Nightmares: The Bat Brothers

Night 3: To Save a Brother

"Jason! Wait!" Dick called after his brother, who was disappearing behind the closing elevator door, leading to the Cave.

It wouldn't be long before Jason would be suited up, piloting a drone to inevitable moral and ethical doom. Steel bullets, no doubt.

"Shit." Dick muttered. He ran outside to the garden shed to the emergency elevator behind a shelf. He spammed the button to go down to the Cave. This elevator was more commonly used for emergencies like escaping the Cave or the Manor and going between the two. He could probably beat Jason.

Tim sprinted. He was in shorts and a t-shirt. He never slept in pajamas. In fact, he usually just fell asleep in whatever, which Bruce and Alfred lectured him on. multiple times.

"Damian!" Tim called out into the morning darkness. It's always darkest before the dawn. He knew this to be true. "Ah, fuck." He muttered, changing directions and sprinting the other way. He knew where Damian would be running to- the Wayne cemetery on the other end of the property- and then probably over the fence out into Gotham, two miles away to the location of a drone stashed beneath a bridge. Batman had tech everywhere. It was a crap shoot where exactly Damian was headed. Let's see- Damian ran a 5:55 mile and Tim ran a 5:46. He could probably beat him. "Goddamn night terrors." He groaned, legs burning. He shouted angrily into the wind. "THIS IS DICK'S JOB!"

Damian was paying his respects quickly before he would run away. He heard footsteps coming near him and whipped his head around but Tim was approaching and Damian would have to accelerate into a sprint, killing milliseconds that he couldn't afford. Fuck it. He turned on the ball of his foot to run away and made it a few hundred yards before being taken down and restrained by Tim.

"Jesus, Damian!" Tim panted. "What the fuck are you doing?!"

"I want to go home!" Damian shouted into the ground.

"Oh fuck off." Tim shouted, rolling his eyes. "You don't have a home anywhere else, dipshit. This IS your home. You can't just run away because you're scared."

Damian punched Tim in the stomach and tried to get free, but Tim had a solid 33 pounds on Damian and picked up his brother.

"You're a sugar-high idiot. We TOLD you it would give you nightmares and you're only proving our point."

"Where are we going?!" Damian asked, struggling.

Tim said nothing, just dragging Damian along until he finally cooperated. "Seriously, you hardly get smacked and you try and run away."

Damian blushed bright red. "That's not why-"

Tim returned Damian to his room and sat in the chair across from his bed.

"Now go the fuck to sleep." Tim ordered. Damian was clearly crashing from his high. Sugar, man. It changes a kid.

Dick remained in the Cave with Jason. They were sitting down, and talking, having calmed down... slightly.

"Right between the eyes." Jason said, spinning a pistol and mimicking aiming the gun. The safety was on... luckily.

"Okay." Dick said, snatching the gun and walking away with it to stick it on the weapons wall. "Let's not kill anyone tonight and I swear to Christ NO MORE SUGAR FOR ANYONE."

They returned upstairs and Alfred was not amused. Damian was dead asleep but the other boys just sat in the youngest Wayne's room on their phones or laptops.

"I suppose sleep is not in the cards for any of us?" Alfred asked. He looked over at Damian who was snoring. "Well, perhaps for those most crazed on artificial sweeteners."

The butler moved to pull the blankets up over Damian's shoulder and place a hand on his forehead. It was slick with sweat. Another nightmare.

"I will see you when it is light." Alfred said, closing the door behind him.

While light did not come, 6 am arrived. Everyone was asleep except for Tim, who was standing at the window of Damian's room, looking out over the pristine green lawn. It reflected the last of the moonlight. In a few minutes, the sky would lighten in preparation for the sun. For now, it was dark, and rain gently pattered on the roof, a whole level above them in the attic. The antique, rippled glass had streaks of cool drops sliding down and racing each other.

Damian sat up in his bed and watched Tim, who turned around.

"You're up." He noted.

"No shit." Damian yawned.

Tim walked over Jason, who was snoring with his laptop screen dark, but open. Tim knelt down to close it before sitting on the edge of Damian's bed. He propped himself up, back on his elbows, and looked up, craning his neck for a minute in thought. Damian shifted, uncomfortably.

Tim looked at his younger brother.

"Wanna go for a walk?"

"With you?" Damian asked, feigning disgust.

Tim shrugged. "Why not?"

"Because I hate you." Damian answered, flatly.

Tim laughed softly and stood up. "I can live with that."

Damian got up, wordlessly, and pulled on a coat from his closet, stepping gently over Dick. Tim slipped over into his room and grabbed a hoodie and met with him in the threshold of Damian's room. They walked out in silence.

Tim stepped down the main staircase, carefully. Damian slid down the banister, meeting his brother at the bottom. They stepped through the heavy main door of the Wayne Manor and down the marble steps.

"Are you happy living here?" Tim finally asked, breaking the silence. They ignored the drizzling from the heavens. Damian looked at his feet. He never realized that he didn't slip shoes on. The hem of his pants was soaked by the wet grass. They walked past the greenhouse before Damian answered.

"No." He decided. "I want to go back East."

"Why?" Tim asked.

"Are you happy here?" Damian asked without responding to Tim's question.

"Yes." Tim responded without hesitation. "This is my home. And it's your home, too."

Damian shrugged. "I didn't ask to be here."

"Well I'm glad you're here." Tim sighed. "Sometimes."

Damian smirked at the grass, content that his sibling rivalry was still in place. He was comfortable without change.

When day broke, Dick and Jason watched the single figure stalk towards the Manor. Upon closer inspection, it was Tim carrying Damian on his back. They met their brother at the entryway. Damian was snoring, slightly drooling and Dick laughed, taking Damian off of Tim's back and turned back towards the stairs.

"I'll give him another hour and draw the shades. Kid's tired."

Tim shrugged. "He agreed to walk with me."

Jason rolled his eyes. "He didn't agree to make it back." He looked at Tim. "Let's get breakfast."

"Please don't let it be cereal."