Don't Fear the Reaper

58) Chronic Pain is Super Slay

It was 2 days before anybody but Alfred saw Nico.

Multiple times a day, someone would knock on his door and ask to come in, and each time they were meet with a distinct single stomp. Sometimes, if they were lucky, they would get a 'why?' from the kid, but every reason was met with either a stomp or a 'then ask Alfred'.

The butler, while infinitely loyal to the Waynes, always refused to say much about the state that Nico was in. They knew that Alfred would have spoken up if he believed that the demigod was a danger to himself, which meant Nico was fine enough, but that didn't mean they slept well with the idea that Nico was isolating himself.

Alfred had told them that his injuries were healing adequately and that he had eaten an 'expected amount of the food he was given'. He had also said that Nico's actions were of a 'non violent nature'.

They knew he was kinda eating and not actively dying or trying to kill the elderly man... so that was good, they guessed.

The only reason that Bruce actually saw Nico on the second day was because Dr. Thompson came to give him a checkup and Alfred had to run errands, so Nico allowed Bruce in.

The kid had stayed quiet the entire time that Leslie checked him over, only muttering a quiet 'yes' or 'no' when prompted. When it came time for her to actually check the incision, Bruce could tell he was uncomfortable, so he turned around to offer him a bit more privacy.

"Okay, you can put your shirt back on," the woman said, waiting a moment before tapping Bruce on the shoulder to signal that he could turn back around. "Well, all things considered, you have healed excellently. Your ribs are basically completely healed and your concussion seems to be nearly gone. The only thing I am still a bit worried about is your lungs. Due to the damage caused to them by both the paradoxical movement and by the fact that one of them collapsed, I think it would be best to start doing some physical exercises in order to restrengthen them a bit. I wouldn't start with anything too strenuous, just try some light jogging and then working your way up from there."

Nico didn't seem to be listening as he moved back to the corner of his bed that was pressed against the wall.

"We can certainly do that," Bruce said, giving Leslie an apologetic look for Nico's silence. "Do you think he'll need another check up in a few weeks?"

Leslie was packing up her bag as she said, "most likely not, so long as he doesn't having any exorbitant amounts of pain or any prolonged discomfort while walking or running; however I believe that it might be wise to run a full work up on him once he is fully recovered. You said that you didn't have any medical history for him and it would probably be best to get a baseline of his physical and mental health moving forward."

Bruce nodded, thanking her and sharing a few words before she left the room. The man looked to Nico, who has his knees to his chest and was just staring at the wall blankly.

"There are a few options you can pick from for how you want to start your exercise. We have treadmills and-"

"I don't need a full work up," Nico said, still not looking at him. "Solace already did one and gave me all the vaccines that hadn't been invented yet when I was a kid. I'm fully vaccinated and everything else wrong with me isn't something that can be fixed, so it isn't important."

Bruce's eyebrows furrowed a bit as he moved to sit on the corner of the bed. "What do you mean by 'everything else'?"

Nico rolled his eyes before pulling up his sleeve and pointed to three large claw scars on his arm. "I was attacked by Lycaon during the last war. The wound closed, but for some reason it never full healed—something about permanent nerve damage or something." Nico pulled his sleeve back down. "Mythical creatures are weird, and sometimes they can do damage that can't be fixed. I just so happened to have fought a lot of monsters, and sometimes they get closer to winning than I like to admit."

"Where else go you have nerve damage?" Bruce asked softly, silently horrified at the idea that Nico was probably in a constant state of pain.

Nico chuckled slightly at that, though there was a darkness to it. "Where don't I? Between mythical creatures, training under Ra's, and the amount of times that I've been forced back to life, it's hard to remember a time where I wasn't in pain."

Bruce ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, well, if you want, we can look into procedures or medications that could-"

"No point," Nico said, leaning back against the pillows a bit. "Every child of Apollo has tried to fix it, but they can't, which means it can't be fixed, and I don't want medication. I've lived with it for this long, so no point in changing now."

Bruce bit his tongue, forcing himself to not push the subject. He didn't want Nico to be in pain all the time, but they were trying to re-enforce and respect his decisions, so pushing him wasn't going to help.

"Steph and Barbra are coming over for dinner tonight. I know they would both love it if you joined us," Bruce said, trying to get Nico to leave his room without making him feel like he had to.

"I don't want to be around anybody," Nico said, turning his face further away from Bruce.

Bruce just offered him a small smile as he stood up. "Okay, thank you for letting me know. If you're feeling overwhelmed, I can go-"

"You can stay," Nico cut him, pulling the throw blanket near his feet onto himself as his face flushed slightly. "If you want to. I don't care either way."

Bruce couldn't help the genuine smile that pulled at his lips as he moved to sit at the top of the bed, leaving wide buffer of space between them. He kicked off the dress shoes he was wearing and quickly sent a text to Tim, asking his son to stand in for him at the meeting he was supposed to attend, before grabbing the basket of knitting supplies off the floor.

"You know, I've been meaning to try out a new hobby. Mind showing me the basics?" he asked Nico while gesturing to the basket.

Nico hesitated for a moment before nodding. He moved to sitting crisscrossed, pulling the basket into his lap and rifling through it for a moment. He pulled out a handful of knitting needles in slightly different sizes before handing two to Bruce, grabbing two for himself as well. He pulled the sweater he had been making out and put it to the side.

"What color?" he asked quietly, tilting the basket towards Bruce.

"Green?" he said, silently asking if it was okay that he used that one.

Nico nodded, handing him the ball of yarn, before grabbing a black ball out for himself. He quickly put everything else away before he began explaining how to start.

Bruce listened with a smile the entire time, doing his best to follow along as Nico quietly spoke. The kid kept his distance and never once made eye contact, but it was nice to hear him talk about something so mundane. Bruce truthfully didn't care much about knitting, but he could have spent hours listening to Nico explain it because it gave him a glimpse of who the kid was outside of the mythological world and the realm of heroes and villains.

Bruce would spend the rest of his life knitting if it meant seeing Nico just be a kid. 

A/N: sorry for ghosting... I don't really have an excuse other than being tired lol

Vote. Comment. Tell me what you did since I was gone (I had insomnia, visited my friend in Richmond, VA, and got thrown into the side of a stage while in the pit of a punk show).