Bruce had originally planned to spend the entire afternoon with Nico and his family. He was curious, Nico was a nice boy and he wanted to meet whatever family he had left. Yes, they didn't file out a missing person's report, but maybe they were in a position in which they couldn't just go to the police. Maybe they had been looking for Nico in their own ways, who could know.

Normally Bruce judged people and situations fast, he had to as Batman and it came in Handy as Bruce Wayne, but this time he tried to keep an open mind.

The actions of Nico's family did not leave a good first impression with Bruce, but there were good possible explanations for everything they did or didn't do, and he was certain they could reach a common ground of some kind.

It had started good enough.

Nico had apparently really missed his uncle. Bruce let them have their moment, then he introduced himself. Nico already headed to their table and Bruce could see a couple sitting there, probably waiting for him and Nico.

Luckily for Bruce, Chris Brunner was great at small talk, so much so that he didn't need to say much at all on their way over to the table.

When he recognised people he had investigated on his own as well as with the Justice League as the people sitting at the table with Nico, he began to feel sceptical. When he saw how at ease and clam Nico was around Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson, he changed his mind entirely. He wanted to trust Nico di Angelo, he really did, but he had only really known the boy for a couple of days and having Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson as people he felt comfortable around with spoke for itself.

Bruce was only half paying attention to what everyone was saying, his mind racing to the many reasons why Nico could be affiliated with these people, why he would call them his family. Maybe he was in over his head and didn't realise what danger he was in. The tone of their voices and their body language at least gave away that they hadn't seen Nico in quite some time, maybe he didn't even know of their borderline villainous activities.

"Bruce, I see you just met Chris, now allow me to introduce you to Percy, my cousin, and Annabeth, his Girlfriend", Nico said with a smile on his face, but Bruce could tell that something was off.

One clear thought formed through all the chaos that was in Bruce's head: Get Nico out of here.

If Nico was in on it, working with them and all of that, then maybe limiting the contact he had to these dangerous people would limit the influence they had over him. And if he was too far gone then he could recognise that faster if Nico lived in the Mannor with him.

He did what anyone in his position would do: send a text to Oracle.

Batman: I need all the information you can get me on Chris Brunner ASAP.

Oracle: Y

Oracle: Who is that

Batman: He is affiliated with Nico, I'll explain later, but hurry up!

Batman: If you need a picture of him hack into the security cameras of the café I'm at.

Oracle: kk

Oracle: I'll see what I can do

Bruce had another idea, it wasn't the most ethical thing a man in his position could, so tried to be as discreet as possible when placing the tiny microphones all around their table. He still thought he must seem off somehow to people who knew him, perhaps more fidgety than usual, or perhaps just plain old weird. But nobody at the table knew really knew him, and he was sure he had gotten away with it when nobody commented on his behaviour.

While waiting for Oracle to text back he made some more small talk with everyone. He was good at talking about unimportant things, he did it all the time when he had to give an interview or talk to other rich people at events and galas.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally got a text back from Oracle:

Oracle: Chris Brunner runs a company called "Delphi Strawberries"; they produce fresh fruit near the Long Island coast. They distribute their fruits through all of the US, but most of it is sold in New York. As the company name suggests, their main focus is Strawberries, but they also produce fruits like Raspberries or Blueberries in smaller quantities.

Oracle: I couldn't find out where he was born, who his parents are or how old he is which is strange.

Batman: Agreed.

Oracle: But here comes the big news:

Oracle: His business uses child labour

Oracle: Allegedly that is but still

Oracle: He has been investigated by the local authorities a couple of years ago about that, it came to a court case but somehow all the charges were dropped.

Oracle: This is all I could find in this short time but I still hope this helps

Oracle: I can do a deeper dive if you want me to

Batman: More research would be great, but there is no rush. The part about the child labour will hopefully do the trick.

They slowly but surely ran out of things to say, and Bruce thought about a way to get Chiron to speak to him away from the rest of the group.

Bruce had decided that Nico didn't need to see him and Mr Brunner fighting, he had probably already seen enough adults in his life fight during his time on the streets and the time that lead up to that, and he didn't need to see his new and old legal guardian fight about him.

Plus, he wanted to get Chris Brunner as far away as Possible from Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, so that they couldn't back him up in any way.

He chose to just ask Mr Brunner directly about a private conversation.

"We still need to talk about custody, guardianship, child support and other legal things", he turned around to face Nico directly, "I'm sure it would just bore you guys, and besides I'm sure you have a lot of catching up to do."

He flashed his best Interview smile and then looked at Nico's Uncle, who promptly agreed.

Bruce initially didn't want to leave Nico with his supposed cousin, but he had already placed the microphones and if he wanted to know what their relationship looked like, he should leave. He would get the most authentic insight when they thought he couldn't hear them.

They sat down in another corner of the cafe, where Bruce still had a good view of Nico and the other two but definitely couldn't hear them.

"Okay, Mr Brunner, we both want what is best for Nico, right?"

"That is right. And what is best for him is his family and a safe place he can stay at."

"His family you say. You mean the people, you included by the way, who just stood by and watched as he became homeless when he was the ripe old age of 10? Or the people who didn't file a missing person's report after he just disappeared from your life one day? Or are you may be talking about the people who didn't visit him once while he was in the hospital for over 6 months?"

Bruce gave Mr Brunner a chance to speak, but when the latter didn't say anything, Bruce spoke up again.

"I think you can see why I am hesitant to leave Nico with you."

"I can see that, but I would hardly call Gotham City a safe place to live."

Bruce didn't like leaning into the whole rich asshole thing, but he had too sometimes.

"Maybe not for someone of... your economic status, but for me, Gotham is just as safe as New York or Long Island."

There was an expression of disbelief in Mr Brunner's face for just a second, but Bruce caught on to it and took it as conformation of the information Oracle has just given him.

"And besides, I think having my income not directly tied to crops as fragile as fruits is already reason enough to let Nico stay with me. Really, what I want to discuss is visitation."

Mr Brunner was good at hiding his panic from the average person, but Bruce Wayne wasn't your average person. He knew he had Nico's uncle backed into a corner.

"You're going to let Nico stay with me.", Mr. Brunner said.

"Have you not been listening? No, I will not."

Mr. Brunner snapped his fingers in front of Bruce's face and then waved his hand.

"You will walk out of this café and let Nico stay with me", he said with authority in his voice.

Bruce could feel an attack being made on his mind and memory, if felt similar to a psychic attack but still somehow significantly different. It was a different kind of difficult for Bruce to withstand the attack, but it was nothing he couldn't handle.

Bruce was glad that he went and accompanied Nico instead of someone else, as he had submitted himself to the most thorough anti-psychic training, and most people on his team where just trained by one psychic and not multiple. He wasn't even sure Dick would have been able to withstand that attack, and Dick's anti-psychic training had been the most intensive one out of all his proteges.

"Do you think snaping your fingers and waving your hand in front of my face is going to help you here?", he asked as calm and uninterested as possible.

Mr. Brunner's eyes went from confidently staring into Bruce's to looking down at the table somewhat insecure. Mr Brunner looked like he was trying to make a decision, then he looked back up at Bruce, snapped his fingers and said the same thing again.

"The answer is still no, I won't let Nico move back in with you. Also, can you please stop this," Bruce snapped his fingers in front of Mr. Brunner's face and then waved his hand, "I don't know why you're doing it, but it is very irritating."

Mr Brunner looked like he got caught doing something bad for just a moment, then he looked apologetic.

"Sorry, it's a cultural thing, I always forget that it's not a custom here in the US." Mr Brunner cleared his throat. "I just genuinely think Nico should stay with me full time because I am an important figure in our branch of Hellenistic Paganism and because I don't think Gotham is a safe place to live, regardless of your income."

"Full custody isn't an option for you. I understand that Nico should still get to practice his religion, but he is not going to stay with people who just let him become homeless and who wouldn't even file out a missing person's report. I personally also don't care for your opinion on Gotham or how safe you think staying there is. Nico can visit you for one weekend a month, that is my offer to you."

"You've got to see how important family is to Nico and-"

"So important that he asked to see you only after two whole weeks in the hospital and three days with me?"

"I get what you mean but I still-"

"If you have a problem with my offer we can always go to court, but they will have to check for your annual income and seeing how that is tied to your little business of selling fruits with 'Delphi Strawberries' I don't think the court is going to pick you over me. Especially seeing how Your business operates using unpaid child labour, with is a federal crime that gets hard punishments, especially for physical labour jobs like the ones you need for your harvest."

Bruce took a short break, so that Mr Brunner could grasp the whole reality of Bruce's words. Mr Brunner looked like he wanted to add something, like he wanted to defend himself, but he just didn't know how to.

"That's not entirely-"

"Look, I don't want you to hate me", Bruce cut him off, "I just want what is best for Nico, and I can see that you two care a lot about each other. You can have two weekends a month, but that is my final offer. Unless of course you have a valid explanation for all the things I just told you, or you do actually want to go to court."

Mr Brunner looked defeated, and Bruce felt a bit bad for him, until he remembered that Mr Brunner was somehow connected to Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson.

He took his phone out again to text, but this time he sent a message to the whole family:

Batman: Meeting in the Batcave in 1 hour. I want everyone present. It's about the new kid.

"Let's make our way over to the others and tell them what we agreed to, shall we?", Bruce asked and stood up before Mr Brunner had the chance to say something.

On his way over, he heard Annabeth Chase say: "It's like Percy said: if you want to live with him that's fine for now, we can't really stop you, but we do want you to be careful.", and that somehow made Bruce happy.

Yes, he was essentially ripping Nico away from his family, but at least he wasn't going against Nico's wishes and Nico wouldn't hate him for the 'agreement' Bruce and Mr. Brunner had made.

"Alright everyone we have come to an agreement about all of this. Nico will still spend the majority of his time with me and the rest of my family, but he can visit Mr. Brunner for two weekends out of the month. What do you say, Nico?"

Bruce could see that Nico hadn't expected this outcome.

"Er... sure. We can give that a try.", was not the answer Bruce had expected, but Nico didn't protest, which already was more than he initially had hoped for, so Bruce decided to leave it at that.

"Good", Bruce smiled," I have to go now, but I assume you want to stay here with you uncle to catch up?"

Bruce didn't like the idea of just leaving Nico with these people, but he had already called for the meeting and if Nico wasn't in the house, then Bruce didn't have to come up with excuses as to where everyone went.

Nico agreed, he gave him some money and then was on his way back to Gotham, to listen to what the three of them had talked about and to make a proper plan about how to treat Nico and his family. 

_____

I did end up making you wait longer fot this that I had planned, sorry, I hope you enjoyed it anyways. The next is already being written, but by now you should know what it's like when I promise new chapters soon. 

On the bright side, the Job I mentioned at the end of the last chapter is going well, perhaps a bit too well because it does keep me very busy. 

See you all in the comments or when I drop the next chapter, whenever that may be.