Conner broke the heavy silence, "what is his story?" Eyes turned to Wally, Dick had told them he could tell them the story.

Wally faltered a moment before pulling out his phone. "His name is Richard John Grayson, but he goes by Dick," Wally spoke softly for once as he pulled up a picture on his phone and put the device on the table, "his family was known as the famous Flying Graysons and they travelled the world performing their trapeze act without a net."

"This is my first day at school!" Artemis exclaimed as she looked at the photo.

Wally laughed at her reaction, "he was pretty happy when he convinced Bats to get you a spot at the school but he wouldn't tell me until after the whole Santa Prisca thing."

"So they went to school together?" M'gann asked as she took a look at the photo. "He looks so different without the mask."

"Despite the rules Batman gave him, Dick really did want to tell you guys. There were subtle hints here and there but none of you pried enough to figure them out," Wally grinned.

Conner tilted his head, "hints?"

"Things he did at school for Artemis mostly but he did take most of you to meet his second family," Wally explained.

"He has more than one family?" Kaldur questioned.

Wally frowned slightly but nodded, he then stood up and sped out and back again with a picture frame in hand. "Dick was raised in a circus before he met Batman, there the whole troupe is considered family even if it isn't by blood. The same morals copied over when he met the League and, well, us." Wally stared at the photo in his hands sadly but continued, "when he was eight when the circus stopped in Gotham for the first time since he had been born. One of the mob bosses named Tony Zucco had threatened the ringmaster before the show since they refused to pay up and Dick saw it all."

Wally flinched as he remembered the tears Dick had cried the first time he told the speedster. The team stayed silent as he told the story. "That night the show performed as usual up to the final act. The Flying Graysons were famous for being the only people that could pull off the quadruple flip on the trapeze. Usually when they perform they have a section with the net up to catch them if something happened but the second half where they show off their technique is when they take down the safety net. It was Dick's first night when he was allowed to join the final part," Wally's voice trembled as he told the story he had memorized.

"But he never did," Artemis realized, remembering the stories she had heard whispered at school. Wally nodded slowly.

"Why not?" M'gann asked softly, not yet piecing together what it meant.

Wally gave a sympathetic smile to the Martian, "right before Dick was supposed to jump, the bolts that held the trapeze fell out since Zucco had taken out the nuts that held them in place before the show. Dick's mom, dad, aunt, uncle and cousin fell to their deaths as he watched, only his uncle is now in a coma." He looked down at the photo in his hands again before putting it down on the table. It showed a young Dick Grayson with his whole family plus Haly in front of the circus entrance.

"Haly's International Traveling Circus was in the headlines for days after it happened," Wally continued, ignoring the gasps, "there was a whole scandal as they realized it wasn't an accident and the manhunt for Tony Zucco took months." Wally stared at the photo and the smiling face of his best friend. He remembered the first time he had a nightmare during a sleepover and spilled the entire story to him in his arms. Wally had rubbed his back and listened while Dick worked himself up and calmed down by admitting his past in stumbling words and almost broken English. That week Wally learned Romani so it would be easier for Dick if it ever happened again.

"Even though he wasn't an American citizen, the system took him and threw him in the Gotham Juvenile Center since there wasn't room in the orphanages, or so they said," Wally sighed as he talked but paused.

Artemis frowned as she looked down at the phone still in her hands, cherishing the look of joy and the mischievous twinkle in the smaller's eyes. "I heard the rumours of him not being white but I didn't know he wasn't American too," she commented sadly. Squeezing her eyes tightly she placed the phone down on the table, "I should have done more."

"He was happy to just being in your classes and watching you make friends with some of his friends," Wally assured and took his phone back

A/N I was going to write more here but I'm cutting it off because this is so painful to write and sounds forced to me but I'm leaving it like this. I'm sorry but I'm hating writing the exposition all of us pretty much know or have read before.

I know I haven't updated this in a while too and honestly it's because of this chapter taking so long. I'll post the next chapter either tonight or tomorrow.

Tell me what you think and where you think I should take this fic (I would love the extra inspiration).

Please stay safe everyone and stay at least 1-2 meters/yards from others and wash your hands!

Love you all!! - Ghost