This one has few angst and more fluff I think? I don't know I'm not good at fluff lol. But it isn't angsty. This is also a short one compared to the last one. 2.5k.
In which Bruce sees Damian's scars and Damian gets sick.
It was patrol time. Bruce was already in his suit, waiting for his son to come down.
"I swear, if that kid doesn't come down by now I'll leave him here Alfred." He told the butler.
Alfred left down a tray with tea, and looked back at the man he basically raised.
"It's not normal for Master Damian to come downstairs late, maybe you should wait a couple more minutes or I'll go look for him."
Alfred was right, it wasn't normal for Damian to be late for patrol, the boy was usually already down at the cave by the time Bruce arrived, training or finishing to put his suit on.
Bruce mumbled something that was pretty close to an 'ok'. And took one of the cups of tea, the least he could do was keep himself warm during one of those cold winter days.
They didn't had to wait a minute more until the 10 year old boy got downstairs. His hair was messy, not like Damian would usually wear it. The boy had probably fallen asleep.
How dare him? Bruce thought. What if anything happened in Gotham and they weren't able to save people because they felt asleep. Damian couldn't keep being that irresponsible.
Damian was at the changing room, Bruce decided to go and talk to him. Maybe his son would understand the reasons why they can't take long to go out.
Yes, Bruce was right, and he needed to tell Damian how irresponsible he was by being late, they were vigilantes, people needed them to-
Bruce lost his train of thought the exact moment he entered the changing room, Damian, his boy, was putting on his Robin suit, he was sitting on the bench putting on his pants, the boy hadn't noticed the presence of his father or he didn't cared.
Bruce almost turned away, he had never really seen his son changing. He didn't knew why, Damian was always avoiding to get changed in the same room as him, he didn't really knew if it was because he was insecure or something, but until then Bruce had respected his son's privacy.
He almost turned away, almost.
That until something grabbed Bruce's attention.
Damian's back was at plain sight, he hadn't put on the shirt yet, but that wasn't what bothered Bruce, he actually noticed how his son was full of scars, some were small scars, some were big, some were old and some didn't look too old.
The sight was unnerving, no, it was more than that, it boiled Bruce's blood. Some scars looked nasty, like they had gotten infected.
Most of them looked like training bruises. League training bruises. But some of them looked anormal, almost as if someone had intentions made them in that shape, like branding. Some looked like they had been for medical purposes, too straight and deep, some had been stitched better than others too. And taken better care of.
Of course there were scars he recognized, like the one he got when he was stabbed during one of the patrols with him, or the burnt he got on his shoulder after an explosion in the harbor.
He even recognized the one he got after a sparing gone wrong with Tim.
But the one that was probably the biggest was the one that goes through his entire spine as long as Bruce could see.
How had Bruce never noticed most of those scars before? He thinks he would have noticed them...but Damian never really took off his shirt in front of people, at least not him.
He had never questioned it either, he didn't even thinks he noticed much.
He forgot that he was about to discuss with his son about his irresponsible behavior and got back to the computer where Alfred was waiting.
"Alfred have you seen it?" He asked.
"Would you care to specify master Bruce? Because I've clearly seen many things in my life."
Bruce almost rolled his eyes, he lowered his voice not wanting Damian to hear them.
"His scar, the big one in his back..."
Alfred's face went paler and he looked away. "I'm afraid I have Bruce, I believe you already read all about the things that happened during your...absence."
Bruce nodded. He hadn't finished it yet. "Yes, but I don't remember Dick's report mentioning-"
"He was shot Master Bruce."
"Yes I know that, but that doesn't explains."
"He was in critical state, and it was most likely we would never be able to walk again, it was likely the boy would become paralyzed, so I-I did what I had to."
"What did you do?" Bruce asked. He was t liking where this was heading to.
"Miss Talia offered help. They had to replace his entire spine, it was a successful surgery, with a pretty impressive technology if I may say, it could come handy sometimes...but it was horrible Bruce."
Alfred took a breath. "They had done it before, they had parts to replace him, I'm pretty sure they had already done it before with other parts."
Bruce looked back at the locker, where his son was almost ready by now.
"Master Dick told me that Miss Talia disowned him too. And Damian was on a wheelchair for some days, he did had to fight without he chair because of some attack we had. Actually I wouldn't be surprised if he ever have any consequences because of that."
Bruce realized how wrong he had been on judging his son on the last couple of months since he came back. He wasn't a bad Robin, and he had been through so much, and after all he was just a kid. His kid.
"Maybe he shouldn't go to patrol..."
"Don't talk like that, the lad waits for this part of the day daily, you can't expect him for him to stay just like that and don't protest or go out on his own. This is after all, the time where he can be himself and spend time with his father."
"Maybe we could stay-"
"Nonsense Bruce, you were just saying about that Gotham needs you because you're vigilantes and people rely on you."
Again, Alfred was right, it would be very hypocrite and selfish to say that and ten minutes later decide to skip patrol.
"I'm ready father!" Damian interrupted his thoughts at the right moment.
"Ok-I, get into the batmobile."He shook his head to clear his mind a little.
His son sprinted to the vehicle.
"I'll drive."
"Absolutely no."
***
Patrol went smoothly night. Bruce used all his years of trainings ni experience to try to not look much at his son and think about the scar he had seen and what Alfred had told him.
It worked, but he still catches himself looking at Damian's back a couple of times after they tied to robbers.
Damian did noticed him. But the boy never mentioned anything.
After they came back home they went straight to the showers. It had been a particularly cold night, and Bruce wouldn't want them to get sick. Specially Damian, considering he probably wasn't used to the cold winters in Gotham yet.
As he walked towards his room he started thinking about what could he do to comfort Damian. He wanted to comfort his son so badly, hug him and protect him from the world that had already hurt him so much.
He knew it was impossible, specially with the kind of life they lived and the kind of boy Damian was.
He also didn't wanted the kid to think that Bruce believed he was weak. It would only cause him to build up a barrier, a wall against him, closing himself. It would only mess up their relationship before it had even started. And he wouldn't like that to happen.
Bruce started questioning himself what would Dick do in his place? Probably get him some sweet food. Or fats food. Something unhealthy. And he would also probably take the boy to somewhere he liked, and forced him to cuddle with him and talk about it.
But Bruce wasn't his eldest son. He wasn't the guy to talk about it and cuddle with. That would only rise Damian's suspicions and eventually close himself towards him.
He should take him to somewhere he liked though. Maybe do something Damian enjoyed.
But what did Damian enjoyed? He didn't really knew. He had heard Dick mentioning going with Damian to some art museum and the arcade some weeks before. But he wasn't quite sure. Maybe he should text his son tomorrow morning and ask him for advice.
***
Damian woke up with a fever. Thank God. Apparently it had been something he probably ate at school.
I mean, don't get Bruce wrong, but that would make it a lot easier for him, he told Alfred he wasn't going to go out tomorrow, but instead take care of his son. He also asked Tim if he could replace him at the meeting he was going to have today.
Tim accepted. He was going to try to be out of the Manor as much of possible because of the possibility of catch something from Damian and getting it worse because of the lack of spleen.
No thanks, he had said before heading out of the kitchen after the boy had went downstairs to eat breakfast, looking even worst than Tim when he was too catches up in a case.
"Damian, I brought you breakfast." He entered his son's room. It was almost in complete dark. He decided to open one of the curtains.
His son only moaned and turned to the other side.
"Dames," he placed the small table in the bed, and sat at his son's side. "You need to eat breakfast."
He helped him to sit on his bed, and waited for him to wake up and start eating his soup.
"Where's Pennyworth?" He asked with hoarse voice.
"Alfred had to go get groceries and other things downtown, he'll be back in the afternoon."
Damian nodded slowly and yawned after he finished his soup.
"I need to get your temperature." Surprisingly Damian didn't protested.
39°C/102.2°F.
Not bad.
***
They had both stayed together that day, Damian had not protested much when Bruce would give him pills and medicine, differently from when he would get injured in patrol.
He also noticed Damian was acting slightly different, he wouldn't really ask for physical comfort, but when Bruce would get near him he wouldn't tense or get away.
He was also way more quiet. Without any protests or anything like usual.
Bruce may or may have not used this to spoil his son a bit. After eating breakfast in Damian's bet, Bruce prepared some food and they ate it in the sofa in the library, Bruce had worked in some documents and Damian had draw a little until he got a headache.
This only had to do with the fact he was sick, and totally not because of the horrible scars he had seen yesterday.
Alfred hadn't arrived back to the manor until dinner time, to prepare something for both of them before Bruce would head out to patrol with Tim.
"How are you feeling?" He knew it was useless either way to ask his son, he would much rather show it than admit it.
He noticed that Damian was already half asleep in the sofa when he entered the room.
"Come one let's get you to your room." He grabbed Damian and took him to his room.
"Good night, I'll be back soon." He said as he tucked him in bed.
"Night..." Damian murmured as he closed his eyes.
Bruce smiled as he closed the door.
***
It had been a rough patrol night, he did got stabbed, not something serious, he didn't really needed stitches, but it hurt.
Tim had to help him get out of the batmobile to get him to the medbay so Alfred would clean the wound and patch him.
Alfred had convinced him to let Tim fill the report and let him get some rest.
He was walking towards his room when he noticed a light coming from Damian's room. Wasn't him supposed to be asleep?
"Son are you awake?" He opened the door.
The light was coming from the bathroom.
"Damian, are you ok?" He stepped into the bathroom. His son was sitting in the floor, his face resting on the toilet, and his tanned skin was even paler than it had been during the day.
He looked horrible, and he seemed like he had tears on his eyes.
"Oh Damian-" Bruce sat at his son's side, rubbing his back as he threw up. "Why didn't you called Alfred?"
"I-I was about to, but I couldn't. I was sleep, but I woke up after an hour and I..." He started throwing up again, but there was nothing to throw up anymore.
Bruce stood up and filled a glass of water Damian had in his bathroom. "Here, drink it, you need it."
Damian did, slowly. As Bruce texted Alfred asking him to bring some more medicine and a bucket.
He looked back at his son, who was shivering.
"I didn't feel good..." He finally said.
"I know." Bruce continued rubbing his back.
Damian just started tearing. After a couple of minutes his stomach decided that the water was too much, and Damian started throwing up again.
"Let's get you to my room ok son?"
Damian nodded as Bruce picked him up.
Alfred had been outside in the hall with what Bruce asked.
"Take it to my room Alf please."
"Of course Master Bruce."
Bruce placed Damian on his bed. And the bucket just a few inches away from them.
"There, take this pills master Damian." Alfred ordered as he helped the boy. "That should help, if you need anything call me."
They both nodded as the butler left the room.
Bruce grabbed the book Damian had read the other way. It had been a simple novel, different from the usual he used to read, Jon and Jason had been introducing him to things other than classic literature, plays and informative books.
Jon was trying to get him into manga if he was correct.
"Do you want me to read it so you can fall asleep?"
He waited for Damian to said he wasn't a child that needed a bedtime story, but instead he just stayed quiet, his eyes closed, and his head on Bruce's legs.
Bruce took it as a yes.
"Spring passed into summer, and the woods grew warm and abundant, lush with game and fruit..." Bruce continued reading to his son for minutes. It was a warm feeling.
At some point he started feeling his son's respiration being regular, he looked down and he had fallen asleep.
Oh god he had fallen asleep. Bruce wanted to lay down and sleep too, but that would only move his son, after how hard it had been to get him to sleep finally.
Should he move? Maybe he could try to sleep like that, sitting on his bed.
Yeah that would do it.