This was supposed to come out like three days ago but I received some bad news. If you wanna know what it was I'll put it at the end of the story since I know the story is what y'all have been waiting for 

"This isn't funny."

"I know B."

"Then why are you laughing?" Bruce asked through a stuffed nose. He'd hardly made it out of bed that morning to trudge downstairs to breakfast. His sons were in no better state. They'd been on a stakeout the night before, call it their version of family bonding if you will, when a snowstorm hit. Half the city was covered with thick snow before they knew it but they had to bear the brunt of the freeze in order to complete the mission. All but Dick were punished with an awful cold. It wasn't fair in the least bit since, out of all of them, Dick was the least covered up. He suggested the old Robin suit built up his immune system. Those shorts saw him through some harsh winters.

"I can't help it. You all look like hell," Dick defended. 

"Not all of us have perfect immune systems," Jason snapped back. He sniffled angrily to punctuate his sentence. 

"This sucks! We don't even have Alfred to take care of us," Tim groaned. The butler had taken some time off to visit family in England. It wasn't often he had time off and the snowstorm had been exceedingly unexpected so they had no reason to force him to stay. Now they wished they had. Even Damian wished the butler had stayed to see them through. His cooking was immaculate. That morning Dick had made breakfast but it wasn't half the spread Alfred would've put out for them. "Since I'm the only one who's able to breathe without coughing their lungs up, I'll look after you guys," Dick suggested. At that, Tim and Damian perked up a little. 

"You can hardly look after yourself," Jason argued. He couldn't count how many times the older had either forgotten to sleep or eat on all his fingers and toes. 

"Dick was great when I was Robin. You get to stay in bed all day and if you had any homework he'd do it for you," Tim replied, reminiscing on the few times he was too sick to go to school but not sick enough to cause serious concern. He smiled to himself at the memories. 

"Grayson was rather good at keeping me entertained, even though it soon became aggravating," Damian added. It was once in a blue moon when he agreed with the teen, making Dick count his lucky stars when they agreed on his ability to look after them. It was the only way he was going to get Jason and Bruce to let him take the wheel. "If you look after them, does that mean I get to stay in bed til patrol tonight?" Bruce questioned. Unsure, the acrobat nodded. "Then you're head of the household for today, therefore able to boss your brothers about, I'm going to sleep for ten hours," he announced, shuffling back upstairs to bed. 

"That enough to let me take care of you Jay?" A grumble left his lips but he nodded. Maybe there was an advantage to this situation about to reveal itself.

Once Bruce left, Dick went into full caregiver mode. He couldn't help it. Whenever people needed someone to look after them, he was first to volunteer. He was good at it too. Too good sometimes. "Right then, the best thing to cure patrol sickness-"

"Patrol sickness?" Damian questioned. That sure wasn't in any medical handbook he knew of. 

"I wore shorter shorts than Wonder Woman's skirt and weather in Gotham can be unpredictable, you get sick enough times to associate it with patrol," Dick justified, "To continue my point, the best thing to cure patrol sickness is bed rest and lots of it. So, up to your rooms with the lot of you." There was a collective groan as even the thought of moving a finger zapped them from any energy. "Trust me, it's the best thing for you. Plus you'll be separated so you won't be reinfecting one another." They ended up being carried one by one to bed since they refused to move. He repeated the same sentence to everyone, "If you need anything at all, call my name and I'll be there," then went downstairs to clean up after breakfast.

The brothers were quiet at first. Then the boredom hit. Dick was just about to take some ibuprofen to stay on the air of caution when he heard a hoarse voice call for him. He quickly recognized it as Damian. Knowing the younger's impatience, he ditched the pills and jogged to his room. "What can I do you for?" he asked with a bright smile. It wouldn't heal him any faster but the effort was always a nice touch.

 "My computer is in Drake's room and I'd rather not deal with him. Get it for me," he demanded. Dick let out a small sigh. A please wouldn't kill him. Though he was sure Damian would kill Tim. 

"Anything else?"

"That's all I need from your services for now," he replied, turning back to some case files. Dick huffed and went next door to Tim's room. 

"Oh hey Dick," the younger greeted as his fingers continued to type away. 

"Sorry to bother but Damie said you had his computer?"

"I took it off the brat, should be on top of the wardrobe since he's vertically challenged and can't reach up there," he explained.

"Need anything whilst I'm here?" He snatched the computer from the wardrobe and tucked it underneath his arm. 

"Well..."

Seven hours later and Dick still hadn't sat down. One after another, he was sent to fetch something or other. Of course, he didn't mind doing it even if the mission was to give someone - Jason - the TV remote that was sitting on the bedside table but he wouldn't have minded if he was given a spare moment to rest. Eventually, they gave him said spare moment and he planned to take full advantage of it. He went straight to his room and flopped onto his bed. He didn't bother to get into a more comfortable position since he was no doubt going to be forced to leave the comfy mattress so he laid with half his legs dangling over the side. His consciousness soon retreated and he fell into a deep sleep that only a certain type of fatigue could cause.

Tim tapped around his immediate area and frowned. He was sure he'd left his phone beside him. Tissues, notes, pills, Gatorade and his tablet but no phone. The sheets were black which did nothing to aid in his debacle. He wished his phone case wasn't black. He huffed. A fresh pair of eyes would help him find it surely and he knew just the person to help. "Dick!" he proclaimed. There wasn't a rush of footsteps into his rooms but he could be busy with the other two. They hadn't given him a spare second since Damian demanded his computer. He wasn't much better but he was sure he was the only one thanking Dick with every task he completed. At least, he thought he thanked him but he might've done it mentally and thought he'd said it aloud. Wouldn't be the first time, especially with the cold messing with his head. He waited one minute then called again. Not even a "Wait a sec," answered him. He frowned, it wasn't like Dick to be silent. This was Dick Grayson! He couldn't be silent for more than five seconds even if he tried. From the hallway, he heard Damian call for the eldest brother. Of course, that brat was trying to get his attention before he could help anyone else. He always hogged the acrobat even though he was adamant that he hated everyone. He didn't deserve half the attention Dick gave him. There was another call, this time from Jason. If Dick wasn't already helping one of them, where was he? He collected all the energy he could and crept out of bed with a groan.

The others continued to call for their older brother whilst he investigated his disappearance. He passed the other rooms and headed for Dick's. There he noticed the door was open and the older was strewn across the side of the bed. One leg was brought up to his chest whilst the other lay outstretched. His hands clutched at the material from the covers whilst his face was scrunched up in a grimace. He didn't look like his dream was going all that well. "Dick?" Tim called out. Dick flinched and cracked open one eye. Once he recognized the blob standing in his doorway wasn't a ghost of some sort, he jumped awake. "Sorry I must've fallen asleep. Naps are important," he said with a nervous laugh. He soon heard the others calling from him and his smile faltered for a slight second. It was different looking after three people who were all so demanding. One kid was doable, two was pushing it and three was more than he could handle. But he already agreed to play caregiver so he wasn't about to back down and return to his not so pleasant nap. "Did you want something?" he inquired.

"I need some help finding my phone, kinda got lost in the bedsheets. Mind taking a look?" Tim replied, hiding his concern for the time being. 

"Will do!" He quickly walked out to Tim's room.

After thoroughly checking the bed, Dick found the phone under the teen's pillow. He rolled his eyes fondly as he wondered how Tim could lose something that was practically glued to his hands. He couldn't have been alone for more than a minute when he heard Tim and Damian shouting. Tiredly, he jogged over to the room the shouting was coming from and broke up the argument. He didn't catch what it was about but it was probably something meaningless like always. "C'mon ladies you're both pretty. Tim out of his room before you give him an aneurysm," he proclaimed, standing between them with his hands outstretched. 

"That's not how aneurysms work," Damian put bluntly. He didn't explain that it was a joke, his breath would be wasted. He continued to shoo Tim out then asked if the younger needed anything. Unusually, the brother in question didn't want anything even though he was sure he'd heard him calling. Dick put it down to him just changing his mind or finding what he needed without his help. He checked in on Jason who confirmed he wouldn't need anything for the rest of the night. Odd, he thought. Jason was using him for every little task he could fathom for the last seven hours and now he didn't want anything at all. Maybe he was getting tired since Dick made a rather big meal for everyone and the feeling of fullness was lulling him to sleep. He then made his way to Tim's room. "Need anything?" he asked, unable to hide the fatigue in his voice. He worried he was getting sick too. That simply wouldn't do if this epidemic lasted more than a day. 

"Yeah actually, mind taking a look at these notes for me?" Dick nodded and sat on the side of his bed, looking at the notes.

Quickly, Tim put his plan into motion. "You should hold my computer to make it easier," he suggested. Unsuspecting of any plan, Dick put the computer onto his lap and began to skim reading through the report. He grasped that it was some sort of report on a mugging Tim put a stop to a few nights ago. Whilst he read, Tim shuffled closer. And closer. And closer. He then rested his head on Dick's shoulder and wrapped a tactical arm around his waist. "What you doing there Timbo?"

"Giving you a hug?" He received a smile. Step two complete. He let out a fake yawn and closed his eyes. Step three complete. Now all he had to do was wait until Dick followed suit. You see, he knew his brother had a couple of fatal flaws. One is that if someone fell asleep on him, he wouldn't move until they woke up. Tim had seen it happen before with animals and heroes so he used it to his advantage. There was some shuffling as Dick realized the predicament he was in. His plan was working beautifully. Whilst Dick searched for his phone, he visited both brothers and told them to not send Dick on any escapades for the rest of the night. That had been step one. They argued against the demand since Dick had accepted the role of the caregiver but only Jason backed down after hearing the older had passed out. Damian, on the other hand, thought it was part of an elaborate plan for Tim to have the older all to himself. They argued and, after seeing the half-lidded eyes the eldest was sporting, he backed down too.

It only took ten minutes of snuggling up to Dick for the said hero to fall asleep. Once he heard some soft snores, he knew the plan was done. He slowly sat up and moved Dick into a more comfortable position, surprisingly he didn't wake up during the shifting. He must've been tired. Tim plucked the computer off his lap and returned it to its rightful place then continued to work. "G'night big bro."

"G'night lil bro," Dick whispered softly, half asleep. He smiled at the acrobat and silently promised to keep an eye on him as long as he stayed awake. Nightmares were killer and it was the least he could do after having Dick wait on hand and foot on him as well as his brothers all day.

"This isn't funny."

"Oh we highly disagree," Jason laughed. The next morning Dick woke up with a runny nose and a deep dread for who was going to look after him.

Firstly, I want to say a massive thank you to those who supported me and assured me the delay was okay. You guys were a massive help. So I've been wanting to follow a career as a forensic pathologist or a mortician and the website I used to see if I had the right qualifications said I didn't need to do an A Level in science nor math. Then the website updated and said that I did. I didn't take those which meant I couldn't follow that career which had been my dream career. It was what got me out of bed sometimes, thinking about if I got through college I could be this person who benefitted so many lives. I was devastated, to say the least. The website was an official one for jobs by the way.  The day I found this out, I was looking at universities and in the space of an hour, I had to scramble for some career that would have to do. For now, I have an idea of what I could do instead that would mean I'd be still working with crime investigation. Obviously, I don't expect you all to read this and understand what happened but I thought it was worth the explanation in case some of you were worried about my own health or the health of a family member/ friend. Everyone is okay. I'm just having to deal with a massive career change that has also affected my plans for the future so it was devastating to find this out right before I was finding a university who would do my course.