seven, "paradise"
Richard led them up a flight of stairs, to what looked to be an informal living room. Bean bag chairs and blankets littered the floor, an XBox hooked up to a big flatscreen TV on the wall. 'Apex' was on, seemingly waiting for a match to start. Bookshelves lined the walls, filled with every book Richard and Tim liked to read. Bruce Wayne and three young boys stood in the room.
"I must be out soon, so let's do this quickly, shall we?" Bruce smiled, pulling Tim out of his seat where he was reading. Tim frowned, using a bookmark to mark his page and placing his book down on one of the bean bags.
"These are my brothers," Richard announced, rolling his eyes.
The tallest, almost as tall as Wally was, rolled his eyes back, wearing a red tee and black jeans. He looked around 13 years old, though his presence was much older. His hair was shorter than Richard's, a white stripe at the front. "S'up."
"That's Jason. I'm Timmy!" The smaller boy leaped, smiling. He had black hair as well, wearing a tattered 'Gotham Gymnastics - Grayson' hoodie and blue pants. He looked about 10.
The littlest boy growled like a dog, making M'gann jump. He looked similar to Bruce, the same hair and jawline. He wore a dark green long sleeve and grey pants, looking to be around 8. "I'm Damian, and this-"
A small black cat crawled up to him, laying beside his feet. "-Is Marsupial."
"Well, we call her Marcie," Timmy smirked. "Dami got to name her."
"Marsupial?" Artemis tried to cover her laughs by coughing. "What kind of kid names their cat after a class of animal?" She whispered to her teammates.
Connor and M'gann laughed with her, but Kaldur just shrugged, and Wally added an ominous. "He's not like other eight year-olds. Trust me."
Artemis raised her eyebrow at that remark, earning a laugh from Wally. Bruce anxiously checked his watch, making eye contact with Richard. "Well," He coughed into a handkerchief, "I must be going. Business calls."
He picked up his briefcase, hugging all his sons, though everyone but Timmy resisted the gesture. He hugged Wally as well, whispering in his ear. "Keep them safe. I trust you," Before thanking the team and leaving.
Connor shrugged to himself at the whisper, being the only one capable of hearing it. What did Bruce think would happen to them? "Come on, Con." M'gann pulled his arm, as he realized everyone was leaving the room.
-
Until arms grasped around him.
He blinked, in shock. What had just happened? Was he dead? In heaven? In Hell?
He assumed that this wasn't the case as he was set down onto the uncomfortable ground. He swallowed thickly and glanced around him, finally realizing what must have happened.
Superman stood a few feet away, anxiously talking on the phone, a scared look on his face. They were back on the rooftop, which meant he had failed. Again.
He got up, stepping onto the ledge, his toes dangling off the roof. He wouldn't fail ever again.
-
Artemis fidgeted, looking bored. Connor and M'gann were playing with Timmy and Damian, and Kaldur and Jason were talking about the many different swords Wayne Manor had on display. Richard sat on the couch doing homework, whilst Wally played with his hair and bugged him.
"I swear to fucking god, Wally. If you don't let me do this fucking algebra I won't hesitate to kill you," Richard hissed, Wally just laughing and pulling the boy into his chest.
"Do it laterrrrr. It's not like you're going to school while we're here," The redhead argued, grabbing the textbook and taking a look at Richard's maths. "N=4.6 anyway."
"I can't do it later, just because I'm not going to school this week doesn't mean I don't have to do the work." He rolled his eyes, finishing up the question to get N = 4.6. "What the fuck? How did you even solve that so quickly?"
"I'm a mathematician, babe."
Richard snickered, grabbing his textbook back and checking the other page, where, sure enough, someone had written the answer in pen. "You must be some sort of all-seeing mathematician, huh?"
Richard pointed at the answer, making them both laugh. "Of course. But a magician never reveals his secrets." They both cracked up at this too, ending up with Richard putting all his maths work on the coffee table and standing up.
"I'm starving," He stated, leaving the room.
Wally and Artemis just looked at eachother before both laughing, following behind.
