Contacts

He's sleeping

Bruce stayed at the apartment for the next three days, watching Dick. Dick slept most of the day, sometimes being dragged from his drug induced exhaustion. Bruce kept Dick fed and hydrated while Harley was at work, and patrolled the city while she was at home.

Dick had lost any appetite he had. He often pushed meals away, trying to go back to sleep. There were times he was hungry; other times Bruce or Harley had insisted and made him eat. He was slowly losing weight, which wasn't good. He was considered thin around the waist in the hero community, and would only get thinner if he continued this.

Bruce brought Peanuts, Dick's stuffed elephant, over from the Manor. Dick had snuggled the animal to his chest, eyes closing again. Peanuts stayed in the crook of Dick's left arm, on his cast. Dick always had his right hand on Peanuts, holding it. When he was younger, he claimed it was because Peanuts got scared of the dark, and that was the only thing that calmed him down.

Bruce missed the little boy Dick used to be. Someone who always saw the light in the world, though he himself had seen the darkness. He always had a story for everything, and he wasn't ashamed of who he was. Bruce never regretted taking him in, but he often wished Dick could have gotten a different childhood.

Dick always looked at Bruce groggily when woken up. It seemed as if he had trouble identifying Bruce. Bruce always let Dick do what he needed to recognize him, even if it meant Dick was poking his cheek or counting the few freckles he had. Sometimes it required Bruce to frown, others to smile. Dick always seemed to be able to tell it was Bruce.

Dick was moved to his bed the second day. He had grabbed Bruce's hand and pulled him down, snuggling into his side and falling asleep again. Bruce had been effectively stuck. He had two choices: wake Dick and move, or stay still and keep Dick asleep. Dick needed rest more than he needed to be awake, so Bruce had let Dick snuggle into him.

Harley had been doing all that she could to help Bruce sleep as much as possible. Sometimes that meant downing three cups of coffee and staying up all night. Other nights it meant giving him a blanket and her bed, and telling him to count sheep, bub. Whatever it took, he slept and she watched over Dick.

The fourth day, Bruce was called back to Gotham because of an emergency. Dick had held onto Bruce's hand tightly as he whispered goodbye, kissing Dick's forehead and promising to come back. Harley had comforted a sad Dick Grayson for six hours, reassuring Dick Bruce would come back. Now all she had to do was keep him in bed. Shouldn't be too hard, right?