Demigod in Gotham

22) In Boca Al Lupo

A/N: This chapter has mentions of a panic attack. It's not super graphic but it is basically the entire chapter, so if you do not wish to read that, skip to the end and I'll write a summary.

-Jason POV-

Nico didn't show up for lunch. They wanted to check on him but Bruce said to give him time. They ate in silence, trapped in their minds, thinking about what Nico had said earlier.

Two wars.

Who lets a kid fight in two wars?

Jason stared at his food for a while, unable to eat. After twenty minutes of silence, he had enough and stood up from his seat, muttered that he wasn't hungry, and left. He wasn't going to go to Nico's room, wanting to respect his privacy, but as he passed he heard a thud. Jason hesitated in front of the door before knocking. He waited a few moments before knocking again. After repeated a few more times with no response, he cracked the door open and slowly stepped in. "Nico?" He called as he creeped in. He heard the shower running and knocked on the door. "Nico, you okay? I heard a thud." Jason kept knocking and calling through the door, but he didn't get a response. He silently cursed and opened the door, hesitantly peaking at the closed curtain of the shower. "Nico? If you don't respond I'm going to have to open the curtain and I don't think either of us want that." Jason listened at the curtain but didn't hear a response so he slid open the curtain. "Shit."

Jason immediately sprung into action at the sight of the fully clothed boy in the fetal position. He turned off the water and tried to get his attention, but the boy stayed catatonic. "Nico, I'm sorry, I know you don't like to be touched, but I have to you get you out of there."

Jason scooped up the boy, who fell limp in his arms, and set him on the rug in front of the shower. He propped him up against the wall and began trying to dry him off, but it was useless with the wet clothes. "Fuck, where is your phone?" Jason was mostly talking to himself because the boy was just muttering nonsense in Italian. Jason left the bathroom for a moment and found the boy's phone on his bed. He rushed back to the bathroom while calling Will.

"Hey Nico, what's up? How's it going with the Waynes?" A cheery voice said through the phone.

Jason wrapped a towel around the boy as he replied. "Hi, this is Jason, I'm one of the Waynes. Something's wrong with Nico."

Instantly Will's voice was serious. "What happened? Don't leave anything out."

Jason went on to describe the events leading up to then and how he found Nico. "He won't respond to me and is just saying nonsense in Italian."

"Do you know Italian? Can you tell me what it is?"

Jason took a second to listen to the boy again, making sure he was right about the translation before reporting it. "He just keeps saying 'it waters the grass, it waters the roads, the roads led them to me.' I don't know what it means. I am trying to dry him off but with the clothes it's basically useless."

Will let out a sigh, "he's in shock. I think he got into the shower to ground himself but it didn't work. You need to get him warmed up before I can try and talk him down."

"Fuck." Jason knew what he meant. "Are you sure? I feel bad enough for grabbing him out of the shower with him in this state."

The boy on the phone spoke calmly. "I get that it is uncomfortable, but if he doesn't get warm he'll only get worse. I know you don't want to violate his boundaries, but it's important that you do this."

Jason signed before agreeing. He quickly walked into the boy's closet for dry clothes before returning and putting the phone on speaker so he could listen to Will while he helped Nico. Once his shirt was off he froze, seeing the scars for the first time. "Holy shit."