Oh no! I did it again! I started another fic before finishing the last one!

why do I do this to myself?

this is inspired by  fearfor1thing  's fic 'I forgot to mention. I would've saved it for a while longer before posting but I just wanna figure out what people think of it so I can determine where it should sit on my priority list as compared to the rest of my fics. cause this is gonna be a big and long one.

Anyway, enjoy! chuck us some comments and tell us what you think!

When new people move into Gotham they are usually met with a lot of growing pains.

The city is like a Greek tragedy, but it didn't have the decision making skills to pick only one role. It switches between each archetype as it pleases, until it creates the story it wants to see. One day it will be the hero and the next it will be the metaphor of evil. Gotham will bless you with floral crowns and then it will stuff pomegranate seeds down your throat until you're stuck there. Gotham will place you on a throne only to tire of you and send its best to tear you to pieces and bury you below the buildings and cover your memory with grit and whispers and darkness until you are merely a shadow, a whisper. Gotham will build you up when it wants to, when it feels like watching an inspiring film. And then one day it will come home, throw its shit all over the place and tear you down just to vent out its frustration.

Gotham is no place for children, unless it is the moral served to them in a fable. Like a god dressed as a homeless man, who punishes those who spat in his face on the street. Or a fool who robed himself in gold and called himself king until it all weighed him down enough to sink him. Gotham is not a punchline or a name to riot under, Gotham is a cautionary tale.

So the neighbours don't talk to you. And the passers-by clutch their purses closer as you walk by. And no one is more friendly than they have to be. You don't know who anyone is in Gotham; there are madmen in suits and billionaires in sneakers, gang lords in Oxfords and doctors in straightjackets. It's just how it is. And say what you will, but eventually most Gothamites learn to love it- in a sort of Stockholm syndrome kind of way- because they're stuck there for some reason or other and they'd hate to be stuck somewhere they despised. There is a mutual form of... kinship, one could suppose, brought on by the fact that every person walking those streets is aware of the risks of being hit with some kind of ridiculous gas that made you trip enough to stretch your jaw muscles permanently from smiling. And they're all aware of how stupid that is to outsiders, and they're all aware it's mildly concerning that their response to half-penguin-half-men robbing banks with umbrellas is 'well it must be Monday', and they're all aware that they should see a therapist.

But that's just what it is to live in Gotham.

Gotham is no place for children, but they bleed and fight and scrap for it anyway, because when did a Greek tragedy ever care about its victims?

When one first moves into Gotham they must quickly learn two things:

Number one: shit's about to get weird. Just deal with it. cope however you like, Gothamites won't judge. Dig in and get through it, no one ever lives in Gotham without at least one mildly insane anecdote.

Number two: the tiny crime-fighting children don't fucking exist. what are you talking about? Small ninja child? Throwing bat-shaped weapons? Swinging metal sticks? You saw one with a what now? A sword? Michelle, come on, really babe I think you just forgot to take your meds. No I refuse to believe those photos you're showing me are real, here let me look closer give me your phone- oh no, they've just been deleted permanently oh no, I'm such a butter fingers, oh no what a shame, guess there's no proof of these tiny crime fighting children then huh? Well, it's a good thing they aren't real anyway Michelle, aren't I right?

Ahem.

If you keep to those two things you'll be golden.

Artemis is a Gothamite. Born and bred actually, which she's happy to say. Jade was born in the middle of a rainforest in south America, her parents didn't even remember where or which rainforest specifically, just that it was green and very humid and they'd had to rifle out salt packets from the bottom of the first aid bag because her mother was covered in leeches. The very hour Jade was born ten Argentinian soldiers were killed. Artemis thought that was fitting for her sister.

She, however, was born in Gotham General Hospital, in a room with nurses and technology and... no leeches.

Maybe that's why she'd turned out so sane. The first thing she saw was a white ceiling and smiling normal people, not a glorified battle zone surrounded by gunfire and screaming men.

But that's beside the point. The main point is that she is a Gothamite, she knows the two rules. She knows about the crime fighting children that definitely don't exist.

In fact she's met one. Or maybe two. It's difficult to be sure with child vigilantes.

Here is your scene: it's five thirty in the afternoon, the sun is burning like a motherfucker and the ground is radiating the heat back up towards Artemis' face. There is truly no escaping the temperature and the rays of the sun's energy are hitting her with enough fervour that she can almost feel the sunburn as it begins to colour her cheeks. Her mother had told her to wear a hat that morning but hats were for chumps and cowboys, of which Artemis was neither.

Sweat was beading along her back, and her school uniform clung to her skin because of it. she went to the public middle school, which meant the uniform was a polo shirt of a polyester-cotton material, not one of those horrid blouses the prep school girls flounced around in thank god which meant she got to avoid some of the discomfort and the worry of her shirt turning translucent from being wet with how much sweat was pouring out of her. Translucent or not, however, her bra chafed and her back ached from the books in her bag and she just wanted to be home, because it was a Wednesday and her mum always made delicious snacks on Wednesday afternoons after school because she didn't work those days.

As Artemis walked by another street corner she slowed, walking backwards to look down the alleyway.

She knew exactly where it lead, where all the streets lead. She was only twelve but her mother had taught her where everything in Gotham was as best she could already. She knew this street lead straight through several blocks she normally walked around.

Normally walked around because those streets were a bad neighbourhood, and her mother had made her promise not to go that way ever.

But she just wanted to be home. Now preferably, but she was willing to take a twenty minute cut to the usual walking time. Her mother didn't have to know. She was tired, and sore, and hot, and the kids at school had called her names and squinted at her all day.

So she turned down the alleyway into the shortcut.

It was alright at first, she didn't see any trouble, or any people, at all for a while. then turned down an alley where three people were spread through the area. One was smoking at the open doorway of the back of a shabby looking diner. Another was drinking on the fire escape. The last was passed out asleep next to the dumpster. All three of these people eyed Artemis as she walked by them. The third one was unconscious so they couldn't actually look at her but Artemis felt a decent sense of discomfort from their presence being anywhere in her line of vision.

It wasn't until another two blocks went by that Artemis got into deep shit.

She'd found herself trailing her eyes on the ground at some point, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. However, because of this she didn't see the stumbling man walking in her path. She ran right into him, and stumbled back blinking up at him.

He scowled down at her, leaning to one side a little. His face was angular and long, with a scruffy beard and greasy hair. His body was swamped in a big charcoal coloured coat.

"the fuck is this?" the man sneered, looking over his shoulder.

Artemis kept stumbling back, suddenly feeling like she wanted to be anywhere else.

"Ethan what the fuck is this? Is this a fucking kid?"

"uh, yes sir, that's what it appears to be."

There were a few guys hanging out by a back exit to a building, a car was parked at the entrance to the alley.

Artemis turned to walk away, ducking her head, but a hand clapped down onto her shoulder and yanked her back.

"the hell are you doing here kiddo?" the man said, face close enough to Artemis' that she could smell tobacco on his breath, "nosing around where you don't belong."

"I'm sorry," she got out quickly, trying to back away out if the man's grip but he was strong and he followed her any time she tried to step away.

"no don't be sorry little girl you have such good timing," the man grinned, yellow teeth shining, then tugged her once more, closer to his friends, and pushed her towards them. She stumbled and almost fell to her knees, her backpack throwing her weight and interrupting her balance, but she managed to stand, "Ethan was just telling me we need a cute face to sell some things."

"I- I don't-"

"shut up kid," one of the men at the door sneered, cigarette in hand, "Dale go get our shit." One of the other men disappeared into the building.

"now you're just gonna do us a favour or two kiddo," the first guy said, hands descending on her shoulders once more, "chumps always cave at a cute kid trying to sell them shit, works every time."

"well maybe they'd sell to you if you washed that coat of yours." A voice rang through the alleyway, a mocking high tone with a laugh barely concealed, "maybe try ironing your trousers."

The men whipped their heads around, looking for the source, one mumbled, "can't be 'im, still light out, vampires don' come out in the day."

"shut it you buffoon," one of them hissed, "they're not actually vampires!"

"who says?"

The men yelped and stumbled away from the door they'd previously been standing by. Sitting on top of the overhang ledge atop the door, crouched like a cat, was a boy.

"shoot him!"

The boy pouted visibly, shoulders slumping in disappointment, before he sprung from the ledge, avoiding a spray of bullets as the men all unloaded their pistols in his direction. He cartwheeled and handsprung and jumped between the shots like it was easy as breathing. A butter yellow cape fluttered in the wind behind him and the remains of the afternoon sun still making their way into the alley reflected off of a bright red and green costume, a gilded R symbol sat to the left of his chest.

"wow," Artemis breathed, watching him with wide eyes as he moved. She'd seen her father fight, she'd seen recordings of her mother fight, she'd seen Jade fight, she'd never seen anyone move like this.

Within the space of a minute Robin took the men in the alley from strong numbers to unconscious sacks of meat lying on the ground.

Once he was done Artemis grinned and began applauding, "that was wicked!"

Robin turned to see her; he mirrored her grin then bowed. The fluffy black hair on his head bounced with the movement and when he stood straight again Artemis caught a gap between his two front teeth.

"are you okay?" he asked, stepping closer, "did they hurt you at all?"

"I'm fine," she said, "and you're Robin."

"yeah," Robin said, grinning once more, "I'm Robin." he seemed to realise something, then took another quick step closer, "but you can't tell anyone you saw me! Or that you know I exist."

Artemis nodded quickly, "second rule of Gotham."

Robin blinked in confusion, "pardon?"

"second rule of Gotham," Artemis said, rocking on her heels, "when my me and my mother moved here the neighbours weren't all that friendly or anything, but one of them came over and gave mum a bottle of something and asked if she was staying long. Mum said we were living there now, for the foreseeable future, so the lady said there were two rules to being a Gothamite. Number one: this place is weird, deal with it. number two: keep the robin thing quiet."

"that's... a rule?" Robin said, watching Artemis with his head tilted slightly to the side, "how many people know these rules?"

Artemis shrugged, "I don't know. But I've heard kids make jokes about 'em all the time."

"huh," Robin said, "cool. Do you want me to walk you home?"

Artemis nodded enthusiastically, "my mum's making me afternoon tea, you should try some."

"can't, I have very busy super-heroing to do," Robin said, puffing out his chest, "cats to save from trees, ladies to help across the street, it's very important work."

Artemis giggled, fixed the strap on her bag and said, "well I'd appreciate an escort if you're not too busy."

"Robin is never too busy to help," Robin said.

"Robin shouldn't refer to himself in the third person," Artemis smirked.

"Robin thinks it's funny."

"Well Artemis thinks it's silly."

"Robin is sad that Artemis thinks that."

"well Artemis thinks it's true so Robin should deal with it."

Robin blew a raspberry at her and placed his hands on his hips haughtily, "well Robin thinks that-"

"Robin."

Artemis jumped, head whipping around to try and find the source of the deep voice. Robin only grinned and looked up at a very specific spot, "hey Bats! Sorry, got side tracked helping this civilian." He then turned to look at Artemis, "don't worry, he does that all the time, I've tried telling him it puts people off but I think he enjoys that."

"humph," came the sound of a man grunting in an unimpressed fashion.

Artemis gulped, "I have to get home, it was nice meeting you Robin!"

"oh, bye!" Robin called after her, visibly upset to have lost his conversation buddy. Artemis could hear him complaining, "I was talking to her, why'd you have to do that?" before she managed to get out of earshot.

Artemis was a little less innocent when she met the next vigilante child.

She was sitting on the fire escape, her bedroom window silhouetting behind her. The Gotham skies let no light in past the thick clouds and thicker feeling of dread that swamped out any general feeling of happiness. She'd do her schoolwork inside, in the warmth and glow of her bedroom, but it was a Friday night. A Friday night, beginning to tick closer to midnight. The street outside her room tended to get visitors around this time, and she wanted to make sure everyone went home with the right people.

The club down the street had all kinds of shady business, but it let the general public in for some drinks and drugs and dandy times till about midnight. At that point, the everyday partygoer could stick around, sure, but they'd soon be partying with false facers and Maroni goons. It was no iceberg lounge, but it attracted the next level down.

Perhaps that's why her father had chosen that street when they all moved to Gotham. Her father was long gone, but her mother hadn't bothered to move. Artemis understood why, logically, it was a good spot and well-stocked and her mother didn't want to move all the hidden things and reorganise security systems. From all other perspectives, though, Artemis would rather live anywhere else.

She heard a group of people enter the alleyway, laughing and chatting loudly, arms slung round each other's shoulders and legs stumbling like uncoordinated giraffes. She closed the laptop balancing on her knees and watched them all walk by.

One person stayed by the entrance, a phone to their ear, as their friends called goodbyes and continued on. Artemis made a mental note to make sure they got in the cab they were calling, as opposed to the alternatives.

She noticed a man supporting a woman, the two lagging behind the rest. Her entire body was leaned against him, and when she stepped it looked like her feet had gone numb. The man's hands were wandering, and he appeared completely sober. Artemis narrowed her eyes at the two.

"Kelsi!" on of the others slurred out, distress in her drunken voice, and stumbled back towards their friend who was lagging behind in the clutches of the man, "time t' go home, darl, come on."

"I've got her," the man said, shooting the other woman a quick grin, "she said she'd come home with me."

"No," said the girl, "Kelsi c'mon."

"le's jus' go, Dan," one said to the girl, tugging on her arm, "I'm tired. If Kelsi wants to ditch-"

The girl, Dan, wrenched her hand out of her friends grip with a scowl, "grow up Shy, she's not ditching she's getting kidnapped-"

Shy rolled her eyes with so much intensity it was visible from space, "have fun then Dan, I'm going home before I get robbed."

Dan seemed unperturbed and decided the only logical way to solve the situation was to shove her heels off and storm the man.

Artemis did not foresee this going well.

The man pushed her back, still holding onto the clearly unconscious girl, and sneered, "piss off bitch."

Artemis slowly stood, balancing on the rickety fire escape, watching as the man threw slurs at Dan.

Artemis used the fire escape to jump down, joggers hitting the cement loudly. she took a running start and lurched for the man before he could throw a hit at the drunk girl before him.

He let go of the girl in his arms to dodge Artemis' attack, but as soon as he'd figured out what was going on he spat at the ground and pulled a knife from inside his jacket.

She was winning the fight; it was no challenge for her. A man with a knife was nothing compared to some of the shit she'd seen, her dad had come at her with worse. But soon she heard the sound of someone approaching.

Her immediate worry was that the man had backup, somehow, and she whipped around to find the person approaching her. She found a shadow of movement and before she could register what she was seeing the blur barrelled into the man. In a few sharp movements he was down, leaving...

A teenage girl, dressed in grey, black and blue, a cape on her shoulders and a Bo staff in hand. Fiery red hair was held back by a cowl and across her chest was a yellow bat symbol.

"hi," the girl said once she'd looked Artemis up and down and assessed her as no threat.

Artemis turned and ran.

"why didn't you tell me about the rules of Gotham?"

Bruce blinked, staring at the newspaper a moment before looking up at Dick, who'd sat down and began digging in to breakfast.

"the what?"

Dick began speaking, mouth full of bacon and scrambled eggs, "the rules of-"

"chew and swallow first," Bruce said, holding back an amused snicker. Dick scrunched his nose in annoyance at the reminder but chewed quickly and swallowed down the mouthful and a half. His cheeks were covered in butter grease from his toast and he'd somehow managed to get a crumb in his hair.

"the rules of Gotham," Dick said.

Bruce frowned, trying to figure out what Dick was on about, then slowly questioned, "you mean the laws?"

"no, silly, the rules. The two rules of Gotham."

Bruce continued to watch him with a blank stare. Dick grinned and bounced in his seat, immediately excited by the idea that he knew something Bruce didn't.

"the girl I saved the other day, when I said not to mention she saw me she said that it was rule number two of Gotham."

"what's rule number one?" Bruce asked drily.

"this place is weird, deal with it," Dick said.

Bruce sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "of course."

"but rule number two is to not talk about Robin," Dick said, leaning forward, "it's a thing! I asked some of the kids at school and they know it too!"

Bruce stared at the table in thought, "that's interesting."

"yeah," Dick said, "but like, it makes sense, cause-"

"because."

Dick blew a quick raspberry in Bruce's direction then continued talking, "because, you've been keeping me a secret the past year, and anyone I do see we've told not to talk about me, so if it's become a rule then it means everyone's keeping me a secret."

Bruce frowned, "it does."

Dick was still grinning.

"I guess they all understand the importance of protecting their kid hero," Bruce said with a small smile.

Dick scrunched up his nose again, "I don't need protecting. I'm supposed to protect them."

"You're Gotham's Robin," Bruce said, "and there are some very bad people in this city, but that just means the good one's will stand behind you even more."

"what about Batman?" Dick asked, frowning.

"what about him?"

"well they talk about you, you're all over the news. And plenty of good people don't like you..."

"Batman..." Bruce trailed off, wondering how to put it, "I made Batman to protect people, to save people. I think somewhere..." he glanced at the newspaper to his right, where a blurry photo of the caped crusader was spread across the first page, "somewhere along the line I let it become about stopping the bad guys. There's a small difference, but it's there, and the people of Gotham know it."

"doesn't sound so bad to me," Dick said, frowning down at his breakfast.

"you'll understand when you're older."

Dick groaned, rolling his eyes dramatically as he slumped in the seat till his chin touched his chest, "that's what you always say."

"doesn't make it any less true."

"I saved Artemis tonight!"

"hell yeah!" Dick and Babs high fived, their gloves still on and making an awkward sound, "that's like a new milestone thing. A must-do."

"what do you mean?" Babs asked, the two of them walking closer to the computers as they began shedding armour.

"I saved Artemis back when I was ten," Dick explained, "and I think Bruce saved her once from her dad, and that's why the police got all that information that made it easier for Ms. Nguyen to divorce him and everything."

"seriously?" Babs asked, eyebrows rising, "huh."

"yeah," Dick shrugged, "if only we could tell her."

Babs snorted, "she'd hate me. I didn't realise it was her picking the fight and 'saved' her, when she probably could've taken the guy herself. She'd be insulted."

"aww," Dick pouted, "poor baby. We'll probably hear about it at school tomorrow."

"for sure," Babs snickered, "might wanna practise our poker faces."

"and perhaps you could practise sleeping," Alfred said, walking closer with a tray of warm drinks, "I believe you could both do with some catching up."

Dick gave a sheepish smile and rubbed at the back of his neck, "oops."

Babs dropped her shoulders with a sigh, "yeah, I should probably get home before dad notices I'm gone. Again. I can only make the 'snuck out to a party' excuse so many times before he starts wondering where this sudden social life came from."

"you? At a party? With you're reputation?"

Babs gave an affronted gasp and lunged for Dick, "what are you implying?"

Dick cackled maniacally, dodging her attempts to grab him, vaulting over the table and then quickly scurrying up the few footholds to the catwalk above the computer where the cases with their uniforms sat.

"come now, Miss Barbara, Master Richard, enough," Alfred said, voice the same volume as usual but with a certain edge both recognised as a warning tone, "time for bed, you both have school tomorrow."

"okay Alf," Dick said, hanging upside down by the rails on the catwalk.

"see you all later," Babs said over her shoulder as she headed for the small zeta beam set up in the cave. Bruce was lucky enough to have two; one on the justice league's systems and the other entirely devoted to zeta locations in Gotham and surrounding areas. It meant the JLA couldn't look in at all the people using it and accidentally discover that Batman wasn't the only hero in Gotham.

Because Batman didn't know what he'd do if the League got on his ass about having kid heroes under his wing. Indoctrinating children into the crusade against evil.

What would they think?

Bruce couldn't be sure. It's not like he took Dick in with the intention of training him. He didn't even think he'd tell Dick about being Batman, but then the next thing he knew the kid was rushing out in his circus costume to avenge his parents and things had to come to light. And even after that Bruce had told him he wouldn't train him but the kid kept running off when he knew Bruce was on patrol, with zero training and a costume made of polyester-cotton. Bruce tried his damndest, god knew he did, but eventually he had to give in. Dick wanted to be a hero, wanted to help people, protect people, and there was nothing Bruce could do to stop him. The best he could manage was to make sure he was prepared. And that the circus costume had pants and proper shoes added to it.

And then Barbara Gordon came along. That was a situation he couldn't explain. She hadn't even known that Dick and Bruce were heroes. She'd just decided that she was done doing nothing, especially after one of her best friends got herself dunked in chemicals and became a plant villain. Dick refused to stop her from trying to be a hero, siting the hypocrisy in such an idea, which Bruce had to agree with. And no matter how many times Batman told Barbara to go home, she refused.

So yes, he had kid protégés, students, partners in crime-fighting. And he had no idea what the league would do if they knew.

Because at this point he loved those two kids, and he didn't know what being Batman would be without Robin and Batgirl with him. The league would... well, he didn't know. But he didn't want to risk it.

Dick and Barbara understood. They got it. they knew it was better for them if they stayed on the low till they were adults. Gotham was no place for children.

Better to just not let them know.