Disclaimer: 'Batman' belongs to DC. (I believe… O_o) But Darrian does not.

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Night had come sooner than expected, thunderclouds rolled in and lightening lit up the sky in a moment of glory. Bruce feeling older then twenty-two at the moment, dragged himself out of his 'bat-cave' and into the kitchen for something to drink. He would have had Alfred get it for him but the butler had began to feel ill and retired to bed early, early as in one A.M. Bruce sighed softly as he poured himself a cup of coffee. Lifting the cup to his lips there was a knock at the door.

  Setting the mug down on the counter, Bruce padded softly out into the foyer and pulled open the large wooden door. The rain chose that exact moment to fall soaking the outside immediately. A short figure stood outside the door, leaning heavily on the frame, wrapped up poorly against the rain in soaking wet jeans and an overlarge black hoodie. The hood obscured the person's face enough so that you couldn't tell from where it was standing even what gender it was.

  "'s this Bruce's place?" The figure asked, and now you could tell that it was a guy. He leaned forward, holding his chest, still obscuring his face, but random strands of pink-purple hair could be seen peeking out from under the hood.

 "Who are you?" Bruce asked, his voice somewhat light.

 He squinted against the dark trying to see who it was on his doorstep.

The guy didn't answer, deciding, instead, that it was past time for a nap. It was as if a robot had been turned off as he collapsed, half in, half out of Bruce's house.

Bruce frowned slightly as he knelt down onto his knee and rolled the stranger over onto his back. His eyes widened in shock and his jaw dropped.

 "Darrian?" He whispered softly.

~*~*~

He didn't need this, not right now not when he was so close to becoming Batman. His eyes slid over to the man lying on the couch with nothing on but a blanket. Darrian was from a part of his past he wanted so desperately to forget. His eyebrows drew together in anger and he turned away folding his arms over his chest trying to calm himself, why was he here? Why had he come here? Why now?

Darrian suddenly sat up, reaching for a weapon that wasn't there and breathing hard. He looked around with dangerous panic in his very green eyes until he realized he wasn't in any danger and calmed down, falling back into a prone position with a groan. He felt like crap run over, with a fever and a pounding headache, not to mention the chest-searing cough, which took that moment to introduce himself. Darrian sat up again, coughing his lungs out until the attack ceased. He leaned upright against the sofa back and looked tiredly at his long unseen friend.

 He smiled crookedly. "Heya Bruce."

Bruce turned to him, his face clearly un-amused by what was happening.

 "Darrian," He said softly, his voice deep and angry, "Why are you here?"

Darrian put a hand to his head wincing. "Can't I drop in on an old friend?" He asked, trying to sound light but there was definite trouble in his voice.

"You weren't just dropping in," Bruce raised an eyebrow noticing the strain in Darrian's voice, "and you're sick. Where have you been all this time? Is someone after you?"

Darrian pulled his knees up, careful to keep covered, and rested his elbows on them, holding his head in his hands in a position that should be familiar to Bruce. "No one's after me who'll be able to find me." he said, his voice sounding much older and more exhausted than before. "I had nowhere else to go." He said quietly

Bruce shook his head, "If you're going to stay here, then I should at least know why." He said rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Darrian closed his eyes. "Please Bruce." He said wearily. "It's in the past. It's nothing you'd want to hear and it's nothing I want to tell. Not now anyway. Please trust me on this one?"

"I have always trusted you Darrian, you know that." Bruce said, his face lightening slightly.

"Yea." Darrian said, smiling. "Hey man... you don't have any painkillers or something do you?"

Bruce nodded then disappeared out of the room, a few moments later he returned with a bottle of aspirin.

 "Here." He grunted handing Darrian the bottle.

"Thanks." Darrian said, taking four and swallowing them one after the other.  "God, I feel like crap." He moaned, sliding back down to lie sideways on the couch.

"What happened to you?" Bruce asked raising an eyebrow.

"A lotta things.. to make a long story short, adding my non-existent immune system to stress, divided by me not looking after myself like I should and multiplied by crap weather equals what the hell ever flu i have at the moment." He coughed again, finding it hard to get his breath back for a while after he'd stopped.

"You need to see a doctor." Bruce frowned not liking the sound of that cough.

"They won't do anything for me." Darrian said, scowling. "Dumb quacks."

Bruce ignored Darrian's comment, "I'll have you examined tomorrow morning, I have a friend that owes me a favor."

Darrian would have argued, but was feeling too sick to do so at that moment. He lay back and put an arm across his eyes, feeling how hot he was when he did so. "Mmm, maybe you're right." he said grudgingly.

"Get some sleep and I'll see you tomorrow." Bruce said slipping out the door.

Bruce needn't have bothered, as Darrian had already fallen into an uneasy sleep.

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A/N: So… How'd ya'll like that? Please review and tall us what you thought!