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Fall in Gotham had quickly shifted to winter; a cold front dropping the temperature in the city very suddenly. Dick was staying at the manor currently, and he could feel a headache growing in the front of his head. He coughed a bit here and there; which had earned a curious face from Alfred. He figured he had caught a cold, which had made sense, considering all the late night patrols he had pulled in the previous few nights.
He pulled himself groggily into his bed after getting back from patrol, falling asleep nearly immediately.
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The sun shone in through the window curtains, casting warm shadows and silhouettes over the furniture and decorations in Dick’s room.
As Dick sat up, he felt dizzy as his head throbbed. His vision tunneled as he slowly laid himself back down.
He felt worse than yesterday, which was saying something as he felt considerably awful the day before.
He pulled his blanket closer to him as he felt a cool breeze brush over him. He usually enjoyed this kind of weather, truly, but having an open window in the beginning of a brisk October morning would prove to be quite irritating.
He slowly pulled himself up, his body feeling like lead. He pushed the window down, pulling the curtains over it to dull the morning light.
He went to sit back down before he started coughing. He felt like he was choking on his own lungs. It took a few moments for Dick to collect himself, taking a deep breath.
Dick wrote it off as a symptom of his cold, and assumed it would be gone soon anyway.
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“Dick!” Tim called from across the hallway.
Tim’s voice sliced through Dick’s head, increasing Dick’s headache. “Yeah Tim?” He responded, keeping his upbeat voice.
“Tell Damian to shut up. Forever.” Tim groaned.
Dick rolled his eyes. “Tim, he’s only a kid.”
“Um, he’s literally killed people.” Tim pointed out.
“He’s still a child.” Dick repeated.
Tim muttered something before going to walk away. He did a double take as he looked back at Dick.
“Are you okay?” Tim asked, gesturing to Dick. “You're almost paler than Bruce.”
Dick let out a half hearted laugh. “I think I look fabulous, actually.” Dick smirked, punching Tim lightly on the shoulder.
Tim gave Dick a concerned look. “Seriously, you look sick.”
“Just a cold. Nothing I can’t handle.” Dick shrugged, brushing it off.
“Does Bruce know you're sick?” Tim questioned.
“He doesn’t need to know. Besides it’s a cold, it won’t kill me.” Dick pointed out.
“Dick, you're not going out on patrol like this, are you?” Tim tilted his head, giving Dick a funny look.
Dick just shrugged, picking his blue hoodie up off a chair.
“Dick, don’t make me snitch on you to Alfred.”
“Tim, believe me. I wouldn’t go out if I wasn’t up for it.” Dick said, patting Tim on the shoulder as he walked by him. “I’ll see you in the batcave.”
Tim reluctantly nodded. He looked like he went to say something, but decided against it.
Dick made his way to the batcave. He put his Nightwing suit on and fumbled with his mask. His hair looked messy as he ran his hand through it. He let out a sigh and went to sit down. Soon enough, Damian tapped his shoulder.
“Grayson. Father is looking for you.” He paused. “How long have you been down here? We were supposed to have been on patrol ages ago.” Damian crossed his arms.
Dick looked down at his phone, standing up more quickly than his head would have liked. It was 12:45 a.m., and he had told Bruce they could leave at 12:00.
Lovely.
He must have fallen asleep once he’d gotten down to the cave. He gave Damian an apologetic look before he began coughing again.
Damian didn’t question it, and rolled his eyes at Dick, walking back over to Bruce.
Dick mentally groaned as he felt like he was getting worse. Sleeping should have helped.
He leaned up against one of the cave walls, now taking notice of how sore his throat was. His skin felt like it was burning but he just felt so cold.
“Alright Dick, you can do this.” He muttered to himself, shaking out his arms, following Damian and Bruce for patrol.
As they entered the night, Dick did a fairly good job keeping up with Bruce and Damian. It was only after a few fights that Dick’s condition began to catch up with him.
“Robin doesn’t do unnecessary damage!” Dick commented, to which Damian responded by throwing his escrima stick at Dick. Dick barely managed to block it before it hit his head as he frowned at Damian.
“Do not look at me like that! You always catch it anyway!” Damian snapped.
Dick just turned away, too tired to argue. He looked at the ground, and then back up, the walls around the alley spinning.
He heard someone muffled saying something behind him before he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Are you alright Nightwing?” Bruce asked.
“Yeah. Yeah I’m fine.” Dick nodded, forcing a grin on his face.
Bruce just nodded, turning back around.
“Let’s try and wrap things up. Sunrise is in half an hour, give or take.” Bruce announced to Damian and Dick.
His vision tunneled again.
Dick listened as he heard Bruce and Damian’s footsteps leave the alley.
He grabbed onto a drain pipe to hold himself up as everything around him seemed to be moving. He closed his eyes shut tightly, before the coughing started again. His legs felt like they might give out beneath him as he slowly let himself sit down in the alley.
It would just be for a moment. Just a moment so he could rest.
The next few moments passed strangely as Dick tried to brush his hair out of his face. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. “B?” He called out in a small raspy voice.
He didn’t know how or why he crashed so fast; patrol was almost over. Why couldn’t he have held himself together for a few more moments? As he thought about this, he tried to stand up. His arms wouldn’t push his weight up at all, and his legs slid out from underneath him, so he didn’t exactly get very far.
He waited for a few moments, waiting for either Bruce or Damian to figure out he wasn’t with them.
Or at least have heard him call out for them just a moment ago.
The next few moments passed strangely as Dick felt he was in a state of delirium. He felt a strong hand rest on his forehead for just a moment, followed by a string of muffled words. He felt himself getting lifted by his shoulder and guided as someone helped him walk.
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Dick woke up in his bed, woken up by someone gently shaking his shoulder.
“How’re you feeling?” Tim asked, picking a bowl up from the nightstand next to Dick’s bed. Tim handed it to him and Dick felt the warmth from the bowl creep into his hands. “You know, I think I recall one of the smartest people I know telling you that you needed to take it easy.” Tim crossed his arms.
“At the moment I was doing fine.” Dick responded with a shrug and light grin, picking up the spoon in the soup.
“Yeah right. You couldn’t have been fine with a temperature of 105° degrees.” Tim paused. “You’re lucky I brought you the soup instead of Alfred. You would have been lectured for a while. He’s not very happy with you at the moment. Neither is Bruce for that matter.” Tim added.
“That’s wonderful.” Dick murmured sarcastically, taking a sip of his soup.
Tim laughed lightly at Dicks comment. “They’ll come around. Eventually.”