Chapter Text
Dick Grayson knew that nobody could protect him anymore. Not after his parents were murdered.
He had to protect himself.
At least, that was what he thought before Bruce Wayne took him in.
“You won’t be safe with me,” Dick warned. “Monsters chase me, and they might hurt you. Like they hurt daj and očuh.”
“We’ll fight those monsters together,” Bruce promised. He did not know yet that the monsters were not as human as he expected.
They were attacked on Dick’s first day outside of the manor, when Bruce tried to get him enrolled in Gotham Academy.
The second they stepped into the school, a large man’s face shot to them from where he was mid-conversation, his one eye glinting with hunger. The man hurried to meet them, almost bowling over the woman he was talking to in his rush.
“Hello, I’m the physical education teacher here at Gotham Academy.” His nostrils flared. “And who might you be?”
“Bruce Wayne,” Bruce introduced himself with a firm handshake. The man’s hands were larger than they seemed. As he maintained eye contact, he noticed the man was taller than he looked, too, and he only had one eye. In the center of his forehead.
“I’ll show you the way to the office, then,” the one-eyed man said. “This little one can wait with me while you get him enrolled.”
Bruce frowned. “No, I don’t think I will. We can find our way ourselves.” He took Dick’s hand and led him away.
After they’d gotten Dick enrolled and they were safely in the car, Bruce spoke up, “That man had one eye.”
“He was a jekjak. A one-eyed man. Usually, they try to get me alone so they can eat me.”
“The ones who don’t?”
“They’re sentient, so they usually just don’t talk to me. One time one gave me a gift!” Dick proudly displayed the knife that was gifted to him when a cyclops was impressed by their show.
“A knife.” Bruce eyed the blade warily.
“It’s celestial bronze. A bizodekibe wouldn’t be able to identify it.” The twelve-year-old eyed Bruce with a wariness that young eyes should never have. “So do you have dekibe? Or are you not human?”
“I have no idea wha— did you just try to stab me? ” his voice went uncharacteristically shrill in surprise that the knife a child tried to stab him with went right through him.
“Huh,” Dick concluded his experiment. “You're human. Cool.”
The car arrived at the ice cream store. “We will talk about this later.”
They did not talk about it later.
Bruce brought it up again after almost a month, right before the beginning of the school semester.
The cyclops had been fired from Gotham Academy. The two barely left the manor afterward, so they had no other monster encounters. Dick also found out he could use technology in the manor. It was as if the whole property was protected from the outside world via godly interference, but that would be ridiculous. What god would care about some rich guy’s manor?
“You implied you’re not human,” Bruce implicitly inquired over breakfast.
“I’m half human,” Dick answered, mouth half-filled with pancakes and syrup. Mostly syrup.
“Chew before you speak, please.” Bruce’s beleaguered dad voice began its path to perfection. It still had conviction at this point.
“Okay,” came the still-muffled reply. He finished chewing. “I’m half human. Half-god.”
Understanding filled Bruce’s eyes. “A demigod.”
“Ekvašdel,” Dick rolled the word on his tongue. “ Half -god. That’s what daj called me. She said my dad was del. Divine. And so was my ancestor.”
“Your očuh was a god.”
“No, he’s my, uh, step-dad? My daj married him, but he wasn’t my dad.”
“So your birth father was a god. And now his enemies want to eat you.”
“I guess?” Dick shrugged, taking a sip of milk.
“Your mom didn’t tell you why the cyclopes want to eat you?”
“Well, I can’t just ask, ‘Hey, Mr. Jekjak, why do you want to eat me?’ I think demigod just tastes nice. Besides, it’s not just jekjak that try to eat me. It’s also džučel kotar dženeti and, like, one time it was a chimera, I think.”
“And you always fought them off alone?”
“No, daj always saved me! And očuh did great trying to help!” The table shook as Dick repetitively kicked the underside.
“I see." Bruce's eyes turned serious. "I've found an organization, a summer camp, in New York. It helps demigods protect themselves."
"There are others? Like me?" Dick asked with wide eyes.
"So I've been told."
"YES!" The plates on the table shook with an especially strong kick. "I want to go! Please, Bruce, can I go?"
At the next kick, Bruce caught the child's leg in mid-air. "Don't break the table. Think about camp over the next school year, but yes. That's the plan."
"Yay! This is so exciting! Do you think I have brothers? Or a sister? I want a sister!"
"Maybe." Bruce smiled at his son's enthusiasm.