Batbros Forever

In Sickness and in Health

Damian groaned as Alfred pulled open the curtains and allowed the early morning sun to stream into his room. "Ugh. Five more minutes Pennyworth." He muttered, burying his face into his pillow.

Under normal circumstances, Damian would have been up and dressed long before Alfred came to call him down to breakfast. But this morning, he couldn't seem to drag himself out from under his sheets.

His head was pounding, and every time he dared to open his eyes, the room spun. What's worse was the feeling of having been shot in the stomach several times. Damian could barely even muster the strength to lift his limbs, but he had to get up.

His Father had allowed him to go out with the rest of the family the night before since Batman had needed the extra manpower. If Damian couldn't function properly after one night of staying up 'past his bedtime,' his Father may never let him go on weeknight patrols again.

Damian did his best to go about his morning routine despite his aching body. It wasn't until Jason stole a piece of toast off his plate with no repercussions that anyone even realized something was off. Damian had actually had fallen asleep, his head resting in his hand.

"Damian, are you alright, son?" Bruce asked. The boy mumbled an incoherent response as his Father pushed his hair off his forehead to feel his temperature. "You're burning up." Bruce fussed and lifted the little boy into his arms.

Damian hardly registered anything as Bruce took him back up to his room, got him out of his school uniform and back into his pajamas. "Try and get some rest." Bruce whispered as he tucked his son back in bed. "I'll be back as soon as I drop your brothers off."

"That is not necessary Father. Pennyworth is more than capable of tending to me while you are at work." Damian insisted, although every word felt as though he had swallowed sandpaper. "I know," Bruce said in a low voice. "But won't get any work done if I'm worrying about you."

Damian nodded as his Father handed him the stuffed kitty Grayson had bought for him and gave him a kiss on the forehead. Maybe some rest would do him good.

––––––––––––––

Bruce expected to come home to a quiet manor. After all four of his children were at school and Damian was too indisposed to cause any real trouble. Even so, there was a distinct tussling coming from Damian's room.

"Come now, Master Damian; it is for your own good." Alfred was saying as Bruce peaked inside. Damian was sitting up in bed, both hands clamped over his mouth to avoid the cup of medicine Alfred was holding up to the boy's face. "What's going on in here?" He asked, coming the rest of the way into the room.

"Ah, Master Bruce, perhaps you will have better luck." The older man sighed, handing Bruce the medicine and leaving him with his son. "I see you're well enough to put up a fight." Bruce grinned slightly as he sat down on the edge of Damian's bed.

The boy merely pouted in response. He had seen Todd's reaction to the taste of the pink-ish syrup once before. The older boy had almost thrown it back up, and Damian had seen Todd consume the most disgusting concoctions.

Bruce sighed before a tempting idea crossed his mind. Granted, Alfred would disapprove of this tactic, but if it got Damian to take his medicine... "You know Timmy took this medicine with no problem last time he was sick." Bruce mentioned nonchalantly. Damian raised a brow at this, and Bruce kept going.

"He was quite mature about it. But then he is older than you. I shouldn't hold you to the same standard..." Damian snatched the little cup and downed the syrup in one shot. "That's a good boy." Bruce praised as he handed his son the glass of orange juice Alfred had left on the bedside table.

"Do you want me to let you rest?" Bruce asked. "I would prefer if you stayed." Damian admitted. It had been quite disorienting to wake up to a near still and silent manor, and at this moment, he did not want to be alone. "I could read to you." His Father offered, and the boy nodded.

Bruce slipped down the library and returned with a Sherlock Holmes novel. Damian curled up in his Father's lap as he read aloud. It was almost worth the awful taste lingering in the back of his throat.

III

Damian was feeling better by the afternoon. Pennyworth suspected it was only a twenty-four-hour bug he'd caught from one of his classmates.

As much as he hated school and its numerous idiocracies, Damian was far from pleased that he would now have a less than perfect attendance record. And all because one of his half-witted classmates was incapable of proper hygiene.

This would not due. He would get his revenge.

He was sitting up in bed drawing out potential methods of punishment for the guilty party when there was a knock on his door. "Hey Dami, how's it going?" Dick inquired as he entered, followed by the other Wayne children.

"Father has deemed me more mature than Todd and Drake, and I am on the verge of deducing which of the nimrods at school infected me." Damian replied proudly. Jason muttered something about paranoid little demons as he sat at the foot of the bed.

"We bring your homework." Cassandra told him as she placed the worksheets on his lap. "And lucky you, we're all doing our homework in here." Dick said cheerily as he made himself comfortable next to his recovering brother.

Damian didn't even bother to ask why knowing that would only send Grayson into a longwinded spiel about the importance of family and spending time together.

Instead, he allowed Grayson to cuddle him every few minutes as they worked, listened as Drake attempted to help Todd with his homework, and appreciated that Cain seemed to find Todd's lamentations over his education as funny and ridiculous as he did.

It was all surprisingly pleasant. Pennyworth even brought them snacks as they worked. Maybe this virus was imparting his judgment, or perhaps his siblings were being intentionally less irritating.

Still, Damian actually found himself enjoying their company for once and did not shoot them away when their Father came in to say good night. Maybe he wouldn't punish patient zero after all.