Chapter Text
“Agh!” Nightwing groaned as a plant vine smashed into him a little harder than he was going for.
“Maybe that’ll teach you to stay away from my plants!” Poison Ivy screeched as another vine came smashing down – one he just barely missed.
“I wasn’t trying to meet them.” Nightwing called back, half gasping as half shouting. And it was true – Dick was just going about his usual patrol in Bludhaven when he happened to step on one of the green-skinned villain’s plants. Turns out, Ivy had just been released from Arkham the previous hour, and so Nightwing unluckily had to deal with her bad temper.
“Lies! I know how you bats are!” She screamed again, aiming for Nightwing’s legs with her vines, “Always sticking together, always fighting each other’s villains!”
“Trust me, I’m the last person trying to clean up after B!” Nightwing replied, rolling out of the way before he was flattened into a blue-and-black pancake. Unfortunately, Ivy seemed deaf to his response.
“You’ve never had to suffer the way I have! To be left alone to rot away in that Asylum, just like my plants on the sidewalk!” Nightwing could hear the police sirens closing in. Thank god.
“I’m sure there are better places to discuss your abandonment issues, Ivy!” He shouted back, but that seemed like the wrong thing to say, since she only got madder. Oops.
“You little- ugh! I’ve been isolated for so long, maybe it’s time for you to get away from daddy bats too!” She screamed as more plants broke through the asphalt road beneath them and surrounded Nightwing.
Nightwing’s arm burned in pain as he reached for his rebreather. He could already see Ivy’s plants releasing their pheromones, but he didn’t feel any stranger, so he just hoped for the best as he slid his mask down and watched through the plants as Ivy got dragged away by the police.
“You’ll pay for this, Nightwing! You will!”
~
Surprisingly, Nightwing still felt fine as he cut through the plants surrounding him and made his way to his bike. He didn’t dare take off his rebreather until he was at least 5 kilometers away from the incident, leaving the police to clean up her mess. There wasn’t anyone around who could’ve gotten harmed, so he doesn’t feel guilty about it since lord knows the amount of paperwork he’ll have to file for his day job at the station.
~
Now, Nightwing knows that despite feeling well and fine that he should drop a visit to Bruce just in case the toxins spread through his body and manipulate his metabolism or whatever.
And that’s what he was doing as he rode his bike, honestly.
But he still felt a little nervous about it. His last interaction with Bruce hadn’t gone… exactly how he’d planned it. It went better than their previous altercations, that’s for sure, but that didn’t mean it was ideal. But parents and their kids fight all the time, right? What’s a little disagreement over whether or not Damian should attend school like a normal child, or whether Tim should fix his sleep schedule so that he doesn’t look like he’s half dead on his feet, or whether Jason should be allowed into the Manor when Bruce isn’t there, or whether Steph should be allowed to come over whenever she wants despite the dangers of being close to several vigilantes, or whether Cass should be allowed to stay as silent as she wishes and that pushing her out of her comfort zone would only make her retreat further, or whether-
Dick was spiraling.
He took a few deep breaths as he completed his last few metres to the Wayne Manor, collecting himself and his thoughts. He couldn’t let himself get all worked up like this, it would only make his trip to his fath- old mentor more unpleasant.
He finally parked his bike near the gate of the Manor and knocked on the big, mahogany door that led inside the Wayne residence. Within seconds, Alfred opened the door and welcomed him, albeit a bit surprised.
“Hello, Master Richard.” Alfred said as he stepped aside to let Dick in.
“Hey, Alf. Is B home?” Nightwing replied as he tore off his mask and shook his hair out.
“I believe he has gone to retrieve Master Damian’s school uniform, but he should be back any minute.”
Dick raised an eyebrow at Alfred, “School uniform? This late?” And since when did Bruce enroll Damian into school?
“Indeed.”
“Why the change of heart?” He asked as he removed his boots and tossed them inside the shoe cabinet, causing Alfred to sigh.
“I believe it had something to do with Master Jon’s insistence that Master Damian attend the same school as his.” He replied, arranging Dick’s shoes inside the cabinet properly, then straightening out. “Now, while I am, of course, most joyed by your presence at the Manor, I must enquire as to what brought you here.”
“Oh, I was just, y’know, patrolling ‘round ‘Haven when I found Ivy. We fought a bit, and my arm still stings a lil’, but then she hit me with some pheromones. I got my rebreather on, but I honestly don’t feel that different. That’s why I wanted to use the meta-analyser in the Cave to check.” Dick answered in a rush.
“Hmm, I see. I shall go check on Master Bru-” A knock on the front door interrupted Alfred.
“Seems like he’s already here.” Dick said, with a small smile that might have been a bit strained.
“Indeed.” Alfred left to open the door while Dick bounced on the balls of his feet. He could hear the muffled sounds of Bruce greeting Alfred at the door.
“Hello Alfred.”
“Hello to you as well, Master Bruce. I see you have acquired young Master Damian’s school uniform. Both pairs, I assume?”
Bruce huffed, stuffing his shoes into the cabinet clumsily, “Yes, Alfred. They’re all in this bag.”
Alfred leaned down to fix Bruce’s shoes, muttering something about ‘vigilantes’ and their ‘inability to arrange their own articles’, before straightening up and following Bruce through the foyer.
“Yes, well. That is all very good. You will also take notice that there is another presence in the Manor, and that is Master-”
“Dick?” Bruce said, surprised to see his eldest son in his foyer.
“Hey, B.” Dick said as he shifted on his feet, which is stupid. He’s not a little kid about to be scolded for staying up too late – he’s an adult who just so happens to need their former mentor’s assistance when it comes to clinically observing himself.
“What brings you here?” Bruce said, walking closer. Dick noticed the slight tension he carried in his shoulders, before it seems to be forced away. He swallowed the lump forming in his throat.
B probably thinks he’s here to fight again. It’s all Dick’s here for these days, anyways. A little voice whispers in the back of his head.
No, bad Nightwing. Stop thinking so negatively.
“I, um, was out on patrol. This evening.” Duh, Dick. Who are you, Mr. Obvious?, “And I stumbled into Poison Ivy-”
“I thought she was locked up?”
“Yeah, me too. Turns out they released her, like, a few hours ago. But moving on, I stumbled into her, we fought, etcetera, etcetera, and in the end she said something about ‘getting me back’ and surrounded me with plants, which released pheromones-”
“Did you take out your rebreather? You know you should always have a rebreather on hand-”
“I took out my rebreather, B,” Dick replied with a huff. Does he think Dick’s that irresponsible? “but my arm was hurting a little-”
“Your arm? Why didn’t you mention that before-”
“And so the pheromones had already started spreading before I could put it on,” Dick continued a little louder so he could talk over Bruce. “Weridly, I don’t feel any different than I usually do, which is why I wanted to use the meta-analyser in the Cave to scan for anything strange.” Dick finished finally.
Bruce frowned, and now Dick was worried again. Did he say something wrong? Was this going to end up in an argument again? Would he refuse to let Dick use the Cave? Would he claim Dick was too irresponsible-
Bruce sighed, cutting off Dick’s train of thoughts, “Fine. Let’s go to the Cave.”
Dick plastered on a smile he’d mastered to hide his anxiety and followed Bruce down into the cave.
Once they finally reached the meta-analyser, Alfred following behind quietly, Dick sat down heavily on the hospital bed. His arm still hadn’t stopped hurting, and he could feel a headache slowly throbbing its way across his scalp, but he pushed all that aside. His arm wasn’t broken or bleeding, and as far as he was concerned, he didn’t have a concussion. So nothing to worry about, right?
Bruce and Alfred set up the analyser in about five minutes, and three minutes later, he was all scanned. They’d also taken a sample of his blood to scan. All the reports came back mostly clean though, the only concerning thing being his higher blood pressure, which could be chalked up to the adrenaline rush still cooling off.
“You’re fine.” Bruce grunted as he made the analyser scan one last time. “Must’ve been lucky, otherwise that delayed time could’ve cost you. Ivy’s always cooking something new up, so stay on your tiptoes when you’re around her. Wouldn’t want you infected with anything.”
You should have been more careful. Who knows if we’ll be able to fix you. A small voice translated in the back of his head, but he shook it away.
“Thanks, B.” Dick replied, hopping off the medical bed.
“Now, about that arm-”
Dick groaned, “B, it’s fine.” God, his headache was getting on his nerves.
“No, it’s not.” You’re not responsible enough to look after yourself. Lord knows you aren’t responsible enough to look after your siblings. Remember how you let one die- “Let Alfred check for any wounds or scratches.” Bruce insisted.
“Indeed, it would put all our minds to ease.” Stop causing us so much trouble just to look after you.
Dick was getting really tired of this sudden coddling he was getting – Bruce didn’t seem so concerned when he was the one hurting Dick, so why did he care now?
“I’m fine, guys. Really. Plus I’ve got this report I need to draft up for the station before it expires,” He started walking towards the mouth of the cave, “Seriously, if I was hurt, you’d be hearing a lot more about it right now.” He joked, but instead of Bruce letting it go, he frowned and opened his mouth to speak again, before deciding to close it. He repeated this exercise a few times before Alfred gave him a look and he just sighed.
“As long as you're not hurt, then fine.”
Dick shrugged, which he really shouldn’t have because the pain in his arm shot like a bullet, “See you later, then.” He called as he rushed out to his bike, not looking back long enough to see either Bruce’s or Alfred’s reaction.