Tesseract Child

Fuss-pots

Because, actually I've got no excuse for this chapter. It's a random mish-mash of requests...

Robin slept right through his normal 5 o'clock wake up. Sleeping in was what he needed. Not only wasn't he feeling great but also between the fever and the medicine, he'd slept poorly. He'd had some really weird dreams. When he woke screaming and then laughing uncontrollably until he started crying while sort of awkwardly smiling, he'd really freaked out Thor. The tired old dream of his parents falling had replayed.

He ended up laughing because Megan's influence had quite determinedly changed the ending. Instead of the ordinary gruesome end, a flying pink unicorn had caught everyone at the last minute, and flown them up to heaven. They'd waved bye-bye and blown kisses. *

Thor was driving Bruce insane.

"Thor a fever is his body's healthy response to illness. I know Natasha and Clint didn't run a fever when this hit them but he's five. His immune system is immature so it works a little differently. A fever is his body's first line of defense. It's nothing to panic over. And strange dreams are pretty normal with a fever. There is no need to be concerned about madness," reassured Bruce trying not to roll his eyes.

Peter called from camp when Robin didn't show up. After talking to Peter, Steve was upset.

Batman and Red Robin had discretely adjusted their patrol schedule to accommodate Robin's early morning calls. They were worried when he didn't show up. Batman was waiting on the transmitter when Tony blearily wandered into the workshop at 8:00 which would have been 3:00 in the morning their time.

After talking to Batman, Tony installed a microphone next to the transmitter and programmed Jarvis to respond if no one was near and contact someone in case of emergency. Apparently Batman had done something similar weeks ago. Tony who didn't particularly like being up before noon, left for his plane muttering, "Batman thinks he's soooo smart, put a microphone next to the transmitter, set up a computer answer service.. La-dee-Batman-la.... It's not even that clever."

This freaking summer bug is evil, thought Bruce. The utter nonsense everyone had already gone through because of it was bad enough. Natasha was enhanced. She almost never got sick. Shield panicked. It made sense that Robin would get hit with it as soon as he started playing with children his own age but that didn't mean Bruce had to like it. It had been less than fun being interrogated by Batman. Oh goodness gracious here came Thor again. Bruce ducked into the washroom.

Robin padded into the kitchen for a juice box at around 9:30 am. Auntie Tasha and Mr. Barton had already left to do spy type things and Tony had said last night that he was heading to Japan in the morning to take care of business with Ms. Potts. "Where are Thor and Uncle Steve?" Robin asked Bruce.

"I sent them to the gym to pound on each other for a while. They were being insufferable," explained Bruce. "What would you like for breakfast?"

"Oatmeal please," answered Robin. "Why were they being insufferable?"

"Oh, I'm sure you'll find out soon enough," answered Bruce putting a small serving of oatmeal in the microwave for Robin. "Batman wants you to stop by the transmitter at noon and let him know how you're feeling."

"Jarvis can you warn me 15 minutes before noon?" called Robin.

"It would contradict my programming to wake you if you are ill," Jarvis warned. "I am to do what I can to keep you from harm."

"Oh dear," declared Bruce. "You're even going to be fussed at by the house AI." Noticing Robin was wearing his watch, Bruce discretely checked Robin's temperature on one of the many computer terminals. Bruce put another dose of fever reducer in front of Robin without saying anything. He watched as the boy downed it wordlessly. Bruce brought him his blanket, a tissue box and garbage when he curled up in front of the TV. Robin was back asleep pretty quickly.