a decent person to date. Matt assured him that he didn’t care about it if it meant that they weren’t annoying him yet. Matt had an inkling that Dick’s family would be very overbearing when they found out and he just didn’t want it affecting his life yet. Matt had lived most of his life without having to ask his family for things, but he knew that it wasn’t the same for other people.

It was up to Dick to tell them when he was ready and Matt wasn’t going to force it.

***

Earlier in the day Matt had gotten a phone call for one of his clients after they had been arrested in New Jersey and he had to make the journey to deal with them.

When he was done with arranging stuff for his idiot of a client it was just after 5 o’clock on a Friday and he had 2 choices, he could make the almost 2-hour journey back to Hell’s Kitchen or he could cross a bridge and be in Bludhavan and surprise his boyfriend.

The hardest part of the choice me made was finding a bus, but a nice passerby stopped to help the poor blind man while trying to reach into his pocket to take his wallet. Matt took the help with the knowledge that his phone and wallet were on the inside pockets.

He made sure to ask the driver to make sure that he was getting on the right bus.

He had no plan of how to find Dick once he got into the city, only hoping that he would be able to track him down with his heartbeat, if he could hear it. Matt actually had no idea of how big Bludhavan was, the last time he saw a map was over 20 years prior and he hadn’t looked at it in much detail.

His fears were laid to rest as he could focus on Dick as soon as the Bus crossed the bridge to Bludhavan, Dick must be close. When he felt as though he was only a few streets away, he got off the bus and began following the direction of Dick’s heart.

Eventually he ended up outside of a large building, a gymnastics gymnasium, and he could tell that the class inside was coming to a close. Children were talking amongst themselves as they walked towards the front of the building to a waiting group of parents.

As the parents and children left the building, he slipped on past and waited until it was only Dick and another co-worker left to make his appearance. They wear clearing up some apparatus that the children had left behind in their hurry.

***

A few months ago Dick had gotten his old job as a gymnastics coach back, his boss pretty much hired him back on the spot as soon as he came through the door with the intention of grovelling. He loved this job and he was so happy that he got it back, the only catch was that if he ever felt like things were getting too much, he had to tell his boss.

Sarah had been worried about him when he had quit, apparently, he had been too skinny and looked far too tired. If Dick had to guess, he would say that Sarah thought he had been dealing with an eating disorder or a drug addiction. He didn’t confirm or deny her suspicious because he didn’t want to try to make up a lie to take its place and she didn’t pry into it either.

It had made him happy that he had gotten his life back together without Bruces help and that he was doing what he wanted to do, not just doing what he was told. Teaching made him feel more connected to his parents than being a vigilante ever did. He was still Nightwing, but he was living as Dick Grayson again.

Dick had been clearing up after the last class of the day when he heard his boss yell over to someone.

“Hey, were closed for the day.”

“I know” He would recognise that voice anywhere and sat down the bucket of things that he had been carrying to go over and hug his boyfriend.

“How are you here?”

“Had a client get into trouble in New Jersey, decided to drop in and say hi.” Dick didn’t even try to figure out how Matt knew where he was, he was probably tracked him like a sniffer dog but he didn’t care.

A cough interrupted their embrace and Dick was reminded of his Boss who he had left cleaning up by herself.

“Sarah, this is my boyfriend Matt. Is it okay if he just hangs out while we clean up, I didn’t know he was coming to surprise me.” Dick was guiding Matt over to a chair before getting an answer, letting Sarah see the cane as he does it.

“Sure, no problem” Sarah didn’t say anything about the cane, but Dick knew that she would have figured out that the man is blind. When they were putting some stuff away in the store was when she started with her questions. “So how long have you been seeing him?”

“I think it’s been over 6 months” He let it sink in that he had been dating Matt for a few months longer than he had been back working with her.

“Is he why you seem so much healthier now?”

“I think he has helped me a bit, never dated someone before who actually wants to listen to me ramble.” That got a bit of a laugh from both of them and that was when Dick knew for sure that she realised that Matt was blind. Matt would have appreciated the joke too.

“I’m happy for you and let him know that if he ever hurts you, I don’t care if he is blind because nobody would be able to see that punch coming. Okay?”

“I’ll tell him for you. But be warned he is a lawyer and may have you done for assault” He doesn’t have to joke about it, Matt would have already heard the threat, but he felt like it would be best to tell her Matt’s profession. It’s a nice feeling having someone stand up for you even if they don’t know what they would be against. Sarah wouldn’t stand a chance against Matt, but if he ever hurt Dick, he would take that punch without a flinch.

They make quick work of cleaning up and soon they are all leaving the building. Sarah was trying to subtly interrogate Matt about his life, but wasn’t getting far. He did let her know that he wasn’t with Dick for the money, it didn’t appeal to him much. He also gave her his card in case she ever needed a lawyer, telling her that he accepted payments in backed goods because he didn’t need to keep the lights on. Matt was making jokes and trying to bond a bit with Sarah, Dick knew he was doing it for him.

Dick could tell that Sarah approved of their relationship when she gave him a thumbs up as he was leaving and it made him feel fuzzy inside.

***

Dick guided Matt through the city to his apartment as they talked about how their days had been. Matt with his struggles of public transport and idiots. Dick with normal children and their parents who are convinced that their child is going to be a future Olympian.

It was a trying day all round and they were glad to be able to talk to each other in person for the first time in a few weeks. They just hadn’t had time to meet up with the different schedules they keep with their day and night jobs, sparse phone calls and texts were all they had for that time.

But Matt had cleared something he had been looking into last night. Dick had closed his case a few nights ago, he had been planning on going to see Matt tonight anyway.

When they got to the apartment block Dick entered the entry code and told Matt what the code was in case he was ever here without him, Matt had been paying attention and had ‘seen’ him enter the numbers. Dick led the way up to his apartment on the top floor because it was easiest to access from the roof and because he wouldn’t be kept awake by neighbours above him.

Matt entered the apartment after Dick and made sure that the door closed and locked behind him. He just stayed in the doorway with his folded up cane in his hands and tried to mentally visualise all of the information he was getting about the layout of the apartment.

Matt could tell that it was basically a straight shot to a coffee table in the middle of the main room, surrounded by 2 large couches and an armchair (he could tell that they were made from different types of fabrics and knew that they probably weren’t a matching set). A kitchen area is to the left of the main room and is separated from the living room by what he could tell was a breakfast bar or high top table. There was a TV in the corner that could be seen from all of the couches and a thick fluffy rug in front of it (Matt would need to be careful in that area until he got used to it because he could trip over that pretty easily). He could tell that there was a hall to the left of the main room that leads to 3 other rooms, a bathroom and 2 bedrooms.

“You, okay?” Dick had been trying to tidy up some mess of every day life when he got in, then he noticed that Matt was just standing in front of his apartment door. He had his focusing face on and Dick was hoping that the devil wasn’t going to have to come out, he wanted to have a lazy night with his boyfriend.

“Yeah, just trying to visualise a layout a bit. Homes usually have things that I am more likely to trip or bump into.”

“Oh my god I’m so sorry, I forgot. Do you need me to move anything or to walk you around the place a bit. I was so busy tiring to tidy up I forgot you can’t really see it.” That answer cause Matt to laugh, he could tell that Dick had been tiding up some random items of clothing from one of the couches (probably t-shirts from the movement of the material).

“I think I’ve got it, but I think that I might trip over that thick rug in front of the TV at some point. Don’t move it and I should be good.”

“I would never even though about telling you that the rug was there, I could have lured you into a deathtrap without even knowing if you were a normal blind person.” Dick was looking around as if to find more hazards, but he didn’t even know what he was looking for.

Matt sat down his briefcase that he had been carrying around all day on the ground underneath where there were coats hanging on the wall, placing his cane on the top to make sure he wouldn’t forget it when he eventually left.

Dick eventually stopped fussing around and began to feel the dried sweat that had built up all day at work, he excused himself to get cleaned up because he didn’t like the feel of it and he knew that Matt would be able to smell it. He was just too polite to tell him that he stunk.

When he was picking out some clean clothes to lounge around in, he decided to pick out some clothes for Matt to change into as well. His suit should probably be hung up so that he could go home in them without them being too wrinkled.

He had the perfect hoodie for Matt.

Matt had gotten changed when he was in the shower and looked amazing laying on his couch in them. He had picked out grey sweatpants and a black batman hoodie, it had ears that sticks up when the hood was up.

He asked Matt to put up the hood so he could take a photo, then he explained what he had made him wear. He gave him the option of changing it, but Matt had refused because he liked how heavy the material was.

***

Matt let Dick order food for them from a place that he ‘swears’ tastes like what he was raised on in the circus. It was a small restaurant that was run by a few Baltic families that were sharing recipes. It all reminded Dick of the food that other people in the circus made and gave him when he was younger, he wanted to share it with Matt.

They shared a meat stew with vegetable filled cabbage rolls, cheese pelinai and cepelinai that was stuffed with potato and spiced meat. They ordered way too much but ate it all because it tasted so good and they shared a bottle of wine that had been collecting dust in Dicks apartment.

Matt had been preparing himself to eat heavily processed fast food but was very surprised when he realised that all of the food had been made by the families who even pickled their own vegetables that came with the order. It was so rare for him to find food like this that he knew was handled with so much care, it was as if he could taste the love that they had put into the food (the absence of bad hygiene and artificial food additives). Matt was in love with the food.

Dick spent the meat telling Matt different stories of his life in the circus that involved the foods that they were eating.

He recalled that there had always been a big pot of stew or soup on top of a fire in the middle of the circle of caravans that everyone ate out of, but it tasted differently depending on who made it because everyone was from different places and used different recipes.

He remembered the times that the whole camp were sitting around wrapping cabbage rolls, laughing at his memory of the strongmen trying to roll the tiny rolls. He remembered the times that his dat stole them some perogies from the polish sword throwers and they ate them together after hiding from them. His daj had scolded them when she found out, but stopped as soon as she realise that they had kept her some.

After hearing such nice stories that Dick had from his childhood and his memories of his parents and their found family from the circus, it made Matt tear up a bit. He didn’t really have many memories to match.

Dick saw the tears fall from behind the red glass and quickly took action, taking off the glasses and wiping away the tears. He was wondering if he had said something wrong but Matt quickly reassured him that he was just overwhelmed by the stories, nothing was wrong.

They were finished with the food and just lay together on the sofa, telling each other stories about what they could remember about their childhoods with their parents.

Eventually they put on the TV and Dick tried to describe a random movie that was playing on one of the channels. It was all a bit of fun and his atrocious attempts made Matt laugh.

The wine and the food quickly hit them and they were almost falling asleep on the couch before the movie even ended. Matt was laying on top of Dick who was just slowly stroking the ears on the hood of the hoodie that Matt was wearing.

They were at risk of falling asleep and decided to call it a night. The went to bed extremely early for either of them.

***

Matt was woken up by a clatter and people talking on the fire escape attached to Dicks living room and was immediately on edge and shook Dick to wake him up.

“There’s people trying to get in your fire escape.”

“Can you describe them?” Dick wasn’t acting like it was unusual, but rather like he could know the potential intruders so Matt tried to pay more attention to them.

He could tell that they were all dressed in Kevlar costumes and all had active bleeds. There was a large bulky one, a slim one and a small one. The slim one was the one trying to pick the lock on the window, trying to keep the bulky one from breaking the window cause ‘D wouldn’t like it’. The small one kept making snide remarks about the slim ones technique and the bulky ones language.

After hearing them bicker and multiple nicknames were thrown out, Matt could figure out that they were Dick’s brothers. The bulky one was referred to as the zombie by the slim one and Todd by the small one, this let Matt infer that it was Jason Todd, the second Wayne child. The slim one was referred to as the replacement by Jason and Drake by the small one, so he was obviously Timothy Drake, the third Wayne child. The small one was called the demon by both of the older boys and his way of talking let Matt know that he was Damian Wayne, the youngest Wayne child.

“It’s your brothers. They are all cut up pretty bad. Damien has a slice to his arm and it is bleeding a lot, Jason has a few broken ribs and has a split around his eye, probably was punched. I don’t think Tim is hurt too bad, but I think he might be getting ready to murder the other two in your living room if they get the window open.”

Dick sighed heavily, knowing that he was going to have to get up and deal with them. “They will know that someone else is here, your briefcase is in the entrance way. If you want to come out and meet them it is up to you, or I will just evade them. Its up to you if you want to tell them about your abilities.”

“I’ll meet them in a few minutes, they’ve just entered so let them get settled first. Don’t tell them about the abilities, I’ll just be a normal blind guy walking out into the room with multiple secretive vigilantes. Let them panic”

Dick liked how Matt thinks, his brothers need to know that they can’t just drop in like this.

***

Dick was greeted with the sight of his brothers taking over his livingroom and kitchen, helping themselves to his first aid kit and to the icepacks in his freezer.

Tim just waved at his as a greeting as he threw an icepack at Jason and then he just settled into the single armchair with the icepack over his face. He must have a migraine if he is acting like that, not even offering to help the other two to patch up.

Jason had gotten his leather jacket and reinforced top off and was holding the icepack against his side as he was going through the first aid kit, probably looking for a bandage to fasten the icepack to his side.

Damien was just sitting beside Jason, holding something against his arm to help stop the bleeding. He was definitely going to need help to get his arm out to get some treatment.

He took a look at Jason’s face in more detail, he had just gotten a hit to the face and the skin had split. Damian had a more pressing injury so Dick was going to deal with that first, and then he got an idea.

“Hey Jay I think I’m going to have to deal with little D’s arm first so you can either wait till I’ve finished that to close up your face or I could ask my boyfriend to help you. He has had a lot of experience closing up injuries like that. Does that sound good to you?”

“Boyfriend?” it echoed 3 times around the room and he could feel an impeding questioning about identities.

“Don’t worry about your identities, all will be clear when you see him but just know that he has been patching injuries up longer than I have been a vigilante.”

“Matt, can you come out here, Jason’s face is all messed up and you do face stitches better than me.” He called out down the hallway even if he knew that Matt already knew what had been said.

Matt made his way down the hallway, using the wall to guide him and stopped when he reached the end of the wall. He had his hood up and his head down.

“Hey Dick, any idea where my glasses ended up earlier. I can’t remember where they ended up but I know they didn’t make their way to the bedroom earlier.”

Oh that’s right, Dick had taken them earlier when he was crying. He had no idea where he had put them but he did know that it was one of Matt’s insecurities and he wouldn’t be comfortable with so many people looking at his eyes. Dick abandoned trying to get the Damian out of his suit to find the glasses, asking all of his brothers to get up incase they were sitting on them, it was the same amount of trust as he would give Jason when they were younger and the TV remote went missing.

Eventually he found the glasses under the coffee table and passed them over to Matt. He then helped guide Matt to one of the unoccupied seats in the room and pushed the hood down, trying to tame the mad hair.

“Guys this is Matt and we have been seeing each other for just over 6 months.”

“Really that long, and you didn’t tell us”
“Dude, sunglasses inside and at night?”
“Tt, a blind guy wearing a batman hoodie. Was that your idea Grayson?”

They were talking over each other, but once they realised that Damian was right they were even more confused.

“Blind, and you expect me to let him near my face with a needle Dickface?”

“Trust me, its one of the skills that I had seeing and carried on when the accident happened.” Matt decided it was a good time for him to speak up for himself.

“How?”

“I think it was when I was seven, but my dad was a boxer and I was watching the match and set it up for him to fix himself when he got home. He decided to let me do it because he was too tired, got my first swig of whiskey too to calm me down that night before doing it. Kept doing it and after the accident he got me to still do it, apparently, he trusted my muscle memory. Comes in handy when I accidently get cut by random things or when cooking, otherwise social services will be on me with the hospital records again.”

“So like are you fully blind?” Matt could tell that Jason had moved to beside him and was waving his hand in front of his face.

“Quit that, he means are you light perceiving or not. If its not too rude to ask.” Tim spoke up from where he was sitting, interested in the conversation.

“No light perception, not rude especially since I’ve offered to patch one of you up. It is okay if you don’t want me to, not rude to turn down my offer.” He could tell that Jason was a bit apprehensive about his offer.

“I’m game, let’s see what you’ve got.”

“Dude!” Tim was getting offended by the word see and was trying to get Jason to be more careful.

“Don’t worry about it. Matt loves blind jokes” Dick was still fighting with Damian’s suit but had to speak up before they started fighting again. He knew that Matt wouldn’t stop them, he loves it when people get uncomfortable about ‘seeing’ words and terms of phrase. Matt just nodded in agreement as he was putting on gloves and familiarising with the things in front of him,

“This might hurt a bit, but trust me it works the best.” Jason had sat as close to him as possible and was resting against the back of the couch, letting Matt have free reign as he felt over the tear.

Tim was watching as a blind man squeezed the sides of the cut together with one hand and used the other to sew through his brother’s face. It was a method he had never seen before but if he could describe it, it would be what Alfred would call a mattress stich when you got him talking about his sewing. The thread was anchored at the beginning and when he had finished the stitches, he held the beginning still and pulled on the rest of the thread. It closed up the cut immediately and Matt then anchored the thread on the other side.

Matt took an alcoholic wipe and wiped along the stitched area to see if he could feel if anywhere had too much tension, but it was all even. If there was too much tension in some areas it could cause the skin tissue to die. He took the gloves off

“The packet for the needle and thread had brail on it that said that its dissolving thread, there might be small scars where the anchors are at each side and along the tear, but it should heal well.”

Jason walked to the bathroom mirror to see his face and was amazed at how the only stiches he could see were the ones on the end, he wasn’t an expert on stitches but this was the tidiest that he had ever had.

Damian had watched Jason getting stitched up as Dick started to prepare to give him some stiches. The man wasn’t even looking at Jason’s face so he wasn’t faking, the stitches looked very neat too.

“Stop. I want him to do it. He has done an adequate job in returning Todd’s face back to its original placing. I was hoping that he would improve his face, but I would rather have little to no scars on my own arm.” Dick was stunned that Damian sounded jealous over the situation, he wanted Matt instead of him.

“Betrayed, by my own brother” Dick threw himself over the floor as if in anguish, laying on the fluffy rug taking up most of the floor.

“Tt Grayson, I merely want the superior treatment”

“Abandoned and case aside. How ever will I cope?” Dick was now laying with an arm over his face, like how Matt imagined the women in some paintings that Foggy described to him.

Matt moved over to where Damian was sitting, taking Dicks old position and familiarised himself with the things set out on the table after he put on some gloves. Then he began stitching again.

As Matt worked he could tell Damian was looking at him, wanting to ask him questions.

“I may be blind, but I can still tell when people are staring at me.”

“How?”

“Your beathing directly towards my face, if you were looking at what I was doing I would feel it on my hands.”

“What was the accident you mentioned earlier”

“Oh my god” Matt could tell that Tim was embarrassed with that question, thinking that it was overstepping.

“Chemicals got into my eyes when I was nine, yes it burned” People always asked if it hurt, he answered because it seemed that Tim might actually have an aneurism from a combination of his migraine and how embarrassed he was of his family.

“Do you have any intentions of using Grayson for his access to my father’s money?” Tim just groaned and it even got a tired sigh from Dick on the floor.

“No, I didn’t even know who he was when we first met. I have a successful career as a lawyer and have my own money, I don’t need someone else’s money.”

Matt could hear Jason moving from the bathroom to the Dicks bedroom and begin rummaging through the drawers. He must have washed off the blood that had fallen over him and then was just helping himself to his brother’s clothes. Then he came trudging back into them.

“Why do you have a suit hanging up, you get arrested or something? When’s the court date?”

“It’s Matts”
“That’s mine”

Matt finished stitching up the sourly teenager’s arm and joined Dick on the floor, silently hoping that they would all leave so they could go back to sleep again. He put the hood back up and took his glasses back off, giving them to Dick as he covered his face. He was trying to breath in the scent of the fabric of the hoodie, trying to get away from the smell of blood that was becoming overwhelming in the small unventilated room.

“So are you guys going to leave any time soon, we want to get back to sleep since none of you are bleeding out anymore.”

“Babs was meant to be sending Steph to come pick us up, she should be here soon. Sorry we crashed date night, but we sort of needed to get to a first aid kit. We were downtown trying out a new burger place when we got jumped, that’s why we got all of these injuries.” Jason was trying to come up with a cover story to give the blind guy for how they were so injured, realising that they hadn’t given one yet.

“Ask Babs if she is free tomorrow for lunch, she’ll feel left out if you guys know about Matt and she doesn’t.”

“She’s free” Tim had been texting on his phone trying to get an update on Stephs location and passed on the question for Dick.

“Tell her to pick the place and that I’m buying, tell her to send the information to Dick and he will make sure that we get there on time” Matt had wanted to meet Barbara Gordon ever since Dick had told him about her months ago. She was effectively his boyfriends foggy, or even Karen because they dated. She was his longest friend and the first friend that Dick had made in Gotham, he wanted to have her approval.

“Done” Tim was very engrossed by his phone, possibly tracking the car that Steph had taken. “Stephs about 5 minutes away”

Knowing that they were all going to get out of his hair, it prompted Dick to get up and to start to corral his brothers now that he had an excuse in Matt to get them to pick up after themselves.

“Okay guys, put everything back to where it was before you arrived tonight and take all of your belongings with you. Put the rubbish in a bag and bring it down to the Dumpster when you are leaving. I don’t want Matt tripping over and hurting himself because you have left something at your asses. Jason, I want those clothes left at the manor for me to pick up next time I’m round, you aren’t stealing them again.” Matt stayed in his position on the floor, amused at the fact that Dick was lying to his brothers to get them to pick up their shit. He was pleased that Dick had even thought about the blood soaked gauze and rags that they had used, they were being removed from the apartment and he didn’t even have to mention them.

“Is Damain sitting there still half naked? Shouldn’t you give him a t-shirt to go home in?” Matt realised that Damian was still sitting with his suit half-off, nobody else had brough it up like he was going to walk out to the car like that.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that, Jason go get him one of my t-shirts. Damian same rules apply for my clothes I want them to stay with Alfred until I pick them up.” Dick just wanted them out, he was tired physically and mentally and just didn’t have the energy to deal with them anymore.

“I appreciate that the only one who was concerned about my attire was the blind man, it shows that all of you are still incompetent in your observations.” Matt assumed that this would be as close to a thank you as he would get from the boy.

Jason threw something at the boy when he came back into the room and it started another argument between the siblings. But before they got too far into it, Tim spoke up.

“She’s downstairs.”

“Okay, out you go. It’s been nice, please go somewhere else or home next time you just have a few cuts because we don’t want to deal with you again. We are closed until future notice.” Dick effectively pushed his brothers out of the apartment through the front door, not even caring what his neighbours think at this point, and locked the door straight after them. He then made sure to lock the window again, making sure that they didn’t break it on their entry earlier.

They moved quickly getting ready for bed and if Dick was a betting man he would bet that they were back in bed before his siblings were drove away. Matt knew that they were and heard Steph annoying Damian about what he was wearing as he drifted off to sleep with Dicks arm around him.

Chapter Text

They woke up late in the morning and prepared themselves for their lunch date with Barbara.

Dick had prepared them some coffee that Alferd had left in his apartment months prior. He called it the fancy coffee because it was meant to have specific after tastes, he didn’t taste anything other than plain coffee. But he hoped that Matt would like it more than he did.

They sat in bed, drinking their coffee and talking about what to tell people about their first meeting. They had to get their stories straight to ensure that Matt’s identity is kept secret until he feels comfortable enough to share it.

They had to decide whether or not to disclose that Matt knew about Dick’s night life, but they couldn’t figure out any other way to explain the Nightwing suit that he would have been wearing the night they met. Matt’s blind, not stupid. It’s agreed that they subtly let Barbara know about Matt knowing that Dick was a vigilante of some kind, because if she liked him, she might be able to get Matt onto the zeta tube system as well. Might use it to their advantage if Barbara likes him and makes it easier for them to meet up.

They spent the rest of their morning in domestic bliss that ended when Dick announced that Matt needed to get changed out the comfy hoodie and into something that hadn’t been slept in. Matt did not want to part with it, but agreed that he should wear something fresh and clean to go for lunch.

Dick spent some time going through his clothes, describing what everything looked like so that Matt could pick out something to borrow. They hadn’t washed Matt’s work suit yet so his only option was Dicks clothes, neither were complaining about the situation.

Dick liked to see Matt in his clothes and Matt liked the feeling of the clothes against his skin, some of the materials felt very different to his own clothes, presumably cost a lot more than what he was comfortable spending on clothes. At least it didn’t feel like sandpaper against his skin and he was surrounded by smells he associated with his boyfriend. He could tell that Dick liked the way he looked and that was enough.

***

Dick had no idea if this lunch was going to be a good idea.

But he had to organise it as soon as the boys found out about Matt, she would feel left out and think that he was hiding it from her. He had been keeping Matt from all of them, the chaos that was the birds and bats of Gotham.

He had wanted to create a relationship on his own terms without their influence before introducing his intended partner. He just knew that they would overreact if they thought it was too soon, or if they didn’t think the person was ‘right’ for him.

Nobody could be more right for him than Matt.

That and it seemed like he skimmed just underneath the boys warning alarms, but that might just be because they were injured and he was blind. They obviously weren’t in their best conditions last night.

I mean they didn’t even question that he bought their story so easily, not when he was a lawyer. They were lax and dropped their guards when they found out about Matt’s sight impairment.

Babs was going to be different.

She was either going to see through their story or she would buy it, they were using some of the truth and bending it. Matt did meet Dick dressed as Nightwing, and he was working that night. They were just going to change the embellishments, like meeting mercenaries and a certain person dressing up as the devil.

***

When Barbara arrived, she was a bit late, her taxi had gotten stuck in traffic when leaving Gotham. There were sometimes tailbacks on the bridge because of the risks Gotham had, but anyone who left regularly was used to them.

She was directed to the table and immediately recognised Dick waving at her from the table.

He looked so much healthier than the last time she had seen him, he had a glow to his skin that she hadn’t ever seen on him. It definitely wasn’t because of the weather that Gotham and Bludhavan shared.

He was genuinely happy, it was a true smile across his face and not the mask he had been wearing over the past few years. She had almost forgotten how his smiles were meant to look like.

She had initially thought that he was wearing the mask because it was getting harder for him to make the difference in his bead between Robin, Dick Grayson and Richey Wayne. She had been there when he was forming the mask for school but then it grew and kept everyone out, it became a shield between his real self and feelings and the rest of the world.

This reminded her of the toothy smiles that were directed towards her during study breaks and eventually during training, back when he was still wearing the god awful colourful tights.

She realised that he had actually been healing over the past few months.

As she got closer she realised that Dick’s skin had actually lost the dull grey tint to it that had developed when he started living in Gotham. Was it really because of his health and not just the dull weather? Dick hadn’t been out of the sister cities much in the past few months to her knowledge, but he had been keeping a lot from them recently.

The skin around his eyes and smile weren’t as tight as it had been the last time she had seen him, he had defiantly gained some of the weight he had lost lowly over the past few years. The years had been hard on him, but now he looked younger than he had in the last 3 years.

She hadn’t though that he looked like the weight of the world was perpetually on his shoulders, but now she could see that it was lifted. He had kept it to himself until he crumbled under the weight, but now he looked more carefree than she had ever seen him.

As she navigated her was though the restaurant, moving her chair around the tables, she finally got to the table and was able to see the man that had made all of these changes in Dick

***

He was exactly how she had imagined him, and not at all at the same time.

She had been researching all night once she had gotten a name out of Tim, found almost all of the man’s history. At least all of it that was memorialised, which was very little until he started his law firm with his friend.

She found a digitised copy of the newspaper about his accident, how heroic he was as a kid and paid the price for it because of the chemicals. She found the digitised copy of the newspaper of how his Dad died, that he was found by his blind son. She also found out that he was in an orphanage for the rest of his childhood and then in Colombia where he met Franklin Nelson.

That was all of his history until he started defending people who’s cases would have never went to trial without him. People who would have never had their voices heard without him.

He was ruthless in a courtroom and had an insane ratio of wins to loses, higher than any other lawyers that she had looked into before. It was like he was a dog with a bone when he was advocating for his clients.

From what she could tell, he did good and saved lives the legal way using the justice system. It made her respect him because once she started looking into the finances of his business, she realised that most of the cases that they took were pro bono, or they were charges a minuscule amount compared to the work that they had done. She honestly had no idea how they were still functioning, Nelson had left him for a few months and worked at a higher paid firm but had returned, so neither were motivated for money. It did make her wonder how they kept going.

The man in front of her didn’t have the same aura as she had seen in the photos of him while at work. Namely, all the photos she could find of him were of him in a suit. He was dressed in a well-loved hoodie that she recognised from Dick’s collection. It was one of the ones he claimed to be softer than the rest, she just though that he loved the colour, it was a lovely powder blue and it changed the way that the lawyer seemed to look.

Her observations of the man are interrupted by Dick letting him know that she was approaching as he moved a chair away to accommodate her wheelchair at the table.

When he was aware that she was near the table, Barbara watched as Matt stood up and offered is hand out in greeting towards her general direction. It was wildly off and closer to her shoulder than anything else. It was a bit awkward for her to shake his hand, but once she moved his hand he corrected his positioning immediately.

It wasn’t often that she had to remind people about her chair, they usually just stared at it when she rolled on by getting along with her life. It made her vaguely think about how some disabilities were just ignored by others that couldn’t see or comprehend them. She thought at how Matt and Cass would interact, about how they wouldn’t be able to communicate without someone helping.

***

Once they were all sat at the table and gotten settled, a waiter appeared and handed them all menus.

Matt just sat his down on the table after the man left. Barbara only realised what had happened when Dick started to quietly read over the menu.

It had never occurred to her before that most places didn’t have braille menus; she only just realised it now. But Dick didn’t even acknowledge it and immediately began going over all of the options with him, they must have done it many times before.

It was as if she was a casual observer in their world.

Barbara was so caught up in how things were so different from how she initially thought of meeting someone Dick was dating, she didn’t know what to do and she hadn’t even found out anything about their relationship yet, she hadn’t even found out how they met.

She had been ready to protect Dick at all costs, to help her conscious because of her actions in the past. She had turned away from him when he asked for help when he needed it most and was blinded by her own emotional hurt that she didn’t notice the physical pain and emotional torture that he was experiencing.

All she wanted to do was make sure that Dick was safe. It was the least that she could do now.

***

Barbara was startled out of her thoughts when the waiter returned to the table to take their drinks order.

She hadn’t even looked at anything yet.

“I’m not driving after this, so I wouldn’t say no to sharing a bottle of wine. Dick? Barbara? Is that okay with both of you? I’m fine with any.”

It was strange for her to listen to him speak. She logically knew that he wasn’t looking at either of them, but he had moved his head in each of their directions when he said their names. She could almost forget about him not being able to see her as she was waiting for him to hand her the wine list that was sitting right beside him. It was a split second, but she reached over and picked it up herself.

She hoped nobody had noticed, but when she looked up to ask Dick his opinion on a wine, he was looking at her with a curious expression. Eyebrow comically raised and it was only her that could see it, he had noticed her blunder.

Dick ordered the agreed upon wine and once the waiter left he smirked at Barbara. “Just because you missed it, when you asked about the wine, the wine list was beside you and Barabra was waiting for you to hand it over. It was very short, but noticeable.”

“Stop it. I can’t have you narrating things to me like Foggy, especially at your friend’s expense.” He turned towards the direction of Barbara “It’s the glasses, people forget. Don’t beat yourself up about it. Can’t be worse that Foggy or Karen handing me printed notes in court instead of my own pages when trying to point something out to me. That is okay to make fun of.”

“But you don’t get it, Babs never makes mistakes. I have to get to have this, she always was just higher than me in school and everything like it. Please” It was rare for Barbara to ever see this side of Dick, it was mainly used when he was annoying his brothers. But that was rare in itself. It was an interesting dynamic and it nearly made her miss what he said. She had made many mistakes over the years, just not any that he wanted to remember.

“No, you said it was in retaliation to what I said. It is between us, not you and her. You are mainly an observer and I say you can’t use it against her.” It was like Matt was standing up for her, but using the logic Dick would have used to argue against a simple no. He would have said he saw it, so it happened. It was endearing that Matt would reduce his profession to bicker combating toddler logic, Matt knew how Dick’s brain works. And she could see Dick playfully pout, purely for her. Then she had an idea.

“Just so you know, he’s pouting because he can’t see a way to out argue that” It drew a chuckle out of Matt.

***

Dick was aware of how Barbara was watching them as he read the menu to Matt, he was a bit unnerved by it because he couldn’t look up and see what she was thinking about it. It wasn’t like they were actually doing anything.

He felt a bit ganged up on when he tried to point out Barbara’s mishap, but he knew that Matt would have known anyway. He wanted to test the waters and see how Matt reacted, because he would have a better read on the situation and what Barbara was feeling. The both ganged up on him and he could just tell that they would get on so well together. It was a sign from Matt to calm down a bit.

***

Matt had sensed that Barbara had appeared to the restaurant with the anticipation of potentially having to fight, he heart rate was elevated and her palms were sweaty. But when she was able to see them on her arrival, she began to calm down a bit. It was unusual, but he could assume that it was from initial impressions that she had taken from their appearances. He had heard from multiple sources that Dick had looked healthier the past few months.

He had also sensed that she had made a large change in her assumptions when Dick was reading him the options off of the menu. Probably from watching how they interacted with each other, but it was in this moment that Dick began to get more anxious. He needed reassurance and he held his hand underneath the table when the waiter came over to get a drinks order.

He knew that Dick’s careful teasing was him testing the waters about what everyone else was feeling like, it was too easy for him to build rapport with Barbara through it. It worked perfectly and he was able to calm down Dick.

It seemed like Barbara would be willing to follow anything they told her (within reason) at this point, just from watching them interact. It only left Matt with one question, are they really that good together that everyone agrees that they are suited well together. That they are meant for each other and everyone else is able to sense it.

***

The waiter returned to the table with their wine and a jug of water. He stayed to take their order and Barbara watched as Dick ordered for the both of them, making sure that he was ordering the things that Matt had indicated that he had wanted earlier when they went through the menu.

After ordering her own food, Barbara had another realisation. Dick wasn’t as jumpy as he had been the last time she had been out with him he wasn’t hypervigilant and constantly reassessing the exit routes and the room in general, she couldn’t think of a time that his eyes weren’t daring around in the past. He seemed calm and at peace sitting with them. She had initially agreed to this meeting so that she could interrogate Matt to make a determination on if he was good for Dick, but after watching them she didn’t feel like she needed to anymore.

Now all she wanted to know was how they met.

“So how was it that you met?”

“When I was in New York–“ “Shh, I get to tell it from my perspective first”

Dick had started to tell her, but he was quickly stopped by Matt. It wasn’t really a disagreement, but Dick was swiftly stopped in his explanation by Matt. It wasn’t in a forceful way, but instead was in a joyful tone and Barbara actually wanted to hear it from Matt’s side first. She had believed too many of Dick’s stories in the past but knew that he had changed. It was hard to fight against her own natural instinct to be suspicious of what he said.

“Picture this, its late and I’m stuck in the office to well past 10pm. I had a case the next morning and had been working overtime for it. My brail printer at home broke so needed to be at the office to make sure that I didn’t miss anything I might have needed to refer to the next day.
Eventually I thought I was finished and packed up all of my things, there was too much paper to fit in my bag so I was left carrying some of it. I lock up the office and set off on the walk home, one hand on my cane and the other carrying the paper.
I make it 2 blocks, halfway home, and some idiot walks into me, sending all of my notes flying.”

“Hey, that’s not what happened, it was a blind corner.”

“It was a normal corner to me.”

“I want to make it clear, there would have been no way I saw him coming towards me before we ended up on the ground”

“As I was saying, now I’m on the floor. I have no way of knowing witch was I had been going. I had no idea where my cane was, the papers were gone, my glasses had disappeared and I was in so much pain down my right arm, hip and ribs.” He was motioning to his side as he said it. “I’m no stranger to getting grazed but this felt like something else and just as I was finished processing what all had happened to me I hear a ‘dude, it was like you came out of nowhere ‘and I responded with ‘sorry I didn’t see you there’. I definitely know that there was a long silence and he started apologising so much and tried to get me to stand up and tried to get all of my stuff collected. He figured it out and was panicking”

The image of all of that happening made Barbara laugh, she could picture exactly how Matt was explaining it. She could almost picture Dick freaking out, running his hands through his hair and trying to help Matt out, maybe making the situation worse instead of taking a second and asking Matt what help he needed.

“Eventually he gathered all my things for me and helped me up off the ground. He must have noticed some blood on my shirt or something because he wouldn’t hand me over my things because I was ‘too hurt’ and he said he was going to catch a cab to bring me to the emergency department.
I did not want to go and told him I lived nearby with a decent first aid kit. My friend says I’m accident prone and makes sure its fully stocked.
I’ve had a few run-ins with social services because some people think I cant handle living alone, but really its not my fault that random people mow me down when I walk down the street. Definitely don’t want random grazes being put in my hospital files.”

Barbara had seen his files during her research the night before, the injuries were a lot more than what someone would get from small falls or clumsiness. It looked more like he had been the victim of an attack, multiple times. But he did live in a ‘dangerous’ neighbourhood and liked to seemingly pick legal fights with mob bosses like Wilson Fisk, it was probably retaliation but she understood why he didn’t like to go to the hospital.

“If you thought you were badly hurt you wouldn’t have let me get you to the hospital either, probably would have only got me to call Claire.”

“Aww honey, you did exactly what Claire would have done anyway. Clean my cuts and cover them. Don’t need to bother her anymore when I have you to annoy.”

Dick turned to her and began explaining who this Claire was who they were talking about. “Claire is his situationship nurse that left him for Luke Cage, the vigilante. Everyone is happy over the fact that Matt has found someone else that he might call if he breaks a glass in the middle of the night.”

“She wasn’t a situationship, and Luke like me... sort of … Anyway, he got me cleaned up as I tried to reorganise the mess of notes that had been all over the streets of the kitchen.”

“It’s not like I could have helped you.”

“I fear that your help would have made it much worse. We talked throughout all of the reorganisation and wound clearing, it was late and I offered to let him stay over. The next morning we were eating breakfast before separating but his brothers rang him wondering where he was and Foggy, my business partner and friend, let himself into my apartment to badger me about a personal matter of our receptionist.”

“Damien called me because I didn’t make it back to Bruce’s place in new York, it was all 3 of them on the phone and they were worried about what had happened to me. I had intended on meeting with an old friend, Mr Wilson, to talk about a few things but bumped into Matt on the way.” Oh, that let Barbara know exactly when the meeting had taken place. Nobody thought that Dick was ready to meet with him but he wouldn’t listen to anyone about it. “Foggy had actually let himself in because he was worried about Matt’s wellbeing because he had threatened Frank Castles the night before. You know, the Punisher.”

What!!! No wonder he was getting injured frequently. She just knew that dick had been waiting to tell on Matt about that fact. It also made her wonder because that was 2 people mentioned in just a simple conversation that Matt know who were vigilantes or wanted criminals. She heard Matt sigh, and prepared to hear his explanation.

“Frank was a client of mine for a while, he and Karen started a relationship. She was annoyed about something he had done, I just did something any friend would do.”

“Karen is Matt’s ex.”

“Really? We only dated for a few weeks and found out were weren’t compatible.” Barbara could tell that Matt was getting a bit annoyed about the conversation turning back to his old relationships at every turn.

“Sorry, Just thought Babs should know cause she’s my ex. Sharing that you are still friendly with yours like I am with mine.”

“Yeah, I get that. But the past is in the past, my relationships didn’t last too long because of Electra, she always popped up when I though I was getting comfortable with someone else. Barbara, Electra is someone I loved since meeting her in collage, we weren’t too good for each other, she always lied to me about things.
Something bad happened to her and she wasn’t herself, she lead me somewhere a few years ago when she was in that state. It was the bottom of midlands circle and she died in the collapse. I don’t really know what happened but someone found me at the edge of the river, I must have been washed out of that place and ended up there. “

That was heavy, he had definitely been through a lot. Barbara had seen that collapse on the news but there had been no report of any survivor of it, there wasn’t much information about it at all.

“I am so sorry to hear about that, condolences.”

***

The conversation continued throughout their meal, but Barbara was paying more attention to the people that they mentioned and who Matt knew. There were letting her freely know about Matt’s connections to those in ‘the business’ it made her wonder about how much Matt knew about Dick’s night life.

Then she had a realisation after figuring out that this was Matt’s first time in Bludhavan because the journey was ‘too long’ for him to take before. He had been in New Jersey because of a client and made the trip over.

They had talked about dates and drinks with Matts friends in Hell’s kitchen, but she had no memory of Dick being unreachable for days. He was always reachable and was able to get to the cave or watchtower when he was needed, he had been using the zeta tubes to travel to Matt.

“Dick, how have you been getting time to visit New York so often, I don’t remember you telling anyone that you would be out of Bludhavan for a number of days? You know in case Damian turned up at the apartment for the night.”

“Haha, I think you know how, or you just figured it out. I’ve been using the system that Bruce has set up in all of the major cities, you know the one that the Justice league uses.” He was looking at her with pleading eyes, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck. It wasn’t something he was just ready to approach yet. He didn’t know if Barbara liked Matt enough to do what they wanted.

“You know the New York one is just outside Hell’s kitchen, very convenient. My biometrics and permissions are still in the thing from when the league saved me from that kidnapping ages back, remember? It would be amazing if Matt would also be able to use it but I don’t really want to ask Bruce about it because he would have to go through all of the justice league permissions and all.”

Barbara could pick up on what he was asking, she had the ability to do it.

She would do it for him and he knew it.

“Leave it with me”

***

They enjoyed the rest of their meeting, Matt and Barbara got on well and it pleased Dick. It was nice to know that she approved of Matt. After all it was the first time he was introducing someone to Matt when they were of sound mind.

When they separated, Barbara began to enter a new person onto the system using backdoors that only she knew.

Eventually all she needed was a code name, the biometrics would be taken when he first used the tubes. She just texted Dick asking if they had any idea what the code could be. She just got back the response.

He says that his Dad always said that the Murdock men had the Devil in them. I think he just wants to steal the code before the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen gets recruited. That guy apparently also goes by Daredevil, Matt says that just Devil is cooler.

***

The tested the tubes out in place of the journey back home for Matt.

Dick made sure that they stepped into the tube together, Babs said it was necessary so that they could confirm Matt and get him associated with his name. She was waiting on the other end to ensure that everything went smoothly.

RECOGNISING – B01-NIGHTWING AND UNKNOWN

ACKNOWLEGE UNKNOWN

WELCOME DEVIL

RECOGNISING – NIGHTWING AND DEVIL

Dick had asked that she got rid of the beta recognition that always had been in front of his name. The league was alpha so when young justice was formed they were given designation beta. It was a dated system that was rarely on anyone’s names anymore, too many people on too many different teams and too many people lost.

He wanted a fresh start and couldn’t think of a better reason than when Matt got his code.

Chapter Text

Alfred had been tiding up the med bay in the cave after putting Tim’s arm in a cast when he overheard a conversation coming from the shower and changing room area. Jason and Damian had been talking about how specific cuts seemed to have healed without leaving a scar. (The topic must have came up because of the new scar on Tim’s arm that is now covered in a cast, he had gotten into a disagreement with killer Croc. That disagreement was whether Red Robin was classed as food or not.)

He turned the corner and Jason seemed to have been trying to find evidence of a scar around his eye in the mirror while Damian had his top off and was looking at his arm at different angles in the light. It seemed like they were looking for evidence of past injuries after getting cleaned.

“Wait, I can see like two tiny scars at the very edges of where my cut was. But only if I hold my arm like this.” Jason walked over to see what Damian had been trying to show him, Alfred watched as Jason moved Damians arm about, twisting the skin so he could see the scars the boy was talking about.

He coughed to let them know that he was present and wanted an explanation to why they were acting so weirdly. That and he hadn’t had record of recent injuries that had occurred in the places they were looking at.

“Hey Alfred, I had noticed that a scar around my eye completely disappeared and was wondering if Damians had as well. I’m not hurting him” Jason answered while still holding Damian’s arm in a very unnatural and probably very sore position.

“Grayson’s boyfriend has proven that he is useful. He stitched us up after we ended up at his apartment a few weeks ago, we seem to have no scars from his stitches. Perhaps you could learn from him.” Damien had pulled his arm free but had immediately been on the back of his head by Jason after insinuating that Alfreds technique was inadequate.

“Matt seems alright, nice enough to patch us up. Good to Dick from what we could tell.” Jason tried to alleviate the concerns that he knew would be bubbling up when he heard that Dick was seeing someone, tried to tell him about how he Didn’t feel like Matt was a threat to Dick. But in his heart, he knew that Alfred’s worries wouldn’t be quashed until he met the man. “I’m not gonna go around telling the man’s business but Babs had lunch with them the day after we met him and she seems to like him. You just need to meet the guy.”

“I might just do that… Master Bruce will be away next week, replacing Tim on the Wayne Industry pharmaceutical conference in Lisbon. I believe it will be the perfect opportunity for the rest of us to have a nice family dinner. I believe Miss Cassandra is thinking of coming home for a few days as well.” Alfred began his scheming and left the boys a bit stunned t how quickly he was planning things, that and he was specifically doing it so that Bruce wouldn’t be there when he met Matt for the first time.

Jason was going to make sure that everyone was there to meet Matt, he just knew that he was good for his older brother.

Damian wanted to learn more about the man since Grayson was so clearly infatuated but he also knew that if Matt would be around for a long time he would have need to be nice to him. He hadn’t seen his baba so comfortable in someone else’s presence like he had been with Matt, he could admit that he was a tiny bit jealous.

***

Alfred set his plans in motion and had sent out texts informing the children that they were to be expected for a family diner on Saturday that Bruce was in Lisbon. He informed Dick that his boyfriend was expected to arrive with him, there wasn’t any room for argument.

Jason made sure that everyone promised that they were going to be on their best behaviour.

***

Matt was sitting in the office and since it was a relatively slow day, Foggy had decided to blast music while they did their paperwork. Matt had a feeling that the day had been going too smoothly and was mentally preparing himself for something to go wrong.

And then he got a voice message from Dick that made his heart drop as he listened to it.

“Heyyy, you have been invited to family dinner on Saturday and attendance isn’t optional. Bruce won’t be there but is being organised by my sort of Grandfather figure.” It was odd to listen to being told that he was meeting a parental figure with ‘La Vie Boheme’ blasting in the background with foggy and Karen singing along from their desks.

It made Matt realise, he had never met the parents before. He had never met the families of anyone he had ever dated before.

At least he knew that it would be an interesting dinner if it was all of Dick’s siblings, but he just had a feeling that he was going to be fed to wolves.

Karen and Foggy weren’t much help in the end.

***

As Dick drove them from his apartment in Bludhavan to the Manor he was attempting to explain the layout a bit to Matt. He made sure that Matt knew about the ‘hidden’ doors and where they were, they didn’t want him to ‘accidently’ get down to the cave. At least not until he met Bruce, then Dick gave Matt to do whatever he wanted to mess with him.

Dick pulled up at the front of the manor and noted that there was no evidence that Jason had arrived yet, his bike wasn’t in the driveway. He hoped that the rest had made themselves sparse as Alfred prepared the dinner, it meant that he could introduce Matt without the background noise of his siblings trying to kill each other.

They made their own way through the manor, Dick leading Matt through to introduce him to Alfred who he assumed would be in the kitchen.

***

As soon as Matt walked through the front door, he felt like he was approaching something or someone familiar. There was no other way he could describe it, because he didn’t recognise the building or anything around him. The oly things that he was familiar with were some heartbeats he could hear throughout the house, Dick was beside him, Damian was in a room upstairs playing with a cat, Tim seemed to be in a cave underneath the Manor (the bat cave). There were three people playing video games in another room on the ground floor and Matt recognised one of them as the person who collected the boys that night he had patched them up. They were walking towards an older gentleman in the kitchen of the house, someone that he assumed was this Alfred, butler and basically grandfather to Bruce Waynes children.

Eventually they make it to the kitchen and Dick helps guide him towards a chair at the island in the middle of the room. Honestly it reminded him of the Kitchen that he had destroyed with Electra, it probably looked very different though. He was trying to identify unique things in just this room, like the papers attached to the outside of the fridge and small trinkets spattered around the room that seem to be things that would have been made by children in arts and crafts classes.

“Master Grayson, you have arrived earlier than you were expected. I haven’t finished preparing the food yet. I assume this is the Matt that you were told to bring with you.”

Matt recognised that voice from somewhere, from a long time ago.

It took a few moments for him to place the voice and by that time he realised that the man had tried to offer a hand to shake. Nobody had told him that he was blind.

“I don’t know how to ask you this, but you sound like someone I knew when I was a kid. Is that you Freddie?”

“Matt Murdock? Jack’s boy?”

Matt was engulfed in a hug by the man he had known almost all of his childhood.

***

Dick watched as Matt and Alfred figured out that they must have known each other from sometime prior. But that wasn’t what his mind had stuck on, he knew that Alfred often spent weekends in New York when he was first taken in by Bruce.

Matt had called Alfred, Freddie!

It takes a while for them to stop talking to each other and to recognise Dicks presence in the room with them, then Matt tries to explain while Alfred abruptly leaves the room in the direction of his own rooms.

“He came to watch the fights at Fogwell’s, especially when my dad was fight. When I was four I guess, I had some trouble distinguishing Alfred and Albert, another regular, and they ended up being Freddie and Bertie to those around me. I was apparently hard to argue with when I was a kid. (Dick had to laugh a bit at the thought of little Matt arguing like the lawyer he is in the present, Alfred didn’t stand a chance)
Freddie was the one that found me and dad in that ally way, he was the one that called the police and stayed with me until they took me away and into the system.”

Well, that was a surprising turn for Dick and as he was thinking about it, Alfred returned with an old photo album that he must have kept with his personal possessions.

“Matt, I have a few photos from before your accident do you mind if I let dick look at them. We will make sure to describe them out to you.” Alfred made sure to tell Matt what he had been doing and also asked permission before he opened the album. Dick noticed that Alfred seemed to have experience with describing things to Matt.

The food was almost forgotten about as they went through the photos that Alfred had that contained baby Matt. It surprised Dick that Matt didn’t look like his dad much, his hair was lighter, redder, than his Dad’s dark brown.

It felt strange for Matt to look at baby Matt, especially his eyes, especially since he knew what they looked like now.

***

Jason was running late and almost everyone was blowing up his phone when he was driving. He could assume that Dick had arrived with Matt and the rest were waiting for him to show up.

As soon as he parked and was walking to the front door, he was looking through the texts. It was like he had suspected, everyone was waiting for him to arrive before they broke up the conversation that had been taking place with Alfred. Apparently, Tim had accessed the security cameras in the kitchen and they think that Alfred and Dick were telling Matt about some of younger Dick’s actions, such as the times he had climbed onto the chandelier in the entrance of the Manor.

He made his way to the kitchen to see how things were getting on and he was surprised with what he had found.

The burners underneath the food had been turned off and they were all talking about photos and boxing memorabilia that had been places on the counter. He could see that the photos were Alfred’s since he was in some of them, but that he looked a lot younger in them.

Jason approached them without announcing himself and realised that Dick and Alfred were describing the photos to Matt, who he gathered was apparently in them.

“Alfred, I see you’ve met Matt… I didn’t realise that family dinner was happening later than normal today. Usually you have called us to be at the table at this point, I was running late and everything.” Jason was speaking to Alfred, since he had never seen the man pause his cooking before and get distracted with something.

But it was Matt who answered “Sorry, Freddie was just describing some old photos that he had and showing Dick what my dad looked like.”

Jason stopped, Freddie? There was no way that the Alfred he knew would allow someone to call him that.

“Freddie?”

“You try arguing with a four year old would be lawyer. You lose before you start to defend yourself. Only Matt has the permission to call me it, so don’t be getting any ideas.” Alfred quickly told him in a stern voice and didn’t leave any room for Jason to try to follow in Matt’s footsteps.

“So… you know Matt?”

“Before Master Bruce decided to help out Richard, I had rather a lot of free time after dealing with matters of the house. It was common for me to travel to New York to see old friends and to go to boxing matches, Matt’s father trained in my friend’s gym. Matt was around often. After he passed, my responsibilities grew with Richard’s presence and I found things to occupy my time. I still have my regular calls with Albert and he had kept me updated with any news related to the boy that he came across. He was even in the news with some cases through the years.”

Jason realised that Alfred’s life would have changed drastically when Bruce began bringing children home, but he didn’t sound resentful about the change to his life. In fact he sounded sad when he was talking about the before. Jason assumed that he was probably bored and lonely when Bruce was beginning his fight.

Jason helped himself to the photos to see the Younger version of Matt and it startled him for a second when he noticed that Matt wasn’t wearing glasses or anything like that, that these were taken before the accident.

“If you wouldn’t mind telling the others, Dinner will be served in ten minutes” Alfred had returned to his cooking while Jason was snooping.

Jason left and did as he was told, assuming that Dick would guide Matt through to the dining room when they were finished with what they were doing, it seemed like they were talking about a newspaper clipping that was held within Alfred’s photo album.

***

Jason corralled everyone and briefed them that Alfred knew Matt, from ages ago and that Matt calls him Freddie and isn’t told off. He also informed them that he had already been warned against calling him that.

Stephanie, Duke and Cass were looking forward to finally meeting him. Especially after hearing that he had been approved by both Barbara and Alfred so easily.

Steph had tried to give Dick his privacy, since they had all learnt so much about him against his will when he had come back from spiral, but even she had seen such an improvement in how he held himself since meeting Matt. She wanted to meet the man responsible for it and thank him for saving someone so close to her. She had been worried about him, worried that he might not ever come back to them after what he had been through. It was going to be interesting.

Duke had never known Dick before he had gone to spiral and had everything happen to him with Blockbuster, he had shown up after Dick had distanced himself from the family. He had observed how he had changed first meeting him, it was as if the weight on his shoulders had been slowly lifted. He didn’t know if it was only Matt’s influence, but it seemed as if everyone had attributed Dicks improvement to meeting Matt. He was just happy that he was included in this family dinner, he had never seen Alfred take control like this when Bruce was away. He also couldn’t think of a time that someone was told to bring their other half to the dinner either.

Cassandra didn’t really know why everyone was making a big deal of this. This paramour of
Dick’s had passed initial tests of Jason, Tim and Damian when they had first met him, even without knowing of his existence when they showed up in the middle of the night and in need of assistance. They trusted him enough to go near them with a needle and give them stitches that they have since talked about as being perfect. Matt had looked after them, like he looks after Dick.

Tim was interested to meet Matt without a migraine being present, he wasn’t in the right condition to observe the last time. He remembered how the couple helped them out, but wanted them to leave as soon as they could, it wasn’t unreasonable of them since they had landed at the apartment in the middle of the night and they had been sleeping. He wanted to get to know Matt better.

Damian knew that he needed to form a closer relationship with Matthew to ensure that he didn’t grow distant with his baba. He needed to find way to form some form of a relationship with the man for that to happen. He needed to be likeable for that to happen and so was preparing himself to be on his best behaviour and not to rise to anything that might cause his temper to surface.

Jason just wanted this to go well, he didn’t want to scare Matt away from Dick because of the crazy family.

***

Matt was sitting at the table talking to Alfred who was placing dishes of food on the table before the rest of them arrived, when he asked if Alfred was going to eat with them. This had surprised him, but Alfred had been intending to eat in the kitchen like he always did. He ended up placing another plate setting when Matt questioned him about it, he could tell that Matt wouldn’t let it go if he didn’t give in. He had grown up, but he hadn’t really changed.

When Jason entered the dining room it was unexpected that there were 3 seats already filled, Matt was sitting with Dick on his right and Alfred on his left. He had only seen Alfred join them at this table on birthdays and holidays such as Christmas. They had all told him t one point or another to sit and eat with him but he always kept that professional boundary in place.

It spoke volumes that Alfred had agreed to sit with them to talk with Matt.

***

Once they had all sat down, Tim took it onto himself to introduce everyone and to describe where they were sitting to Matt. He had assumed that Dick had gave him an overview of everyone before they arrived at the manor today, otherwise it would be like leading someone wrapped in bacon to a pack or rabid dogs. It was after that, that Dick decided to introduce Matt to them.

They began helping themselves to the food as soon as Alfred indicated to start. They watched as Dick made up a plate for Matt, describing each of the food and letting Matt decide if he wanted it or not.

“Dick, give him a bigger portion of those potatoes. You are being stingy and they won’t be there if he asks for more later.” Steph noticed the portions that Matt was being given and felt that if she didn’t speak up, there may be disappointment in the future.

“Are you giving me smaller portions so you will get more for yourself. I cant believe this, taking advantage of the blind guy.” Matt put his hand on his heart, like he was really hurt. “Thank you, Stephanie, for telling me about it.”

“I will ensure that you will be given generous portions.” Damian snatched the server from Dick’s hand and began giving Matt bigger portions of the food that he had told Dick that he would like when he had been asked previously. He got thanked for this and it made him smile that the food he provided Matt was accepted.

Duke had been quiet, the bigger personalities had been speaking as they put food on their plates (and had a brief silent fight over the remaining potatoes without speaking to ensure Matt didn’t know what was going on). Duke had noticed that Alfred seemed to have been whispering to Matt as the fight occurred but it seemed that the others didn’t notice that Matt had been laughing silently as the fight had gone on, well expect Cass who notices everything.

“Did you always know that you wanted to be a lawyer, Matt?” Duke had been given it a lot of though recently and it was on his list of potential jobs that he would like to do in the future, it seemed like the perfect time to get some first-hand knowledge of it.

Matt seemed to think about his answer before speaking. “My dad always prioritised my school work, when I was younger, he wanted me to be able to do things with my life that he couldn’t. After my accident it seemed like a more logical route than going into medicine.” That answer got a lot of laughs, but it reminded everyone that Matt had similar childhoods to everyone sitting at the table.

“I always suspected that he would be. Murdock’s are fighters and his dad was adamant that he wouldn’t ever be in a ring like him. He was already a proficient verbal fighter when he was a child.” Alfred gave his thoughts to the conversation.

“If you are thinking of taking this route, I think my partner may have some study books that would be helpful for you to get an understanding of what law school is like. I don’t think mine would be of help to you.”

“That would be very helpful. I never thought I could go to collage before being adopted by Mr Wayne, so I hadn’t thought about my future that way before. I’m trying to make some decisions about what I would study and that would help a lot.” Duke was glad that he was being helpful about this, the older members of the family weren’t much help when it came to collage choices since Dick hadn’t gone, Jason died and Tim was planning to study Business next year.

“If you want something that could really help, I would recommend for your language choice to put something you would like to learn. I chose Spanish because I thought it could help me but I do know others who chose others because of a crush who was also taking that class.” Matt’s answer made Dick think for a second.

“Foggy?”

“Yes”

“Cass has a question. What’s a Foggy?” Dick translated Cass’s question for Matt with a bit of humour in his voice.

“Foggy is a nickname for my law partner and best friend, his real name is Franklin Nelson. We were roommates in law school.” That answer was sufficient for her.

The dinner continued very civilly, considering how these things usually turn into shouting matches between people. There was some bickering that quickly stopped before anyone brought up anything that could be tied to their vigilante life. It was a more relaxed environment compared to how it would be if Bruce had been present and everyone had noticed how nice it was to sit around and talk with out fights being started.

***

After dinner Matt and Alfred went into the kitchen again to talk more while Dick had some conversations with his siblings. It had been a while since he had time to sit down with them and really talk to them about their schoolwork and any worries that they had.

After going into the living room that they usually hung out in, Dick made sure to praise Damian with his actions and attitude with Matt. He had been so polite and nice to Matt, Dick couldn’t let that go unnoticed. It was such an improvement for Damian, Dick was so proud of him, even if it just was for Matt. Damian had tried, and Dick knew that he had done it for him.

Dick then had a conversation with Duke about what he had brought up at the table, that he had been looking at college courses. Dick wanted him to know that he would support him with whatever he chose to study, that he would have his back and help him however he could.

Cass had a few questions for him, just to make sure that she was reading the situation properly. She had asked about if he felt better and he had told her that he did. She had told him that it was good that he was happy, that he looked more freer than she had ever seen him.

Steph had accepted Matt as soon as he started to make jokes about being blind. She wanted to come visit Dick in Bludhavan at some point to meet with him again. Dick already knew that he wouldn’t get much say in it, but that she would just arrive at his apartment some night that she was free with the intention of meeting Matt there. Fate and luck would decide how that night would end up.

Tim had noticed that Matt wasn’t too overwhelmed with the dinner, like he thought he might have been, and had mentioned it to Dick. Dick had quickly reminded him that Matt was raised in an orphanage that had many more children at the dinner table than at the Wayne residence. Tim hadn’t thought of that and how it could have affected a blind person, that he would have been accustomed to loud places because of where he had been brought up. It gave him more to think about, but he couldn’t find a way to get close to Matt. They such different backgrounds and lives, he couldn’t think of anything to talk to him about other than Dick and work.

Jason had learnt a lot over the dinner after observing how Matt interacted with his family members and how he had answered their questions. He was glad to see that Dick had made friends with Matt’s friends, like he was branching out with normal people with no connection to their jobs at all. It was comforting almost that Dick was building a support system that wouldn’t always side with Matt. There had been a story told at the dinner table about a time that Foggy had taken Dick to see a musical when his girlfriend had been too busy with work. Dick had been his second choice over Matt and Karen. Dick said that Foggy thought he would appreciate it better. Dick mentioned that Foggy had made sure that Matt was treating him well, that if he was being an asshole to tell Foggy because Matt may be blind but that doesn’t mean that he couldn’t be an asshole sometimes.

Jason was happy to know that there were others that Dick could turn to during hard times, those that actually cared about him from what he could tell.

***

Alfred had asked for Matt to join him for a cup of tea after the dinner because he was reminded of things that had happened after his accident, things that were continuing to happen.

He had focused in the direction of Miss Cassandra when she had been signing her question to Dick and it reminded him of what Jack had said, that the world was too loud for Matt after the accident. It was the main reason why the boy hadn’t attended much of the matches after the accident, well until that last one.

“There is a vigilante in Hell’s Kitchen, isn’t there?”

“Yes, he showed up a while back and has contacted my office sometimes to pass on information about some things that happen when people need help.” Matt had been careful with his words, like he hadn’t expected being asked about it.

“Doesn’t he go by the name of the Devil. Isn’t it a strange coincidence that your dad used to say that Murdock’s are born fighters. That his mother said that they were all born with the Devil in them?” Alfred had to be vague with his connection, but show that he had made it.

Matt hung his head and took a few minutes to gather how to tell Freddie.

“I just hear so much. I couldn’t take it anymore being a witness to evil things happening around me. It started because I had called the police so many times and they did nothing to help. There was a man across the road from me who would go into his daughters room every night. I needed to do something and when I noticed that it was making a difference, I couldn’t stop because it helps people.”

“Son, are you being safe?”

“I had a nurse that used to patch me up and I got a proper suit made. Then I found like-minded people, they call us the defenders. If we need help, we call each other for help.”

“I can’t tell you not to do it, I assume you are aware of what this family is?”

“I wouldn’t say that I know anything, other than the fact I can tell there is a massive space under this mansion that I can tell holds multiple suits similar to mine and that before I met Dick, the Devil met Nightwing. I know the reason for secrecy…”

“I know where your heart is, I am not even going to talk to you about secret identities and their importance.”

“I didn’t even take the name of the Devil myself, it was in the papers and I just fed into it.”

Matt and Alfred continued to talk about how he had learnt to fight, about Stick and Electra. When Alfred got angry after hearing that he began training almost instantly after going to the orphanage by was calmed down when he had heard that they were both dead. He was glad to hear that Matt had people that he could go to when he was hurt and that his local hospital has helped him without asking questions. It was telling to how he had impacted the community around him if they were willing to help him when he needed it.

***

When Dick was driving them back home to his apartment in Bludhavan, Matt decided to tell him that Alfred knew about his other identity. That he had connected things about what his dad had said about their family and that there was now a Devil roaming the night.

Matt had been assured that Alfred wouldn’t tell Bruce or the rest of the family about it because of how important he knew a secret identity was.

Chapter Text

Roy had heard about Dick’s new boyfriend from Jason the last time they had met for dinner and was interested. He had grown apart from Dick as they grew up, both of them had dealt with things and hadn’t been the nicest to each other as they tried to deal with it.

Roy had gotten himself clean after Lain had come into his life and she was his world now. Having a clear head now also let him dwell on all of the mistakes that he had made with his friendship with Dick. The most obvious was drawing his own conclusion about Mirage and Kori, not thinking about what had actually happened to him during all of that. It was one of his greatest regrets along with how he and Jason treated him after he came back from spiral before he had that breakdown and told them what had actually happened to cause his ‘death’.

He still hadn’t seen Bruce after hearing about it, he didn’t trust himself not to punch him yet.

But he wanted to meet this new boyfriend, try to mend the burnt out bridge that was their friendship. Jason had told him all about how he had gotten better, more stable after meeting this Matt guy and he wanted to see if for himself.

He picked up the phone and reached out, hoping that his text would be answered.

***

Dick had been relaxing on Matt’s bed watching a cartoon on the laptop he brings with him to watch tv on because the tv in the apartment had such a limited number of channels and he could never find anything to watch that interested him on it. It was good for watching the vhs movie collection Matt had in his cupboard, but not for anything much else.

He glanced at his phone to check the time, he was waiting for Matt to get home from a court day and had let himself into the apartment to wait after his last class had finished for the day.

There was a text notification sitting on his screen and he slid down to see who it was from, thinking it would be from either one of his siblings or from someone from the law firm to inform him if there was a change in schedule (sometimes Matt would get Foggy or Karen to text him if they were going to be a bit later than expected).

It was Roy.

“Hey man, I was talking to Jason and he told me that you have someone in your life now who seems to be helping you. I really hate how things happened between us and was wondering if we could meet up and try to talk it out a bit. You could come meet Lain and I can meet this special person of yours.”

He hadn’t spoken to the man in a long time, it never seemed to be the right time when they met and someone ended up getting hurt.

But it seemed like the man was telling him that he was stable enough and to talk like adults, that it was up to him to decide whether they should or not.

Dick was tasked to ask himself the question “Was he healed enough to have a conversation with Roy?” and the answer was complicated once he thought about it. He seemed to be coping well for the most part, but sometimes he didn’t feel as steady as he had been and reached out to either Matt or Damian, Jason if the other two were at work or school.

He would feel more comfortable meeting with Roy with any of them present but would be most comfortable with Matt’s presence since Dick could almost predict the topics of conversation. Roy also seemed to want to meet Matt and make up his own mind about him, Dick could just tell that he wouldn’t buy their story about their first time meeting. He was always bad at lying to Roy and let the man draw his own conclusions out of limited information shared. It was one of the reasons they drifted so far apart.

If he and Matt were to meet with Roy, they would have to tell him Matt’s secret or Dick would lose him forever if he found out later through some other means.

Dick needed to talk to Matt about it when he got home before he answered Roy, because it would ultimately be his decision about what will be done. Dick wouldn’t force anyone to reveal their identity against their will.

Not wanting to even think about the conversation that he would have to have with Matt and the decision that he would have to make to try to reconcile with one of his oldest friends. Dick put his laptop away and curled up underneath the covers, wishing that the world would stop and let him live for a while in a bubble without anyone interfering.

***

Matt could tell that something was wrong before he made it to his apartment building. He could tell that Dick was in bed, but he didn’t hear anything that he had been expecting. There was no noise that he had been expecting such as typing or a show playing, nothing. When he got to the door, he was able to tell that his boyfriend was curled up in the bed with his heart beating far too fast.

Matt could tell that Dick was anxious and something must have happened when he was at work, he had sounded alright that morning when they talked on the phone. So something must have happened at when he was at work or even after that.

He didn’t waste any more time and entered his apartment, going straight for the lump of blankets on the bed that he knew his boyfriend was encapsulated in.

“What happened?” he asked carefully, it wasn’t often that Dick felt like this. But they had found that it really helped him to talk everything out and then likes to get Matt’s input afterwards. Almost like getting another frame of reference outside of his own mind.

There was a bit of squirming under the blankets to get his head out and then Dick began talking.

“Roy texted. He wants to meet up with me to talk but he also wants to meet you because Jason told him that I met someone. I want to meet with him and talk to him but if we lie to him about how we met, he would never forgive me for lying to him again. I don’t want to force you to tell your identity or ability to anyone, but I feel like I should meet with him. We have a lot to work out and I also want to see Lain. I haven’t seen her since she was a baby and I feel like I have missed so much of her life.”

Matt listened, they had talked about Roy before and everything that had happened between them. The misunderstandings and Roy’s addiction along with Dick keeping everyone at an arm’s length while he was leading young justice. Dick hadn’t been opening up to anyone.

“If we tell him, are we sure that he won’t tell Jason? I mean I want to tell your family eventually but I think we could have some fun with it before that happens”

This causes Dick to stop for a second, Matt was telling him that he would be okay with it. Matt would do that for him? To tell a stranger to him about his identity because of him.

“You would do that for me?” Dick asks, he hadn’t ever thought that Matt would willingly give that information away.

“It’s important for you and he will find out eventually. If you feel like Roy needs the truth to repair things between you two, I don’t see the point of lying to him if we want to prevent a falling out in the future.”

Matt joined him under the covers, holding him as he typed out a response to Roy’s text. “I would love it if you and Lain could meet Matt. Just pick a night and we will come over, think we have a lot to discuss.”

***

Roy was freaking out, he was trying to make sure the apartment was clean and everything was tidy for Dick coming with his boyfriend. He didn’t want to be judged by the state of his house, from what Jason had told him, this guy, Matt, would be around for a long time. Apparently, all the kids had accepted him, Babs had given him access to use the zeta tubes, and he seemed to be an old friend of Alfred.

Roy was apprehensive about meeting the guy that seems to have won everyone over. It was rare that that happens, and he wasn’t sure about what it meant. The two conclusions that he had drawn from it, was that either this Matt guy was the best person for Dick to be with and he had been accepted by everyone, or that he had compelled them to accept his closeness to Dick. That he might be attempting to get to the Wayne fortune, or found a weak spot to get him access to the league. He couldn’t be too careful, he didn’t want anything else to happen to Dick.

***

When he heard a knock at the door, he had been drawn to helping Lain with her colouring-in, the expensive set of crayons that Oliver had gave her for her last birthday were being put to use in a colouring book she had been given by the nice lady in their local shop that wanted to give her something on a day she was upset (she had been told no to getting a new tub of ice-cream because Roy knew that there was a half-eaten tub in the freezer) She got spoiled by everyone who knew her.

He opened the door and was hugged immediately with arms he hadn’t felt for years. It was only after a few moments the arms were gone and he realised the other person standing beside his old friend, a man in a hoodie and jeans with sunglasses (sunglasses inside, dickhead) on his face and his hands in his pockets. He ignored Roy’s hand when he put it out for a handshake.

Dick pulled the man with him as Roy stood back, letting them enter his apartment. “Matt this is Roy, he is basically like my oldest friend. Bruce and his guardian Oliver have been friends since they were teens.”

“Nice to meet you” He held out his hand for Roy to shake and all Roy could think of was how rude he had been to ignore his hand earlier in the doorway.

“Lain is colouring, you could help her while I have a much needed talk with dick for a few minutes.” He wasn’t going to let this random man alone with his daughter, but he needed to have a talk with dick. He would be able to see them from the kitchen if he stood against the fridge.

“I don’t know how much help I will be.” The man, Matt, chuckled a bit and motioned up to his sunglasses.

“If you take them off, I’m sure you will be able to help her out with her colours. That all she needs help with.” The man was wearing red glasses, Lain was learning her colours. Surely he could help her with that while he talked to Dick.

The man only laughs at this, and he didn’t see Dick but he definitely felt the slap he just got to the back of his head. “He’s blind, idiot. Didn’t you say that you spoke to Jay?”

… Well that made sense, why he didn’t shake his hand in the doorway and why he was wearing the glasses. Matt was still laughing when Roy realised that Jay had set him up.

“I think I got set up” He admitted “Jay just mentioned you were in a relationship that seemed good for you, he didn’t tell me anything about this.”

“I know you didn’t mean anything by it, just that you want the best for Dick. I know your heart is in the right place, you two go and talk and I’m sure I can help lain if she describes the colours to me. I’m sure I still remember them” Matt didn’t want this to blow up into a situation where they would both go back to hating what they said. He wanted this to work and he would just have to figure it out. “Dicks even going to tell some things about me that not even Jason knows yet. We thought it was best that you got the full story.”

Dick pulled him into the kitchen as he head his daughter describe one of the crayons as the colour of grass.

“Matts good for me, saved me when I wasn’t right in the head and before I was going to make a really bad decision.” This made all of Roy’s thoughts go silent and then the implications started to flow through his head, all of the possibilities.

“It was just after I got back from spiral, I wasn’t doing well and the kids were mad at me for leaving them. I wasn’t thinking right and then I found out that Slade would be in New York for a few days. I wanted to kill him or wanted him to kill me. I wasn’t thinking right, but I thought he could help me.” Roy had to make himself busy, he didn’t want to interrupt Dick when he wanted to tell him something, so he started making them tea.

“Slade wasn’t on a contract or anything, just meeting up with a guy he served with. Frank Castle, the punisher.” This made Roy stop. Dick was out of his mind and going to go into a room with two of the deadliest people in the world.

“He was Matt’s client once and is in a relationship with his secretary. Karen was a bit upset that Frank was in town and didn’t come see her. So Matt sought him out to help out his friend”

“But he is blind.” Roy couldn’t understand why a blind guy would stand up to the punisher because his friend was upset, people have died for less.

“He can’t physically see but that doesn’t stop him when he wants to do anything. He stopped me from doing something stupid and took me out of the situation after stealing a few of their beers and they we sat on a roof, talking about our lives.”

“Why would you take a blind guy to a roof?” Roy was starting to believe that there must be more to the story. Nobody in their right mind would take a random blind guy to the roof to talk, even if Dick hadn’t been in his right mind at that time.

“He took me there, and I didn’t know that he was blind yet. I learnt that the next morning.”

“You didn’t know he was blind?” Roy couldn’t understand how someone could miss that.

“That night, it was just Nightwing and Daredevil talking. We didn’t know about Dick Grayson and Matt Murdock yet” Matt had moved from the living room and landed that bomb before enquiring on the colour of the crayon he was holding, it was orange and he left to tell Lain after being told that.

“Daredevil… but Matt’s blind”

“Yes, completely.” Dick nods, speaking slowly as if he knows Roy isn’t following.

“He lets me talk, and listens to me. He knows about the situation with Mirage and other things like that.” Thay was like a stake through his heart, Roy had only fully understood that situation a few years ago when he had heard something on the news about a woman bringing charges against her husband’s twin. That it wasn’t consent if you didn’t know who you were sleeping with. That alone had caused him to relapse, he didn’t know how to process it.

“That was what I wanted to talk to you about. I understand that situation now and I am so sorry about all that happened back then. You were a victim and we didn’t listen to you. I relapsed after realising because I couldn’t handle all I had said to you and then you died before I got clean. I needed to talk to you when we both were able to.” Roy stopped and realised what Dick had said. “Others, there were others?”

“Yes” That broke his heart, that he knew that Dick had probably suffered without telling anyone about it. “We both had things going on in our lives, struggling with things that we didn’t let anyone else know about. We shouldn’t blame each other for not knowing. I am trying not to hold myself to that impossible standard anymore.”

That was reassuring to hear, that Dick wasn’t going to hold the weight of the world alone anymore.

They were standing, holding their tea in silence. The air had become heavy and Roy could tell that Dick didn’t want to talk about Mirage or the others. After a few minutes of silence, Roy had a question.

“How can Matt be Daredevil?”

“He told me I could tell you, to make sure you got the full story. I didn’t want to lie to you again when we are trying to talk again. He got chemicals in his eyes when he was a kid, saving some old man in the street. Woke up and he could hear everything. A year later or something he got training by another blind guy, like training Damian and Cass got. He didn’t want to kill, so he left and when he was older he decided he had heard enough of people getting hurt and nobody doing anything to protect them.”

“But the Justice League helps people” Roy wasn’t going to even ask about his training, Dick had implied that he had been trained like a child soldier and that was enough for him.

“Not the type of people he helps.” They both knew that the Justice League all dealt with high level threats. “He works like how the Bat started off, rapists thieves and murderers for the most part.”

That made Roy laugh and when he could get his voice back all he said was “Daddy issues”. An ongoing joke he had with the titans. This causes Dick to giggle a bit too, the reference back to a shared joke that they had had as children.

“But like really, how good is his hearing?” Roy was curious.

Dick just shrugged before he answered like he didn’t know too well either. “He could probably hear us if we were having this conversation a block over if he wasn’t trying, like five is he was trying to listen I guess”

Wow, if that was a guess on his abilities it would be awful to hear an entire block’s worth of going-ons. No wonder he started taking matters into his hands eventually.

“He can hear when people are lying, hear their heart beats, I know that much. He can’t turn it off either, it’s just the way his ears work.” Dick went on, trying to explain Matt’s abilities but he didn’t know much about them, just that he could hear a lot. Like he could hear any injured Dick had even if he was trying to hide them from him.

***

They stood there talking over things that had happened through the years as their tea grew cold in their hands. Roy knew that Matt must have been able to hear them but if Dick didn’t mind him hearing everything, he didn’t either.

Eventually they made their way back to the living room to see how well the colouring in had been going, the answer in short was the colouring was a disaster. The skies of the picture were purple and trees were bright red. It looked good, she had stayed within the lines so he assumed that it must have been the artists choice.

Dick joined her on the floor to do some colouring, with his back to Matt as he explained the picture he was colouring in. It was a simple thing, but Roy could tell that it probably meant a lot more to them, that Dick didn’t forget that Matt was blind even if he knew about his abilities.

It was almost homely the way that they interacted, and then a crayon nearly rolled off of the table when Lain was looking for another colour. Before it had even fallen, Matt caught it with a smirk directed towards Roy.

“Hey! You ignored my had earlier! You knew it was there!” Roy remembered, he had been had and completely forgot about it.

It was like Matt and Daredevil didn’t exist in the same space in his brain, like they were separate entities and Matt used that to his advantage.

The room was filled with Dicks laugh and Roy could tell that it was a noise that he hadn’t heard in many years. That carefree laugh that he had missed, Matt had returned it.