Don't Fear the Reaper

25) Back at it Again with My Angsty Bullsh*t

A/N: ^ I tried out a new art style, and I'm pretty proud ngl

Dick had never felt so on edge— or at least, he hadn't felt that on edge when nothing was technically  wrong.

Bruce was still unconscious, but Alfred said he was healing and should wake up any day now. Everyone seemed relieved to have Bruce back and the manor finally felt calm... except for one thing.

Nico.

He hadn't spoken once since coming back to the manor. It had been 2 days and he barely even tapped his responses to questions. Cass had tried signing to him, but he never even looked at her— he just stared at the ground in front of him. He followed Damian throughout the manor, but even the youngest hadn't gotten more than a few taps or knocks out of him and it was never about anything useful. He wouldn't respond to any personal questions, he barely ate, and they hadn't seen him sleep once. All he did was stand guard over Damian.

"Dick," Steph said, sprinting into the room.

Dick turned to look at her, jumping to his feet, expecting to hear that something— everything— had gone wrong. "What happened? Are we under attack? Let me grab my-"

"I think Bruce is waking up," she said, a spark of hope in her eyes.

Dick was running out of the room and towards his father's room, Steph close behind, as soon as she finished her statement.

He tried to enter the room quietly, though he was doing it at top speed so he probably failed, but it didn't matter. He slowed as he approached the bed, the rest of his family gathered around Bruce. Dick looked to Alfred for what was happening.

"I was changing his IV when I swear his hand moved and his eyes fluttered," the butler said, his voice barely a whisper. "It could have just been a muscle spasm, but..."

"But he could be waking up," Dick said with a nod.

The room was silent as they all just watched Bruce breath. Normally at least one of them would have gotten antsy at the silence, but none of them moved from their spots around the bed. At one point, Alfred tried to leave to go make dinner for everyone, but Dick stopped him, telling him that they would order in food— after all, what kind of monsters would let a man cook for them while his son was possibly about to wake up. Alfred had shed a silent tear at that statement, agreeing to let them order pizza, but only because he 'enjoyed the Italian cuisine', which was a complete lie, but they pretended to believe it.

None of them left the room that night. Slowly but surely, each of them had drifted off in whatever place they had hunkered down in hours before. Damian and Alfred had both pulled up chairs next to Bruce's bedside, they're arms and heads now resting on the mattress next to the man's unconscious form. Tim and Duke were on the floor, backs leading on the bed frame. Steph and Jason were sitting on the bed, backs against the footboard of the bed. Cass was leaning against the headboard in the empty spot next to Bruce while Dick sat against the wall, trying to fight the heaviness of his eyelids.

The only one truly awake was Nico, who stood protectively behind Damian's chair. He had remained like that since Dick had gotten to the room, barely even shifting his stance once despite having been there for hours.

Just as Dick was about to loose the fight against sleep, he heard a quiet groan come from the bed. His eyes instantly shot open, looking at the bed and seeing Bruce's eyes hazily looking around. Dick was about to get up to rush to the bed and wake the others up, when he made eye contact with his father— the man silently telling him not to move, before he looked to Nico who was staring at the wall across from him.

"You're alive," Bruce whispered, his voice coarse and strained.

Dick was confused at why Bruce would say that, considering it was him who had been in a coma for the last however long, but he did as his father wished and remained silent, ready to fake sleep if the Italian turned to look at him.

Nico tapped his foot twice, though the small flinch he made at the stament didn't go unnoticed to either of the vigilantes.

"I saw you got shot before I passed out," Bruce said quietly, his eyes skimming over the teenager.

Nico seemed to hesitate before pulling down the face covering part of his suit— he hadn't taken it off since they had seen him again— and Dick was just barely able to see the edge of a new scar from the angle he was looking, but Bruce's breathing hitched at the sight of it.

"Lazarus water," Bruce muttered. "I guess I didn't imagine the glowing green light from your suit."

Nico didn't respond, only pulling the covering back over his nose.

"A shot through the larynx, even with Lazarus water... it muted you," Bruce said after a long moment. "Probably not permanent, but for the time..."

Nico tapped twice.

They were both silent for a while until Bruce spoke again, this time his voice softer. "Thank you. You brought me back to my family."

Nico didn't respond for a long while, he just kept staring at the wall. After probably about ten minutes, his eyes shifted to look at Bruce. Neither said anything, but it seemed Bruce understood anyways.

Nico looked back at the wall across from him as if nothing had been communicated, while Bruce glanced at Dick again.

The eldest son took it as a sign and left out a quiet yawn, stretching his arms as if he just woke up before jumping to his feet. He ran to Bruce's bedside, shoving everyone he passed on the way there.

"Bruce," Dick said, grabbing his father's hand as everyone woke up in confusion.

"Why did you hit me Grays-" Damian muttered before seeing that Bruce was awake and immediately grabbing his arm tightly. "Father."

Instantly, everyone was talking. They were asking Bruce how he felt, what happened, and everything in between. Bruce was obviously still in pain, but he smiled at all of them as he did his best to calm them down. Nico had taken a step backward as the kid watched the interaction, but his eyes gave away nothing.

Dick wanted to be present in the moment and just be thankful that his father was awake, but he just kept thinking about Nico. He was right there. He was witness to the family being reunited, and yet he was a few steps away.

He was steps away from being with the family. He was mere feet from the love and light.

He kept a distance, and all Dick could think was that the distance didn't come from trying to be mindful of boundaries or emotional divide.

It came from a moments hesitation 2 years prior. 

It came from a mistake that happened on the roof of the Midtown Exchange.

It came from Dick's fear of being Bruce and a boy jumping off the roof in front of his eyes.

It came from that moment of hesitance that destroyed the kid's chance to grow up, because death took everything it touched and Nico was no stranger to painful touch of death. 

A/N: Dick is so angsty lol

Vote. Comment. Tell me you like my art (I need constant validation).