Legends of the Wayne Family

Chapter Seventeen – Sick Kids Bruce

Bruce Wayne would never admit to having fears, but unfortunately, he had many- most of which were a direct result of having kids. Because ultimately, having little humans you raised out in the world was absolutely terrifying. As such, even the smallest things… such as- let's say colds gave Bruce a minor heart attack.

'I'm not going to school; see you guys this afternoon.' Called Tim as the seventeen-year-old stood up from the breakfast table and moved to walk back up the stairs and to his room or study. Bruce merely raised an eyebrow before sighing and calling out to his son.

'And why do you think you're getting out of school today?' He asked, folding up his newspaper and handing it to Dick- the youngest had started making a papier-mâché project for school little over a week ago and had since been taking all of Bruce's newspapers as resources.

Tim turned back around and gave Bruce an infamously obvious stare, as though Bruce had missed the biggest piece of news that morning. Tim rolled his eyes before responding.

'There's a cold going around, Arianna already caught it and now her little sister has it- then to spread to Arianna's little sister's friend and now it's going wild in both Gotham Academy junior and high. I'm not going to school till it's gone, not like I'll fall behind in my classes.' With that Tim left for the stairs, leaving Bruce, Damian, Jason and Dick at the table.

'I'm not going to school either than! I hated the last time I was sick and you're completely useless unless Alfred is around.' Jason torn down his school tie and left for the garage, Bruce could only assume the teenager was going to check out Terry's old motorcycle- which his oldest son had left behind when he'd gotten a new one recently.

'Jason if you're missing school, you're spending that time studying and working on your assignments!' Bruce called; Damian gave him a quick glance that told Bruce he was an idiot for trying to get Jason to spend "free time" studying. The only he'd be picking up would be for casual reading.

'Sorry, can't hear you, old man!' Jason screamed back before the door to the garage was slammed shut.

'I'm going into work till 2 this afternoon, then Jon and I are going out. Don't expect me for dinner.' With that, Damian left the table as well, barely patting Dick on the head as he went.

Bruce sighed once more.

'Can I still go to school today?' Dick asked, peering up at Bruce as though missing a day of school was Dick's worse nightmare.

'You really shouldn't, Arianna's little sister is in your year- you could catch the cold.' Bruce resigned himself to a work-at-home day with this news. Knowing Tim, the boy would be more than capable to studying and working through his course material without needing school and his teachers. Jason on the other hand might put up a fight, especially with Terry's old motorbike in the garage which he'd been dying to start tinkering with.

And then there was Dick, who loved school and learning, and Bruce found himself considering whether he'd need to get a tutor for the rest of the week- or at least until this cold died down.

His house and sick kids had happened before and Bruce decided he never wanted to risk such an event ever again.

'Sorry kiddo.' He ruffled Dick hair before leaving the table, he had some calls to make if he wasn't coming in for the rest of the week.

17

Dick Grayson was not someone who went down from a little cold, in fact, most of his childhood he had been lucky enough to rarely get sick and even less so get severely sick. In his nine-years of being alive (and as far as he remembered), he'd only thrown up four times, had a fever twice, and only one time been bed ridden- which had in his opinion been an overreaction on behalf of his mama.

So, being told that he'd be missing at least one day, "maybe a week Dick, I'm not sure" of school for a little cold, was not on his agenda.

'Jason I'm bored!' He cried dramatically as he made his way into the garage where he spotted his older brother laying on the ground with an elevated motorbike above him.

'Go find Tim- he'll let you organise his notes.' Jason answered, not looking away from the bike as Dick came to stand next to Jason's legs. Dick cringed at the suggestion, Tim had used him for that before, and at the time Dick had been more than happy to help- now though, he'd learnt his lesson and wouldn't ever risk getting himself into that situation again.

'No thanks, Tim gets so picky with that and he always corrects me on the littlest things.' Dick complained, taking to sit cross-legged next to Jason's legs, he unconsciously began to untie Jason's shoe laces and started to fiddle with them.

'Then go bug Damian- no idea what he's doing today.'

'Dami's going to work and then on a date with Jon.'

'Gross, they'll be all in love and stuff- yeah you dodged that bullet.' Jason paused his work on the underbelly of the bike before nodding to himself and continuing. 'How about calling Terry, maybe he's nearby and could take you out for the day?'

'Terry's not answering your texts, so I think he's busy.' Dick answered from where he was looking down at Jason's unlocked phone where he had been sending a number of questions about the motorbike to their older brother.

'Damn- I kinda need his help with this, whatever. Okay, so Damian's busy, Tim's horrible, Bruce will make you study, Alfred will give you chores. That's it, Dick, I've got no more suggestions.' Dick ran his mind over Jason's words and found them all correct, even though he wouldn't mind doing school work with Bruce or working with Alfred to dust things. He wouldn't want to bother the adults, especially if Bruce was already planning to work from home today, he didn't need more distractions.

'What about Duke?' He said aloud, Jason seemed surprised but nodded at his suggestion and let Dick use his phone to text the older.

'He says he's busy.' Dick said after a few minutes of silence as he waited for Duke to respond. Jason groaned.

'Busy with what- not like he has class right now.' Bruce had told them last week that Duke was on semester break and may end up coming to Gotham for a break from the bright lights of Central City.

'He just says he's busy.' Dick answers, though he is absently wanting to call Duke, even just to waste half an hour talking to his older brother.

'Screw him, let's go.' Jason is suddenly moving out from under the bike and meeting Dick's eyes with his own.

'Go? Go where?' Dick asks, handing Jason his phone back as the older than starts to type on his phone.

'It takes 3 and a half hours on a plane to get to Central city from Gotham, or 18 hours in a car. I say we book a flight- get out of Gotham for a bit and visit Duke in Central City, then on the way back we can bring Duke to the manor for his uni break.' Jason theorised out loud with Dick smiling enthusiastically at the plan.

'We could also go see Wally!' Dick chirps in as he jumps to his feet and is eagerly awaiting the "go get packed" from Jason.

17

In hindsight, Bruce will realise that entrusting a sixteen-year-old boy with his own pre-paid debit-card was probably a bad idea. Surprisingly enough is that Bruce hadn't realised this after Terry at fifteen had bought a boat, or Damian at fourteen had bought a collection of antique swords for over 1 million, or even Tim who at sixteen (not long ago) had purchase a library in a small town not far from Gotham and renamed it "Drake Library".

So, in all honestly- if anything is to be learnt from what is about to happen, it should be that Bruce Wayne will never learn not to give underage children millions of dollars, and that he is hopeless when his children get sick.

17

Working from home had proven in the past to not be a complete disaster, usually if the door to his office stayed closed and he stayed quiet- none of his children dared to hunt him down and they entertained themselves.

Working from home had also proven that while being the CEO of a multi-billion-dollar company had an endless list of things to do, it was also easier to do in the comfort of his own office in his manor.

He attentively cycled through his most recent emails, accounting had finally settled on a new budget and they needed approval, HR had hired three new interns from a local university to work in the technology design department, his flight to Central City was boarding now, the head of PR was applying for two weeks paid vacation. There were always so many things to review, that it was only on a second viewing of the emails did Bruce realise something was very wrong.

A flight to Central City, from Gotham, for Mr Richard Grayson and Mr Jason Todd-Wayne. His nine and fifteen-year-old were boarding a flight to Central City right now.

He instantly grabbed his phone and was already calling Jason's phone when he realised the time-stamp on the email, 22 minutes ago. They would definitely already be on the plane, and Jason was more than likely to have already turned off his phone.

Still, he let his call ring through until an automated message told him the number he was trying to reach was turned off. He slammed his phone on his desk.

'What were they thinking!'

17

Duke Thomas was an outstanding university student, he attended all his lectures, went to all his tutorials and workshops, and had even managed to get a job as a tutor under the university. Even so, life as a uni student was bloody exhausting and most nights left him studying until the early morning.

And when he woke, the third day into his uni break, with a headache, stuffed nose, and sore throat, he thoroughly cursed himself.

Two days later would find him bed-ridden and grateful his bedroom was so close to his flat's kitchen. His roommates, two other university students just his age would avoid him like a plague, but also threw him medicine from the doorway of his room.

'All I'm saying is, if I were you- and god I hope I'm not ever, I'd be calling a doctor in so they can get you some strong medicine- not the regular store stuff.' Andre commented as he leaned against the door frame to Duke's bedroom.

Andre 'Dre' Cipriani, the embodiment of emotionally stunted and anger issues, who loved to read true crime novels and was a child prodigy of piano. [1]

'Yeah, and you'd be smart in doing so- which is why it bewilders me that Duke is not being the smart one right now, must be really bloody sick to cloud your judgement this much.' Riko agreed as she sat cross-legged on the floor in Duke's doorway.

Riko Sheridan, art and English major who spent all her free time sewing costumes for the theatre department or watching anime and reading manga. [2]

'Shut up please, it'll be gone soon- I just need to sleep it off.' Duke had grown up getting colds or flus all the time, and as such he had noticed a pattern. The first day he would get mild symptoms, the next three days he would get really bad, then after that, it would usually go away.

He had one more day of bad, and then he was on the road to recovery.

The next day he was knocked out for a majority of the day, he'd woken up early in the morning eaten barely enough before collapsing back to sleep. He next woke a couple of hours later to a notification on his phone, absently be reached for the phone ad read the message.

Dick was texting on Jason's phone, asking if he was busy or coming to Gotham soon. He responded telling Dick he was busy and wouldn't be coming up for a while. Another message came after his response, it sounded much more like Jason, asking what he was even doing. He responded he was busy once again.

Mind barely functioning and his eyes stinging from his phone's brightness levels (even though they were as low as they could go), he dropped his phone back on his bedside table and returned to sleep.

Twenty minutes later his phone would ping once more- this time Jason was texting saying he and Dick were coming to Central City to visit him. Duke wouldn't read this text for another two hours, at which time he would swear and feeling the bare minimum of better he would slowly get dressed and an hour and a half later would find him parking in the Central City airport car park, readying himself to go pick up his younger brothers.

Dosed up on medicine and sweating, Duke would give a smile as he saw Dick and Jason once again.

17

Dick hadn't traveled by plane before- being a part of an international travelling circus, they had often moved from city to city by train- or on a rare occasion, by boat. Jason also hadn't taken a plane before- as in- he'd been in the Batplane a few times for missions and cases- but not the Wayne private jet or any commercial plane.

As such, both were a little confused as they finally landed in Central City. After having to seek out help to check in and find their gate back in Gotham, listening religiously to the safety instructions before the plane took off, and now having arrived in Central City, were once more confused on where to go from the luggage pick up (they'd only made it this far into the airport because they'd followed everyone else getting off their plane coming here).

'We should text Duke again.' Jason confirmed with a nod to himself and Dick, grabbing his phone from his pocket and slowly turning it back on.

'What about uncle Barry? We could call him and he's an adult that could take us to Duke?' Jason raised an eyebrow at his brother's suggestion.

'I mean, yeah- but I don't have Barry's number, and he's a daytime super, probably running around breaking speed limits and saving people.' Jason hummed in response and finally as his phone switched back on, it immediately sounded with an incoming phone call as he unlocked it.

'Oh shit…' Dick peered at him, grasping his backpack straps and managed to see the incoming call. Bruce was calling, and there had been a number of missed calls.

'Answer it! He'll be more upset if you don't Jay!' Dick urged him, quickly reaching up and swiping it to accept. He pushed the phone and Jason's hand up to his ear so the older could speak to and hear Bruce.

'Jason! What are you doing in Central City?' Bruce's voice wasn't shouting just yet, but it was raised and Dick chuckled uncertainly as he watched his brother's face pale.

'W-we wanted to visit Duke? And Dick wanted to see Wally too, and we don't have school today- and you and Alfred and Tim and Terry and Damian were busy?' Dick finally pulled on Jason's arm enough for him to lean down enough so Dick would be able to properly hear the phone call.

'Jason, you two can't just catch a plane to another city without telling me! You understand that right now I'm missing two of youngest kids who- unless I'd gotten that email, I wouldn't know where you were and now, you're both in a city you're barely familiar with- and without an adult.' Jason and Dick held their breath as they heard Bruce release a huff, both didn't say a word- it sounded like Bruce was still working through his speech. 'I've called Duke- he's already on his way to pick you two up, you won't be staying with him- Barry's agreed to take you two for the moment till I can book a flight for you two back to Gotham. You boys will not be doing something like this again and we will be talking about this- and consider yourselves grounded.'

They stayed on the phone till Duke appeared at one of the entrances to the airport, a guard right beside him- seeming to be helping Duke find someone, no doubt them. The guard and Duke made it to the two boys and Jason's phone was passed to Duke while the boys shifted nervously between each other.

'Are we in trouble?' Dick asked the guard while they waited for Duke to get off the phone. Jason seconded his brother's concerns, he knew they were in trouble with their family- but surely, they weren't in trouble with airport, right? But if not, then why was the guard still there.

'Not in trouble boys- your brother was a little distressed about your whereabouts and asked for some help finding you two. Though, I hope you understand why you scared your brother- next time I hope you'll talk with your dad and brother before you make a visit.' Both nodded in agreement and before long the three boys were leaving the airport with well wishes from the guard.

17

Duke walked his younger brothers out of the airport and to a bridge that reached over a busy highway and towards a parked area.

'You know Bruce is gonna ground you two till you're my age?' he chuckled, though had to stuff down a choking cough as it rose with his laugh. Instead, he reached into his pocket and checked to see if Bruce had messaged anything new about when the Flash would be able to pick his brothers up- no one would appreciate it if he got the babies of the family sick.

'Duke no! We were bored and we can't go to school cause there's this cold flu thingy going around that Tim's scared of- though I wanted to go but Bruce wouldn't let me and then Jason and I had nothing to do so we came here to see you and we were doing a good thing, we shouldn't be in trouble!' Dick cried, luckily without any tears but clearly annoyed or at least confused on why he was in trouble.

Duke sighed, the medicine was definitely wearing off- his throat still hadn't cleared from his laugh and he felt increasingly hot and tired as they made their way over the bridge.

'But you scared Bruce- that's why he's upset, cause he didn't know where you were and if something had happened- at Gotham airport, on the plane or even here in Central, he wouldn't've known and that scares him Dickie.' Duke peered to look at Jason, who was walking on his other side, and noticed the boy was absently glaring at the path. 'Okay, how about this. What if Bruce had suddenly up and disappeared today instead of you two- what would you guys have thought if he was just gone and didn't tell you anything?'

'I'd assume he went to work- or I'd ask Alfred and Alfred would tell me.' Jason declared. Duke sneezed as they started making their way down the stairs of the bridge- the loud echo of the cars below the bridge still rung in his head even as they made it into the park.

'Alright, and if Alfred didn't know, if he was just as confused about where Bruce was?' That seemed to cause Jason and Dick pause, Duke took a deep breath as he felt his head bang with a headache and absently rubbed his hand across his forehead to wipe away a thin layer of sweat.

'I'd be scared.' Dick finally admitted, Duke barely noticed as the boy held tightly onto his backpack straps- he'd been doing it since the airport, maybe some sort of nervous tick and comfort habit. Dick nodded to himself, confirming his words to himself before he went on.

'Cause Bruce is meant to be at the house today- he said so and he promised he'd be at the house for the rest of the week if we couldn't go to school. So, I'd be scared if he just left without telling anyone and I'd be annoyed and I'd make Damian and Terry go find him- or I'd call uncle Barry to find him cause Bruce doesn't just disappear without telling us.' Duke absently felt his mind supplying Dick's confession with an "anymore" at the end, because Bruce used to do that- disappear on missions without telling his kids, but he'd stopped after Tim had joined the family- especially due to the fact that Tim was so alike Bruce and was often picking up Bruce's worse traits- including disappearing without a word for long periods of time.

Duke sniffled and sneezed again as they made their way through the park, slowly reaching Duke's favourite café so he could set up shop there while they waited for Flash.

'Do you have hay fever or something Duke? You're sneezing a lot.' Duke brushed off Jason's comment and instead brought the focus back to Dick's words.

'So- then you get why Bruce is worried and you're in trouble for disappearing? Why he's gonna give you one hell of a lecture, and you're grounded, and why Damian and Tim are probably gonna give you a lecture to and why Alfred's not gonna make your favourite desserts for the next few days?' Duke didn't stop his mouth from rumbling, it just went on and honestly- since when had walking through the park been such a long exercise?

'Yeah, we get it Duke- I made a mistake and now we're in trouble, but dude, are you seriously okay, we've been walking slow for ages and I'd stay you were stalling but you look horrible.' Jason called him out and before Duke could stop himself, he stumbled into Dick who was suddenly in front of him. Both were nearly knocked to the ground, but found their feet- even if Duke wobbled and felt as though his world was still spinning from the stumble.

'Duke?'

17

Bruce found himself- not a week after Jason and Dick had vanished to Central City, with a full house of half well and half sick kids. Duke had returned to the manor with Jason and Dick in tow the very next day and since- Bruce had been trying his best to care for Duke, as well as Jason and Terry who'd caught the cold from the uni student. While Damian and Tim had practically evacuated the family wing for the guest wing of the manor to not catch the flu from the other boys.

Dick and Alfred had been more or less immune and had been helping Bruce- though Alfred didn't need to argue for everyone to agree that it was Dick and Bruce helping him, and not the other way around.

'Hey sport, how ya feeling?' Bruce made his way into Duke's bedroom- a tray of soup and medicine in his hands. Duke rolled over and met Bruce's eyes, absently placing the tray down on the bedside table, Bruce placed his cool hand on Duke forehead and hummed.

'Looks like your fever's nearly gone- how about your throat?' Duke merely raised a hand to signal 'good' before dropping his hand back on the bed and retreating under the blankets.

'I remember your colds usually last three-four days before you recover, so I imagine you'll be back to yourself by tomorrow, but till then- let's get some food into.' Bruce chuckled as Duke stuck out his tongue in a teasing manner before accepting the food reluctantly.

'Still surprises me.' Bruce mumbled to himself, and at Duke's raised eyebrow and whisper of 'what does?' he answered.

'You're always the strongest when you get sick- especially compared to your brothers, you knew the game and you played it, you never put up much fuss and you're always there to help your brothers through their own well-being before taking time for yourself. It's nice to know you haven't changed too much since to left for university- I was worried I was going to miss so much without being at your side.'

Duke looked at Bruce with a raised eyebrow but a soft expression, as though he was supportive but a little confused about what the older was talking about.

'I'm proud of you son.'

[1] & [2] Andre 'Dre' Cipriania and Riko Sheridan are two of Duke's friends (and partners in crime) during the 'We Are Robin' comics and both appear in other comics like Teen Titans, Robin War, Gotham Academy, and Batman & the Signal. I honestly don't know much about them aside from their base info and just needed a few friends for Duke to have while at uni.

Also- the title is word play on the term 'sick' both meaning 'sick' as in you're unwell, as well as 'sick' as in you're awesome/cool.

Special thanks to demigod (in reviews/comments) for your request for a hiding sick Duke fic that was fun to write, and he's a character I've always wanted to write more on- but haven't. You've also inspired me to write a few similar chapters in the future (maybe not so much the sick aspect), focusing on the kids (especially) getting injured and keeping it hidden, or keeping secrets because insecurities, so look forward to that.

So, hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and stay safe.