We Don't Mix lives.

[29] I need sleep

I need sleep.

—-

Dick watched as the fireplace reduced to embers. He was in the living room if Wayne Manor, thinking about absolutely nothing, he should have been asleep, it was certainly too late to be up for any good reason, but Dick was scared.

He was scared of the nightmares that had been plaguing is sleep, of the way that the walls seemed to compress until he was crushed by their pressure. He might have been a coward, but he was too tired to care all that much.

It was worse when he'd been thinking about the Wars during the day, as if thoughts of the wars were catalysts for the terror inducing hallucinations that crept through the shadows whenever Dick closed his eyes.

So he sat on the couch, staring at nothing as the coffee he'd made himself earlier went cold.

But sooner than Dick would have liked, the silence became deafening, and the creaks and sighs of the old house became the sounds of battle, or worse, the screams that echoed from the infirmary in the hours after the battle.

Dick could handle battle, he'd been fighting since he was 9, and all the chaos made it easy not to focus on the blood and death, but to work in the infirmary, having to handle the agony filled screams of those slowly dying? Dick didn't think he could ever handle that.

Those screams were what he heard in the late hours of the nights after battle though, and Wayne Manor's creaking frame was excellent at replicating them. Like some sort of sick reminder that no matter how hard he fought, people were still dying, slowly, terribly.

Without his noticing, Dick must have fallen asleep, because the next thing he knew was being shaken awake by a very worried looking Bruce,

"Dick! Are you ok?" Bruce was kneeling on the floor in front of the couch that Dick had fallen asleep on.

Dick glanced at the fireplace, there were still faintly glowing embers, so he couldn't have been asleep long. Dick blinked, "I'm fine Bruce, I just had a bit of a nightmare."

Bruce's brow furrowed in worry, a position that seemed almost second nature to him, "why were you in the living room anyway?"

Dick stilled, "couldn't sleep."

"Has this been going on long?" Bruce asked, his face filled with parental concern. Admittedly, Bruce hadn't been the best parent back when it was just Dick, he was still learning how to be a parent, and many of the mistakes he made ended up effecting Dick, but since Tim's adoption he'd been much better, Hades, he was better with Jason than he was with Dick.

Dick might have been spiteful, that Bruce's parenting was the worst for him, but he was simply happy that his siblings were given the childhood they so desperately needed.

"Dick?" Ah, right, Bruce had asked a question, hadn't he?

"Right, ADHD, sorry... what was the question?"

Bruce shook his head slowly and sighed, though there was a fondness in his exasperation, "How long have you been having trouble sleeping?"

"Umm... a couple of months?" Dick's reply sounded more like a question than anything else, but Bruce just frowned,

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I forgot."

Bruce stared for a moment, "You forgot?" Dick cleared his throat awkwardly,

"Yeah... I've been too busy to think about it." Even just mentioning how busy he was filled Dick with stress, he shouldn't be sleeping! There were things to be done!

He needed to be protecting Blüdhaven, and on the lookout for new Demigods, he needed to make sure that campers were ok after the wars, and finish the paper work on that case and-

Dick's thought train was cut off, "Take tomorrow off." Bruce said firmly,

"But-" Dick started,

"Go meet up with Wally, relax, do something other than stressing about what needs to be done." Bruce said in a firm tone that didn't leave room for any arguments, "Be selfish for once."

Dick nodded, so Bruce went to stand up, "You should get some sleep, Chum."

Dick frowned, "I don't think I can."

Bruce's face was painted with concern all over again, but Dick continued, taking Bruce's advice and asking for something selfish, "do you think you could stay with me?"

Bruce smiled, "of course I can." He replied, sitting down on the couch next to Dick, the dark knight grabbed the remote, "Dumbo?"

Dick nodded, "Always."

———

That was really odd. I think I was possessed or something because I was writing at the speed of light.

I don't know what happened in this chapter, but when do I ever? It a wonder anyone's still paying attention.

ANYWAY, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and it wasn't too rubbish. If you did, please vote and comment (and maybe even follow me if you're feeling generous)- good things are coming.

Luv Ya,

Hestia.