Dick Grayson one shots

Stitches

Dick leaned against Bruce, a strip of his bright yellow cape tied tightly around his thigh.

Bruce wrapped an arm around the tiny boy, drawing him onto his lap.

Dick let out an appreciative hum, snuggling into his guardian's chest.

Bruce turned the Batmobile on autopilot and focused on the child sitting in his lap.

Dick's eyelids were starting to droop, and Bruce shook his shoulder gently.

"Got to keep those eyes open bud," Bruce said gently, carefully peeling off Dick's domino mask.

Dick grumbled in response, wanting to simply close his eyes and drift off.

Bruce looked up as the Batmobile was coming to a stop in the Batcave. "You ready to get your leg fixed up?" He asked.

"But Alfie's not up," Dick slurred. "It's past his bedtime."

Bruce chuckled, opening the door to the Batmobile and exiting with his ward in his arms. "I know how to fix it too... maybe not as well as Alfred does, but I think my skills will suffice," he said, laying Dick on a clean medical bed.

"Did Alfie teach you?" Dick asked, watching as Bruce removed the piece of his cape and began cleaning and numbing the wound.

"No," Bruce said with a melancholy laugh. "It was my Dad. He was a doctor."

Dick looked up at Bruce hopefully. "Will you teach me?" He asked, smothering a small yawn.

"Of course, but you might be a bit too tired for it today," Bruce replied.

"I can stay awake," Dick mumbled with another yawn.

Bruce chuckled. "Alright kiddo," he said. "The first step is to get the cut all clean. If you don't have sterile saline like we do at the cave you can use soap and water."

"That clear stuff is called sailing?" Dick asked, rubbing at his eyes as he looked up at Bruce.

"Saline bud, just a bit different." Bruce smiled. He'd said nearly the same thing to his own father when he'd taught him how to suture.

"Oooooh... what's the next step?" Dick asked.

"Well, that depends. The doctors will give you a shot to numb the wound like I just did for you, but you don't have to do that if you don't need to," Bruce said. When his father had taught him he remembered being nearly as scared of the numbing shot as he was of the actual needle.

"Did your Dad give you a numbing shot?" Dick asked.

"Yeah he did. He taught me after I accidentally cut my hand, but I wasn't nearly as brave as you for the shot," Bruce said, smiling gently at his ward.

"He taught you when you had an owie like me?" Dick asked.

"Ya, he did," Bruce said, smiling at the bittersweet memory.

"Is the next step the fun one?" Dick asked, his voice more of a sleepy whine.

"Almost," Bruce laughed. "The next step is to get gloves on so you don't get anything dirty in there. Once you have your gloves you gotta get all your equipment and open it all up."

Dick nodded as he watched Bruce pull out all the supplies and open them up onto a tray covered with a sterile drape.

"Now's the interesting part," Bruce said, wheeling the tray over.

"Can I try?" Dick asked.

Bruce paused. "Umm, let's not have you try on your leg, but..." he looked around the room, spotting a banana that had been left out near the computer. "Here. You can practice on this," Bruce said, using a scalpel to make a long incision down the side of the banana. "These tools can be for you," he added, pushing the tray closer to Dick and grabbing him a pair of gloves before going to grab more supplies for himself.

"It's alright Mr. Banana. I'm going to fix you all up," Dick said to the banana, laying it on the medical bed. "Bruce we need to clean his owie and numb it so the stitches don't hurt him."

Bruce smiled and brought over some saline and gauze as well as a syringe he filled with some water.

Dick hardly noticed Bruce starting to stitch up his leg as he took care of Mr. Banana. "Ok, show me how to do the stitches," Dick said, finally glancing down and realizing Bruce had already started suturing his leg wound closed.

"You see that little packet there?" Bruce asked, gesturing to the unopened suture material on the tray. "That has your needle in it." He held up his own needle. "Open the packet and use the forceps to grab the needle close to the tip."

Bruce proceeded to demonstrate how far away from the skin to stick the needle in and how to loop the thread to create the right knot.

Dick was quick to figure it out, and worked diligently on the banana while Bruce finished his leg, cleaning it once more before wrapping it.

"Mr. Banana needs to be wrapped up too," Dick insisted when he'd finished.

Bruce nodded and handed over a bit of gauze and some self-adherent wrap to wrap the banana.

Dick yawned tiredly when the banana was finally wrapped up and he'd changed into his pajamas. He looked up at Bruce and lifted his arms to have the older man carry him.

Bruce smiled softly, picking Dick up and balancing him on one hip while he made his way upstairs.

"Wait," Dick mumbled as they walked past the kitchen. "Mr. Banana needs to go back with his friends," he said, holding up the banana.

"Alright," Bruce said, gently taking the banana and walking over to set it with the rest of the bananas.

By the time Bruce made it up the stairs Dick was already fast asleep. He placed a kiss on the younger's head after he tucked him in. "Sweet dreams Dickie."