This chapter is dedicated to winchesteratheart and is based off of their idea. I hope the chapter lives up to your expectations :)
It had been 3 days since Dick had gotten any substantial amount of sleep, and at this point he was basically living off of coffee and cereal.
He had been working on a few particularly difficult cases, a few of which were extremely time sensitive, all of which were more important at the moment than sleep.
The most pressing item was a missing persons case. A little girl who had been carried off by her stepfather.
He'd been working on the case for a day or so, and knew that every minute waisted diminished the likelihood of the girl being both physically and mentally safe when they found her.
A knock at Dick's apartment door made him jump, startling him from the spiral of slightly delusional sleep deprived thought he'd been stuck in. He hopped out of his chair and walked over to the door, covering his large yawn with one hand while he opened the door with the other.
Damian was standing there on Dick's doorstep with his arms folded and a small scowl on his face.
"Hi Dami," Dick said, covering another yawn with his hand.
"Grayson. Did you forget that we were scheduled to get ice cream together at 9:00?" Damian asked.
Dick glanced at his watch. 10:30... "I'm sorry Dames, but I don't know if I'll be able to take you today. I'm working on a few time sensitive cases," he said, rubbing at his forehead.
"Than I shall help you so you can get caught up," Damian said, walking past Dick and into the apartment.
"Umm. Ok," Dick said, following Damian back toward his desk. "I guess you can work on this one." He handed a folder to Damian before sitting back in front of his computer.
The two of them worked in silence for a few minutes before Dick's eyes widened. He stood and grabbed his phone, quickly calling the Blüdhaven police chief.
"Chief, I found the girl. She's in the abandoned apartment building on 5th street," Dick nearly shouted into the phone as threw on his bulletproof vest and his large black coat, walking towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Damian asked, standing up and following Dick across the room.
"I found the missing girl, and chief wants every available officer to go to the scene," Dick said. "You stay here, I'll be back in a while."
Damian grabbed on to Dick's hand, looking up at the large black bags under his brother's eyes, and seeing him shake his head to try and stay awake. "Shouldn't you get some sleep first?" He asked quietly.
"This isn't about me Dami. I need to help this girl," Dick said as he exited his apartment. "Stay here," he said once again before running towards his motorcycle that was parked in the alley below.
—
Dick led the squad of officers up the apartment stairs, heading toward the forth and last floor. The officers walked onto the top floor and spread out, each taking a door.
After a signal from Dick, the officers kicked open the doors to the dilapidated apartments and crouched in the doorways, each of them yelling for anyone inside to come out with their hands up.
A gunshot echoed through the building and the officers all sprinted toward the doorway that Dick had disappeared through, carefully ducking inside with their own weapons held up and ready.
Soon enough, the little girl was free and on her way back to her mother, her stepfather on his way to jail.
—
Dick stumbled into his apartment, falling into the wall near the entrance and leaving a bloody handprint on the white paint.
"Grayson?" came Damian's worried voice. "What happened?" he asked, helping Dick slide down to the floor.
"Got shot... There was a big pony... and I told it that it was just a horse, but it didn't wanna be..." Dick trailed off, his eyes flickering closed for a few seconds.
"Stay awake," Damian said sharply, whacking Dick lightly with the back of his hand.
Dick groaned. "Then tell the wall to stop singing lullabies," he mumbled.
"You need to stay awake," Damian replied, not really sure how to respond to his brother's delusional state He removed Dick's coat and started examining the wound on his brother's shoulder. "I'm going to lay you down on the floor Grayson, don't fall asleep while I go get the supplies to take care of this wound."
After a few minutes Damian walked back into the room with Dick's first aid kit. "I think the bullet is still in there," he said, opening the kit and removing a pair of long forceps.
"Take... This piece of cheese... and learn to fly with it..." Dick sang drunkenly, completely oblivious to what was going on around him.
Several agonizing minutes later, Damian led Dick towards his bedroom, Dick's left shoulder wrapped tightly in white bandages.
Damian helped Dick lay down on his bed. "Get some rest," he said. "Father says I must go back to Gotham, but I will see you on Friday."
"Friday?" Dick asked, his thoughts slow and foggy.
"Yes, you promised that you would come on Friday and stay the weekend so we could go boating as a family," Damian said.
"Riiiiiiiight," Dick replied, letting his eyes drift shut for a few moments before prying them open again. "I'll be there... Should I bring my pet toothbrush?"
The crease between Damian's brow grew slightly, but he decided not to do anything about Dick's random outbursts, assuming they'd stop after some sleep, so he turned and walked from the room, calling out a quick goodbye before he left the apartment.
Dick let his eyes close again with a sigh. They were only closed for a minute before they snapped open again. 'I have work to do..." he thought, rolling out of bed and stumbling towards his coffee maker to brew another cup of the bitter liquid.
—
Dick walked in to work the next day after another sleepless night. He walked over to the captain's desk and handed her the stack of files he'd completed the day before. "Captain?" he asked.
The captain responded with a grunt as she shuffled through the papers in the various folders.
"Can I take tomorrow off?" Dick asked.
The captain finally looked up. "As long as you get your work for today and tomorrow done. You have quite a bit of it since you'd been focusing on that missing persons case for the past few days.
"Right. I'll get it done before the weekend," Dick replied, walking over to his desk and staring at the enormous stack of papers and files that awaited him.
—
After yet another sleepless night, Dick decided to pay an Uber to take him to the manor rather than risk making the drive himself, which was probably wise since he honestly had no idea whether anything he was seeing was real or not.
Dick walked up to the door of Wayne manor with a briefcase full of files and paperwork in one hand, and a bag of overnight clothing slung over one shoulder. He knocked on the door, and chuckled when he heard Damian and Tim racing to see who would get to open it first.
Tim had apparently won the race, because he opened the door and jumped at Dick, nearly knocking him over. "Dickie!" he shouted.
Damian stood in the doorway, frowning disdainfully, and Dick caught a glimpse of Jason leaning against the wall a bit further down the entrance hall.
"Hey guys..." Dick said, stumbling under Tim's weight.
"Tim, get off of him," came Jason's deep voice from behind Dick, as well as a steadying hand, effectively keeping Dick from falling over.
'How did Jason get behind me so fast?' Dick wondered to himself for a second.
Tim hopped off of Dick and instead grabbed his brother's arm and dragged him inside.
"Why haven't you come to visit in so long?" Tim asked, stopping in the Manor's large family room.
"I was really busy with work and Nightwing stuff Tim," Dick replied, rubbing at his eyes when he swore he caught a glimpse of a llama next to the couch.
"You are planning on going boating with us tomorrow correct?" Damian asked, trying to hide his expectant look.
"Wouldn't miss it..." Dick trailed off. "I do have a bit more work to do though, so I won't be able to do much with you all tonight."
"You're still coming on patrol right?" Jason asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
"We'll have to see..." Dick replied distractedly, trying to see if the short man with a baguette who was dancing in the corner of the room was someone he knew. "See you in a bit," he said after a moment. "Knock on my door if you need anything."
—
Damian walked into Dick's room to see the man pouring water over his socks that he'd thrown into the corner of the room. "What are you doing?" he asked.
Dick's head snapped up and he looked at Damian with unfocused eyes. "The plants need watering," he mumbled.
Damian gently grabbed the cup from Dick's hands and led the man over to his bed. "Did you get any sleep yesterday?" he asked.
Dick simply started stroking Damian's head. "You intrigue me hairy potato... you intrigue me indeed," he said.
"Grayson," Damian said a bit more forcefully, grabbing Dick's wrists.
Dick stared at Damian for a while before asking, "Why are mops so soft?"
Damian dragged his hand over his face in exasperation. "Lay down," he ordered.
Dick obeyed, laying down on his bed and watching as Damian brought the blanket over him.
"Now get some rest," Damian said, folding his arms across his chest.
"But Damiiiiiiiii," Dick whined. "I have more work to do, and it all has to be done by tomorrow."
"Sleep is more important for you than work is Grayson," Damian growled, his look daring Dick to object.
Dick fell silent, closing his eyes with a small huff.
Satisfied that his brother would at least get some sleep, Damian left the room.
Almost as soon as Damian had closed the door, Dick hopped out of bed and walked back to his stack of papers, taking a sip of his 4th cup of coffee and starting to work on the paperwork again.
—
By the time Dick was finished with his work for the police office, it was almost 5 in the morning. He'd declined Bruce's offer of patrol, spending the night working instead.
Now it was finally time for Dick to relax and get some sleep... but once he laid down in his bed he found he just couldn't fall asleep.
The 'too tired to fall asleep' phase only lasted for a few minutes before Dick was snoring softly under his warm blankets.
—
Dick opened his eyes to find Damian standing over him with his hand on his shoulder, shaking it vigorously.
"Grayson," Damian said, "we're leaving with the boat soon. You should get up and prepare yourself."
Dick grumbled a reply, rolling out of bed and walking into the bathroom.
—
The bat family was finally all together, gathered on the small boat Bruce had recently purchased. They sailed around for a while before Dick started to feel extremely seasick. His face was pale and covered with beads of sweat, and he turned multiple times to empty his stomach contents into the water.
"Let's go back to the shore and drop Dick off," Bruce said, noticing how much his eldest was struggling. "I have some nausea medicine that I'll give to you," he added to Dick.
—
Dick swallowed the pill Bruce gave him as he watched his family sail off without him. For a moment he swore he saw baguette man on the deck with them, but after a blink he was gone.
The medicine worked fairly quickly, so by the time Dick got back to the small pavilion where they'd left their things he was already feeling a bit better. Unfortunately, a side effect of the medicine was drowsiness.
Before he could even contemplate sitting down in a chair, Dick flopped onto the ground, curling up and sleeping like a rock.
—
"I found him," Jason called out when he saw Dick lying on the ground, fast asleep.
"What's wrong with him?" Damian asked, rushing to his oldest brother's side.
"Nothing's wrong. He's just asleep," Jason said, scooping Dick up into his arms.
"He has been acting rather delusional lately," Damian said, following behind Jason as he carried Dick to the car. "Is that because of lack of sleep?"
"Ya," Jason replied. "Goldie's probably been keeping himself up for days trying to work on some cases or paperwork for his job, that's just what he does."
—
Dick opened his eyes and groaned. He looked around the room, not surprised when he saw someone in the corner. It wasn't baguette man, which was unfortunate because he was really hungry.
"Welcome back to the land of the living," Jason said sarcastically.
"What happened?" Dick asked, sitting up in his bed.
"You tell me," Jason replied.
"The medicine Bruce gave me made me tired I think..." Dick trailed off.
"Oh really, cuz you've been acting high out of your mind the past few times you woke up, which makes me think there was something else going on," Jason said.
"Well... I haven't been getting much sleep for the past few days..."
"You've been sleeping almost constantly for the past two days. To me that shows that you've been missing more than just a little bit of sleep," Jason said, folding his arms over his chest.
"It wasn't that big of a problem..." Dick mumbled.
"Not that big of a problem? The last time you woke up you spoke only in rhyme, and the time before that you told me to, and I quote, "Toast the world with your milk jug." You barely made any sense! What if that had happened while you were on patrol? What if you'd been up against Deathstroke or even a common mugger. They would've killed you." Jason's words hung in the air for a moment. "Dick, every time you do this to yourself it hurts not just you, but everyone who cares about you."
Dick bit his lip and stared at his lap.
"There's a scared little boy somewhere in the manor who practically spends his every waking moment worrying about you. The least you can do is not give him cause to worry more by being an idiot," Jason eloquently stated.
"I'm sorry," Dick whispered. "I didn't mean for any of you to worry about me."
Jason sighed. "That's what we do Bluebird. We're your family, it's our job to worry about you," he said gently.
Dick let out a deep breath and his eyelids drifted closed once again. His eyes snapped back open as soon as his head began to drop, and Jason helped him lay back down after letting out a quiet chuckle.
"Sweet dreams Goldie," Jason said softly as Dick's eyes drifted closed again.