Guess i should Robin_Kid because this is my request! well i guess that's just a regular story? idk

Also - in typical me fashion - i couldn't really decide what i wanted so i had to flip a coin

Maybe if I can be bothered I'll do the other eventually just bar the Christmas theme for a different holiday - looking at you Halloween drafts I never got out in time

I hope you all have a great holiday season even though some of you may not celebrate it!

EDIT: TW VOMIT//WALLY'S DEATH MENTION

Christmas always meant no sleep. Criminals decided that they all wanted to steal the newest iPhone and villains decided they could do with one big plot to destroy Gotham before the year's end. Dick, being the workaholic he was and needing to keep himself to keep busy to ignore the fact he wasn't taking the loss of his boyfriend well at all, was working around the clock to protect his city. Sleep was a distant concept he couldn't quite remember in full detail and he was sure that there was a myth that humans needed to sleep at all to keep going because he'd been going for at least a week without it. Well, he thought he did. Granted, he couldn't remember anything from that week even when he tried. He intended for things to remain this way and maybe he'd last till the buzz around the holidays died down before he himself died but life liked to fuck with him and there was no way he was going to get through the festive season without some sort of painful experience. Fortunately, there may be an upside to his suffering.

It was yet another chilly night in Bludhaven and Nightwing was filling up his time by catching any criminal that dared to run into him. Tonight was different from every other night because it was Christmas Eve and he had to head to Gotham in the next few hours. Tomorrow would be the only time of year there'd be a truce called and they'd join together but that was the lovey-dovey way of explaining it. The more realistic version of events was everyone liked Alfred's cooking than whatever the takeaway could muster up at the last minute so they decided to pretend to like each other for a while and play happy families until they had their fill and left like everyone else did- wow that was a red flag. Nightwing paused for just a moment to catch that spiralling thought before it could go much deeper. He took a deep breath then continued. So what if they only spent one day a year together? It was still one day! Sometimes there'd be presents too. Sometimes. There wouldn't be any this year. He'd be going on his own. That thought alone made him apprehensive to even set foot in the house. Yes, they were family but they got a little much sometimes so it was nice to escape to his room with his beloved ginger and enjoy the quiet one on one time. They'd play video games together and cuddle and it made him feel like he could deal with everything his siblings had to throw at him. Now he wasn't too sure. He'd still go though. There'd only be whining about how he insisted on their family time but then never showed up. Not to mention how that would worsen the headache that had kept him company for the last few days. It wasn't going away and he doubted that it would any time soon. He'd just have to take some extra strength ibuprofen or something. There was also some pain in his side that felt more akin to a dull and distant throbbing pain of something inside being completely wrong than a regular good old fashioned stitch he was used to but that absurdity was pushed to the back of his mind along with the whole grieving nonsense. He didn't need to deal with that. Well, he needed to but he didn't want to.

As patrol continued and he made his way over, Nightwing knew there was something wrong. Something really wrong. It started out with a few sudden pains here and there. It wasn't anything he hadn't felt before. After all, he was doing back to back patrols and he was sleeping in his suit most of the time. When he did have the effort to get changed out of them, he was much too sleepy to notice if there was anything there to make note of. He wouldn't be surprised if there was a big bruise there or maybe some swelling that had gotten more painful and therefore noticeable throughout his constant movement. He had to pause a few times on fire escapes before jumping back into action, stopping muggings and robberies every other alley. Nightwing had just finished with one mugger, typing him up and handcuffing him to a pipe, when he felt the overwhelming need to throw up. He tried to swallow the vile substance but he ended up doubling over and spewing vomit onto the street. His eyes watered as he felt as though the skin was pulling away from his skull at how violent the experience was. He coughed and spluttered once his stomach decided a sufficient amount left it, wiping his lips with the back of his glove. "Uh, are you alright?" the mugger asked, genuinely concerned. It looked as bad as it felt then. 

"Fine. Just food poisoning or something. Sorry I gotta leave you here with it, I have places to be," he answered. 

"I'm not too happy about it I won't lie but dude you gotta take a night off. Pretty sure you've locked up every criminal in Bludhaven for the holidays," the other continued. The hero couldn't help but smirk at the conversation he was having with none other than a criminal. Then again, they were both just guys wearing masks at the end of the day. They were just on different sides. 

"Aww but then who will kick your asses?" he replied sarcastically.

"Fair point. Happy holidays dude."

"You too." He went to continue his journey then paused. It was the holidays. "You got a family?" The man nodded. "Kids?" Again, a nod. The acrobat thought for a moment. There was something in the back of his mind saying there were issues with just leaving the guy here in the cold. It would be snowing a lot throughout the night, confirming a white Christmas, and this criminal wasn't wearing the clothes for that. "Then I suppose they'll want their dad home."

"You mean-"

"Yep, a one-off since I don't particularly want it going around I'm sick. If this stays between you and me then I guess I could say someone you know must've let you go when I left. Deal?" 

"Deal." Nightwing smirked and walked over, undoing all his work. Hey it was the holidays and this guy had been one of the first in a month or so to show concern for his wellbeing. He was feeling kind. "Have a nice night."

"You too."

Despite that good deed, his night didn't get any better. He stumbled over the border of Gotham and Bludhaven having thrown up frequently throughout his journey over there. Gravel had never looked comfier and the thought of just collapsing on a rooftop to wait out the pain in his side didn't sound too bad. Robin was going to meet him on top of one of the warehouses which made the idea of waiting out his time on top of the roof all the more alluring. He didn't need to be standing when Robin met him. Hell, he didn't need to be awake. He could just lay down and collect himself. Yeah, that sounded nice. If any crime happened, he'd probably hear up and wake up. Just one small nap wouldn't hurt. Maybe he'd see Wally. Nightwing hummed to himself and let himself drop to his knees. He rolled onto his side and let his eyes slip closed as the fever he was developing made the cold all that less noticeable. 

Robin huffed loudly as he looked around. Nightwing was supposed to arrive ten minutes ago but he was late. There was no reason to be late and he hadn't been told anything that would make him have much concern about the lateness. If anything, he was annoyed at the lateness and was already planning the lengthy rant he'd have to the older about how he should be on time and how that speedster was- better not mention the speedster now that he thought about it. Definitely shouldn't call him stupid either. There went the crux of his rant but given how there was no sign as the other hero, he guessed he'd have enough time to rethink that. "This is ridiculous," he muttered bitterly. He pulled out his communicator and decided to call the acrobat, hoping that would remind him of their meet up. He tapped his foot impatiently and only felt more frustrated when it took a while for Nightwing to answer. "You're late."

"No 'm Dick." There was a slur to his speech and if Robin didn't know any better, he'd think that he was drunk. 

"I'm not in the mood for your dad jokes. Where are you?"

"On a roof."

"There are many of those Grayson, you'll need to be more specific."

"I will I just gotta throw up. Please hold." The sound of wrenching made Robin pull the communicator away from his ear. So the older was sick. That would explain his absence and the slur. It mustn't be too bad though if he was out on a roof. He was probably just joking about needing to throw up but it still unsettled the younger.

"That's not funny. If you can patrol then you can be on time," he stated, trying to get rid of the uncomfy feeling now settling in his stomach. Something was wrong and he knew it but he didn't want to admit it just yet. Nightwing could look after himself. Could. Not did. He didn't always look after himself.

"M not tryna be funny Dami. I- fuck." That whine. That tone you'd hear when someone was in really bad pain but much too tired to voice it properly. Robin decided to make his way over to Bludhaven to see if he could spot the hero. He couldn't stand there any more and he needed to get over to where the older was to figure out what was going on himself.

"What's happening?" he asked as he jumped over rooftops.

"My head. Think I should see Leslie. M tired though. Gonna...gonna take a nap. Gnight!"

"Grayson no-" The line was dead before he could get out his sentence and huffed. Looking at the older's tracker it is.

The hero eventually found Nightwing curled up in the foetal position on a roof, a puddle of vomit a few feet away from him. He was shivering but his face looked flushed, almost worryingly so. His arms were tightly wrapped around his stomach as he slept restlessly, whining and whimpering. "Grayson?" Robin called, kneeling beside him. He stirred at the call of his name but didn't wake up. "Grayson, have you been poisoned?" 

"Too early," the older mumbled. Robin rolled his eyes and shook him. When that didn't work, he pulled at the other's arms to see what he was holding so tightly. There was no cut on the fabric of his suit nor was there any blood. Whatever was bothering him was on the inside. Poison, flu, food poisoning; he could go on. He thought for a moment then nodded to himself. He needed to get Nightwing to a doctor. He went to call Batman then paused. Batman wasn't going to help this time. He was currently off-world and wouldn't be back until the new year. That was the estimated time anyway. It was Robin's job to meet with Nightwing before he got home to tell him the situation at hand so he wouldn't blow up in front of everyone. He could get his anger out on punching some bad guys instead of saying fuck it and staying home. "Call Walls?" Nightwing asked. He'd opened his eyes and through his blurred vision, he'd seen Robin look through the contacts he had. The younger gulped. 

"West is dead," he stated.

"M not talking about West? S sad but 'm talking bout Wally," he replied. 

"West is his last name."

"Oh." There was an uncomfortable silence between the pair as Robin decided to just send out a level two distress signal - the medium danger signal since he couldn't tell if this was entirely serious. Nightwing's near delirium wasn't anything to suggest something sinister because he was always like that when he had a fever and there was no cut that would prompt him to think this was anything other than a bad flu. "Bruce?"

"He's working. Father won't be home until January."

"But 's Christmas tomorrow?" Nightwing replied softly, his bottom lip quivering. He always got...expressive for a lack of a better term when he was ill and now Robin was having to deal with it. He sighed and got off his knees, sitting down properly as he suspected it would be a long wait. He couldn't do much and could only hope he didn't end up with sick all over him by sitting close to the older. 

"It's just another date on a calendar," he responded. It wasn't the most comforting thing he'd ever said but he was right. There was no real importance to the day unless you placed it there and he'd chosen there was no real significance to the day aside from he had to have better self-control. 

"Not fair. Keep losin why can' things stay?" Robin ran his hand through his hair as he thought about how to phrase this without upsetting Nightwing and then having to deal with a blubbering mess. He knew Nightwing and he knew that he'd lost a lot over and over with brief stints in between them where he found himself relying on the hope it wouldn't end despite prior knowledge telling him it would. He got invested in the good that when the bad happened he either ignored it to preserve his ability to work or acted out to get everything out. Wally was there in most situations to catch him before it was too late as Batman had once done. Now neither of them was there to do it. 

"Things can never stay the same. If a seed forever stays a seed then there would be no growth into the plant's full potential."

"Bad change. Tha's good change but what about bad?"

"Change is change. There is no clear good and there is no clear bad. Take your parents for example. Their deaths meant an entire change in your life course. You were destined to be a circus performer but in one brief moment that changed into you being a hero. Granted, you're traumatised and have experienced awful things but you have also created a legacy and saved the world countless times. Though that change began bad and can be linked to other bad changes, it can be linked to good changes."

"Damian?" he asked softly. 

"Yes, Grayson?"

"Lookin after you was a good change."

It was quiet. A soft sound of beeping in the background as people talked amongst themselves. It wasn't the sound of the city Dick had heard before. There was no whistling wind to bite at his skin and there was no sound of traffic filling the streets. No distant scream he had to investigate either. Just quiet. He could bright lights on his face, shining through his eyelids and making him dread opening his eyes. He turned his head away from the light, hoping that would save him of some discomfort. Dick felt wires connected to him and a mask fixed over his face. His throat was dry and sore not to mention his body felt numbed out. Surgery usually made him feel like this. Dreary and exhausted despite doing nothing but lay there as surgeons worked. He worked up the effort to open his eyes and began to inspect the room. Sitting around him were his Frankenstein family stitched together through the vigilante world. From Cass to Barbara to Tim, he found himself well and truly surrounded. How they were all allowed into this hospital room was a miracle. "Someone's back in the world of the living," Jason announced, bringing everyone's attention to the hero. He smirked at the younger's comment, his eyes half-lidded still to give him a dopey look. 

"Wanna tell me how I'm here?" he asked.

"Aside from passing out after chucking your guts up, you had appendicitis but then your appendix burst. You had some pretty major surgery and it didn't help you were in a bad place aside from the faulty organ," Tim explained. 

"Malnourished and dehydrated. Are you trying to take Tim's crown of being the unhealthiest?" Steph joked.

"How is he the unhealthiest? I drink and smoked," Jason argued.

"You don't count you're basically a zombie. This guy is tiny because of his caffeine addiction," she defended. She turned to Dick who was laughing softly at their argument and put the jokes aside for a moment. "Seriously though, you're gonna be recovering for longer now. If you don't go insane then maybe that'll teach you to take better care of yourself."

"I'll try," he responded.

"No, will," Cass corrected, her tone stern. 

"Fine, I will look after myself. It's just difficult. Without him." Kate put her hand on his and squeezed it comfortingly. He squeezed back in recognition and blinked away the tears that were threatening to spill over. "Sorry for ruining your Christmas."

"Something like this would happen anyway," Duke assured him. "Beats sitting around a table I suppose?"

"And those two brats can't kill each other when there are doctors down the hall," Jason said, thumbing to Damian and Tim who were on opposite sides of the room as a means of safety. Dick cackled lowly at the offended glances shot the younger's way. He watched as the attention drifted to who would win in a fight between Tim and Damian right this second rather than his dwindling health. He tried to retrace his steps to see what was the last thing he remembered. He found that his memory went to a rooftop. Bruce's name stuck out but it took a minute before he remembered why. Dickhead.  The acrobat couldn't rely on the father figure anymore and that had been the case for a while but right now it was hitting him harder than ever. The people in the room now were people he could rely on. Sure they fought, almost worryingly so, and fractured every now and then but in the end, there was something that brought them together. Whether that be the nature of their work or because they cared for one another truly, Dick wasn't sure but what he was sure of was that they'd be there. Something Bruce had failed to do for a while now. 

"What do you think? Who'd win?" Steph asked him. He smiled.

"I'd win."

"That wasn't an option!" Damian yelled.

So as another year is coming to a close I just want to say thank you! It's absolutely crazy that I'm 18 now and in university doing a degree. I appreciate you guys dealing with the new upload schedule and I really hope that the quality of my stories hasn't gone down. Whilst this year has been one of the hardest everyone has had to go through, I hope that my writing has brought some escape from everything. 

To get a little personal here, writing has never been more helpful. I came out as non-binary to my parents before going to university and it didn't go well. I struggled a lot with what was said and I still do. It'll be a while before I am over it but writing stories like these and like my other books makes me feel better. 

I'm already on my third book of this series and I don't really know if I'll make a fourth. If there's demand I will but if there isn't, I'll definitely update my talon!dick and demon!dick book. Maybe even a villain!dick book or something. What I'm trying to say is I am not going anywhere. I'll be around somewhere because this has always been a massive part of my life and I've met so many wonderful people here. In these next few years, though my presence may get spotty or I may concentrate on OC work, my discord is open and so are my dms. If you need someone I hope that the small community I have here and myself can be there.

And to 2020, fuck you.