10th Day of Christmas

                                    

                                          
Yes I know this is dumb but I think it's cute so fight me
Edited 07/02/2024: format change 


After years of working as a hero, Dick had gotten used to the idea of naps. He soon saw it less as a sign of childish behavior and more of a necessity seeing as he worked the night shift most of the time. It wasn't odd for the older League members to find him still dressed in his Robin suit curled up on a couch or slumped over in a chair over a table. However, the sight became uncommon when he grew up. Mostly because he could keep himself awake for longer and partly due to a nap schedule he stuck by that meant he wouldn't pass out in places other than the manor. Although, with everything in life, there were some anomalies. Here's one of them.



Nightwing was just about to leave for home where he intended to have a nap when Bart grabbed his arm and pulled him into the kitchen without a word. He stopped by the kitchen counter and looked up at him expectantly.

"Care to explain?" he asked, a little annoyed that his nap was being postponed. 

"I don't know how to use the coffee maker," Bart said. It took all of Nightwing's willpower to resist facepalming. He had just explained it to him. In detail. Four times. 

"I just told you how to work it."

"Yeah, but I tried to make coffee and it tasted wrong. I prefer your version," he responded. When he saw Nightwing's hesitance, he pulled out the puppy dog eyes that the older couldn't resist. "You wouldn't want me to go on a mission without energy would you?" Even with the knowledge that this was a manipulation tactic and Bart had enough energy without coffee, Nightwing relented and made the coffee.



Once the hot beverage was handed over to the speedster, Nightwing made a b-line for the exit. 

"Okay, now I've gotta get going so-"

"There you are! I need your help with my homework," Jaime proclaimed, running in with a computer under his arm. 

"Can't this wait till later?" Nightwing asked. He really wanted to get going. He was running on three hours of sleep tops and really needed this nap. Not to mention there'd be a mission in an hour and a half or so which meant his nap time was going to be cut shorter and shorter with every interruption. 

"I kinda left it late and it has to be in for five," he explained. The older glanced at the clock finding that the deadline was in twenty minutes. 

"Fine, set it up and I'll do it but don't expect me to do it again. You have to learn to juggle school and hero work on your own."

"Yeah, yeah, here's the work," Jaime replied, shoving the laptop into his arms. He soon scampered off with Bart in tow. "Thanks, dude!" he shouted as he left the hero alone. With a sigh, Nightwing took a seat and got to work.



He managed to get the work in a few minutes before the deadline since it wasn't exactly the hardest thing in the world. Excited to finally have a nap, he placed the computer back down and jumped up from the couch. That was when Wonder Girl spotted him. 

"Oh, I just have to tell you what happened at school today," she announced, taking a seat and dragging him down with her. 

"Would it be okay to leave this till later?" he asked as politely as he could. She scoffed with a grin.

"It's only a short story. Five minutes at the most," she explained.

"Well if it's only five minutes, I guess I could spare some time."

"That's the spirit! Now it all started when Alice asked out David and-"



What should've been a five-minute story turned into a twenty-minute collection of dead-end stories where she'd suddenly remember another story that was vaguely related. She was only stopped by a call from one of her school friends. He watched her leave and then checked the time. There was no point going home now. He groaned, arguing whether to miss the nap entirely or just sleep here. Deciding on the latter, he got up to walk to his room but stopped. His body felt ten times heavier. Nightwing took one look at the floor and made his decision. He was going to sleep there. A nap sounded good on the floor. In hindsight, he had no idea what made him think the floor was comfortable when the couch was right beside him but he didn't care.



Robin strolled into the living space to grab a coffee when he tripped over his brother lying on the floor. Worried for his health, mostly due to him not even stirring after Robin went head over heels, Robin shook his shoulder. A hand lazily swatted him away. 

"So you're not dead?" he commented with a smirk. Nightwing groaned and tried to somehow snuggle himself further into the floor. "Why're you on the floor?"

"I'm an adult, I can nap where I want," he defended. His eyes were hidden by his mask but Robin could tell he was sporting dark circles from the clear lack of sleep he was getting. 

"Let me guess, you skipped a nap?" the younger assumed.

"Not on my own accord," he partially explained. In the state he was in, Robin wasn't surprised by his lazy explanations. He was rather impressed he got more than two words out of him.

"Well, you can't sleep on the floor."

"But I don't wanna move," he whined. Robin rolled his eyes and heaved the older off the floor and onto the couch beside him. 

"The couch was literally right there," he pointed out. Nightwing didn't reply, assumingly because he'd fallen back to sleep. All Robin could do was shake his head and get on with the task he'd intended on doing.



A little while later, Artemis and M'gann walked in to find Nightwing on the couch. They looked at him for a moment or two either out of curiosity or confusion. Artemis was brave enough to go up and poke his cheek to test things out. He didn't even flinch. For a second, she thought he was dead but his breathing suggested otherwise. M'gann, intrigued by his lack of reaction, booped Nightwing's nose and had the same results as Artemis. 

"He's out cold," she told M'gann. The Martian nodded in agreement.  "You know what we should do," she continued. 

"I'll get the markers," M'gann replied with a smile.


The team returned from a mission without their leader and discovered Nightwing on the couch out cold. Since Robin had moved him to the couch, a blanket had been added with a sticky note that said, "Let him sleep." They knew to head the instruction.