Nightmares: The Bat Brothers

Dawn Brings A New Day

"D- it's 7. Do you want to train?" Dick said, gently nudging his youngest brother with his foot.

"Why didn't you get me up at 6?" Damian asked, waking up.

"You finally stopped talking in your sleep."

"Drake is already going to have been training for longer than me. That is unacceptable." He said, rubbing his eyes.

"Tim hasn't come upstairs yet." Dick said. He had been awake and with his room being next to Tim's, he would have heard if his brother got his training gear.

Damian reached behind his neck and tried to scratch between his shoulder blades.

"Leave it alone." Dick said as Damian tried to scratch his stitches.

"It itches." Damian said, flatly. Titus was awake now.

Dick got out of bed and picked up Damian's blanket and handed it to him. "Go get dressed and I'll clean your stitches in the Cave."

"Ugh. Fine." Damian groaned, rolling his eyes. He slipped off of the bed and folded his blanket, keeping it behind his back as he walked down the hallway.

Dick got dressed and ducked his head through his shirt when Damian came in. He pulled it down over his chest. He had a significant amount of staples across his abdomen. "Let's go."

The boys walked down to the library to access the lift down to the Cave from behind the clock. Jason and Tim were up, drinking juice and eating toast.

"Did Alfred-"

"Relax, Dickweed." Jason grumbled. "We let Alfred sleep. We made breakfast. We'll be down in a minute."

"Okay." Dick said, stepping into the wall behind the clock and taking the lift down with Damian. "Let's spar for a bit." He knew Damian loved sparring more than anything else. He wanted to make him happy.

"No." Damian replied, staring out of the glass doors as they descended to the Cave. "You have a stapled stomach and you haven't slept. I just want to run."

Dick nodded. "Okay. Whatever you want."

When they got to the Cave, the boys stepped out. When Jason and Tim came down, Damian was shirtless, having his stitches cleaned by Dick with antiseptic. Dick informed him that he pulled a stitch and it would leave a scar if Damian didn't let him suture it back up. Damian shrugged.

"I have worse scars from sparring with my mother."

Dick sighed. It was true. He was seriously cut up as a kid. Luckily enough time had passed that it looked like his past had begun to heal... physically.

Finally, Dick fell asleep at the command center as he tried to find information on their father in Europe. He slumped forwards, head on his outstretched arm. Tim and Jason already just knew that he was watching the youngest Wayne boy last night.

"Do you want to spar?" Tim said, approaching Damian who was sprinting on a treadmill.

"Not with you." Damian replied, breathing quickly.

"Fine." Tim said, turning around and walking away.

Dick got up two hours later when Alfred brought a tray down to the Cave. The boys took a break from training and sat at the briefing table to drink herbal tea again and strictly decaffeinated coffee. Unlike normal, Alfred stayed down in the Cave with the boys. He was always busy but with Bruce being gone, he stepped in to make sure that none of the boys were being overlooked.

"Young Masters, how are you feeling?" Alfred asked, pouring a cup of tea for Damian who looked to be falling asleep in his chair.

Feelings. Ew. Not all of the boys were comfortable with talking about that. 

They all shrugged. Yep. Damian was out.

"Is he okay?" Tim asked Dick in a hushed voice.

Dick leaned forwards. "He's had 2 hours in 52."

"Fuck." Jason said, taking a sip of coffee. He had his feet up on the corner of the table. "Poor kid."

It was rare for Jason to openly sympathize.

Alfred cleared his throat. "I need to look at your sutures, Master Jason."

Jason touched the bandage on his neck and looked at his bloody fingers.

"Fucking staple opened." He cursed.

"Same with Little D with a stitch on his shoulder but he won't get it sutured."

"He's stubborn." Tim sighed. "And I have to get back to the Teen Titan HQ soon. I have a team to look after and prepare for this gremlin to join." He said, nodding at Damian.

"You have a responsibility to your family, foremost." Alfred said.

Damian sat up. "I'm going to take Titus for a walk."

"No. You're going to sleep." Dick said, pulling Damian back down by his shirt. "We all are. We're safe in the daylight. Let's just try to sleep. Then we can stalk Dad."

Alfred frowned. Dick raised his hands in defense. "Kidding."

Jason laughed. "No you're not."

"Go get some sleep." Alfred instructed. "I don't care where you sleep, just please rest."

The boys agreed. "Fine."