Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or anyone in the DC universe. No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Hey guys. Here's a one shot for the Disease and Illness challenge on the YJ forum. I highly recommend that anyone interested should try it, I had an absolute blast with this. The disease that I chose is deep vein thrombosis, and my victim is Robin (that's nothing new.) Here's just a brief summary of the disease.
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a blood clot in a person's deep vein. It mostly occurs in the legs, and sometimes has no symptoms. Non-specific signs of DVT include swelling, warmness, pain, redness, and engorged veins in the legs. It usually goes away naturally, but if the thrombosis dislodges and moves into the lungs, is can become fatal.
Here we go!
The day started as a training day. Everyone was working on something different in the gym, and Black Canary had come to watch and see their progress. Artemis was having target practice, Connor was punching the socks off a specially made punching bag, and Kaldur was in the pool going through an obstacle course that Aquaman had set up for him. Wally and M'gann were sparring, and Robin…
Well, Robin was flying.
Not even kidding. Batman installed a gymnastic set similar to the one that the 13 year old had at the Manor in the Cave's training room, and Robin loved it. He was as ecstatic as he could possibly be that he could practice his acrobatics in the Cave too.
Canary nearly smiled when Robin whooped with joy, flying from one trapeze bar to another. It was nice to see the little bird so cheerful, especially since it was getting around that time of year again. Robin laughed again and jumped from one bar to the next, flipping in the air and hooking his legs around the smooth metal. The other teens stopped their own training and watched their youngest member soar through the air, grinning knowingly at each other before resuming their earlier activities. Now Black Canary really did smile.
Suddenly Connor materialized next to her. "Do you think he could teach me? It's not flying, but it's the closest I'll ever get."
The blonde smiled again, but the moment was shattered by an ear piercing scream.
All eyes immediately flew to the trapeze, only to find that the little bird that had been swinging in the air was gone, plummeting straight to Earth. His cape whipped around his scrawny acrobat's body as he fell, the air rustling his jet black hair.
Superboy darted forward at a speed that Kid Flash couldn't have matched, catching the brightly clothed acrobat in his strong arms. While the rest of the team jogged forward, Connor set Dick down on the ground, crouching next to the aerialist. "Are you alright?"
Robin shuddered, rubbing his left leg. "Not really. My leg is killing me."
By this time the rest of the team had reached them. "Dude, are you okay?"
Robin glanced at his Canary, and turned back to his teammates. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Just kinda fell asleep in the air."
"Seriously? How do you fall asleep in these weird places?"
The youngest member cracked a grin at Artemis. "It's part of my charm."
"Are you sure you are alright, my friend?"
"Seriously Kal, I'm good."
"He said his leg is bothering him." Connor said in a flat voice.
Robin shot the Kryptonian a small glare. "Thanks Supey."
"Why didn't you say that?" M'gann asked, confusion written all over her pretty face.
"Because," the young protégé said, standing with some assistance from Superboy, "it's probably nothing."
"Nothing doesn't make you fall from what, fifty feet in the air?"
"Fifty-five actually." Robin took a hesitant step forward before putting his whole weight on the leg. Geez, that freakin' HURT! He leaned heavily against the wall. "Yeah, that's not going to work."
Wally scooped up his companion, ignoring Robin's surprised yelp. "I'll check it out." With that he sprinted off.
Robin clung to the redhead's shoulders. "Wally! This isn't going to work either!"
"Would you rather walk?"
The teen thought for a moment. "No, no this is fine, thanks."
Wally smirked. "That's what I thought." When they got to the med-bay he gently set Dick down. "If you want, there's a change and a pair of sunglasses in one of the lockers by the bathroom."
"'kay." Dick hobbled off in the direction of the lockers, peeling off his mask as he went. About five minutes later he poked his head out from behind the door. "Uh, Wally?"
Said speedster turned to his best friend. "Yeah?"
The scrawny acrobat limped out. His chest was bare and he wasn't wearing any shoes, but his pant's were still on. "I can't get my leggings off."
Wally scrunched his eyebrows together. "What do you mean 'can't get your leggings off'?"
"I mean they won't come off. I've tried to pull them off from the top and the bottom, but the left side won't budge."
"Okaaaay. That's… weird."
"I know. Can you try?"
"I can, I guess." He guided the younger hero to a bolted down medical table with handle bars. "Hold onto these. The last thing we need is rip these and make my butt well acquainted with the floor."
After about fifteen minutes and a few failed plans, Wally threw his hands into the air. "Oh my God, this is getting us nowhere!"
"Now what?"
Wally spotted a pair of scissors and got an idea. "Dick sit down. We can cut them off."
"Oh joy." The acrobat sat down in a metal chair while Wally retrieved the pair of scissors. "Just don't cut me."
"Relax! I know what I'm doing."
"And why do I doubt that?" The older teen carefully stuck the tips under the fabric and started snipping away at the leggings.
When he was about halfway through Dick started to get bored. "I'm glad I haven't stopped shaving my legs, or I'd have a big hairless stripe where you're cutting."
Wally glanced up at him but kept cutting. "Firstly, where did that come from? And secondly, since when do you shave you legs?"
"I don't know, I'm bored. And Bruce made me start shaving my legs when I was wearing that leotard as part of my Robin costume."
"And you haven't stopped because...?"
"Because believe it or not it chafes really, REALLY bad."
"Sometimes I think I know to much about you."
"Probably do."
"Got it!" The last of the leggings fell away and left Dick in his boxers. "Uh, Dick, I think we know what's wrong with your leg."
"What do you mean?" The teen peered down at his swollen, bright red leg. "What the...?"
"And it's been bothering you for how long?"
"A couple days, I guess." Dick studied his leg. "What's wrong with it?"
"I'm don't know exactly, but I might have an answer. Has it been feeling really hot?" Wally stood and gave the acrobat a shirt and a pair of shorts, going into full big brother mode.
"Now that you mention it, yeah. I just assumed I was over exerting myself."
"Nope. I think is was a symptom."
"Um, okay. A symptom of what exactly?"
Instead of answering, the redhead pulled out a heavy book and turned to a page with a picture of a swelled leg just like Dick's. He read for a few seconds before feeling across the ebony's leg, tracing the veins. "Yep. Definitely a symptom."
"Again, a symptom of what?"
"DVT."
"Which is?"
"Deep vein thrombosis. Basically blood clots in one of your deep veins, and it causes the part of the body the clot is in to swell, which makes it start hurting and turn red."
"And you know all this how?"
"Read about it in a book somewhere."
"Great. Two questions. Firstly, how did I get it?"
"Probably sat in the same position too long. That can make the blood flow in your legs go down a lot."
"Okay, note to self, walk around in the bioship. Now what do I have to do to get rid of it?"
"Dude, you can't do anything. DVT goes away naturally.
"How long will that take?"
"I don't know. The time it takes is different from person to person. Until it does go away though, no missions. Don't want to risk dislodging it, or it's bye bye birdie."
"Yes sir, Doctor Wally." Dick mock saluted, prompting both to laugh.
"Well, at least you'll have me for company, Dickie."
Dick got an expression of fake horror on his face. "Then someone kill me now."
Wally tackled his friend, and the two began playfully wrestling. "Oh it is on."
A/N: Kind of abrupt ending. This was originally going to be some DaddyBats fluff, but I figured some Wally-Dick friendship fluff would be better for this story. Please review, and thanks for reading!
