Prompt: Overdramatic Patient/Caretaker

I'm kinda veering off course with this prompt but it still fits the theme I feel

CW NEEDLES

Connor assumed, like those around him, that he'd inherited the invulnerability to human illnesses. He hadn't gotten sick since leaving CADMUS and he hadn't been exposed to any illnesses that he knew of inside the facility. He'd felt sick before but he hadn't been sick at the hands of a virus. Unfortunately, they may have overestimated just how many traits he got from Superman.

It was the sick season in school where most of the student body was bogged down by blocked noses and wheezy coughs. Connor watched the classmates around him drop like flies but didn't worry. M'gann hadn't gotten sick so presumably, he wouldn't either even if he only had parts of alien DNA. He sat through teachers telling them to wash their hands thoroughly and throw away used tissues which he thought was obvious but clearly some of the students hadn't been listening as the sickness raged on. 

Thursday came around and Connor woke up wrong. His nose kept running whilst also feeling like it was stuffed up and his throat was irritated. He frowned to himself and went to Black Canary with his symptoms. She initially rolled her eyes, thinking it was an attempt to skip school but when she humoured him by taking his temperature, her tune swiftly changed. He wasn't burning up but it was certainly elevated enough to leave him uncomfortably warm. She sent him back to bed with a special Tylenol they saved for Wally. He'd never taken a sick day before. Most kids would sneak a few games or watch TV but he did just as he was told until a knock at his door.

"Do you have anything important at school today?" Bruce asked over breakfast. Dick raised an eyebrow, mentally going through his timetable then shook his head. The only slightly important thing he could think of was checking in on Artemis from afar since she still didn't know who he was. He didn't attempt to strike up a friendship with her out of masks so he could keep up the secrecy. She'd be smart enough to realise he and Robin were the same person after hearing his voice a few times. 

"Not that I know of."

"Connor is sick," his mentor began. 

Immediately, he was concerned. When they first brought Connor back, they gave him a once-over. He wouldn't let them do much on the medical side which was understandable given where he'd just been. They got a baseline and saw it matched up with Clark. A quick hack into CADMUS confirmed that he had a majority of the supers DNA mixed with an unlabelled human sample. They theorised that he'd have pretty much all of Clark's traits bar a few like flying and laser vision. If that were to be trusted then he shouldn't get sick. Not from anything minor at least. 

"I'm unable to investigate it for myself. I need you to make sure this isn't something we need to worry about."

"Did Dinah say what he was sick with?"

"There's a cold going around school." Dick scoffed. Yeah, a little cold is going to affect a super. Next, he'll get to spend Halloween crime-free. "I don't want to rule out the possibility of it being something more. He trusts you."

"Is M'gann sick?"

"No, but she does have the ability to mutate. It could be her body interacted with the virus and immediately made the correct antibody for it." He nodded. "I need you to be careful. If it can make Connor sick, it will definitely make you sick. I can't afford for that to happen." Dick smirked at the small show of protectiveness. 

"What're you telling the school?"

"You're sick."

"Creative as always."

Connor opened the door to find Robin armed with three bottles and a packet of medication. He quickly squeezed past the super with a greeting and began setting up a station by his bedside. 

As he did, he watched Connor from the corner of his eye. Sweaty so he definitely had a fever but it couldn't be bad enough that Canary wasn't busting down the door to the medbay. A little pale yet not enough to say he was really sick. It could also be from all the night missions they'd been on. This might not be sickness but a deficiency. Clark needed solar light so he wouldn't be surprised if Connor required the same. His nose was running and a quick glance at his wastebasket said it'd been running since this morning at the least. Cold-like symptoms, Robin concluded.

"What're you doing here?" he asked groggily, surprised by the crackling in his voice. 

"I'm playing doctor whilst Canary is out. Gotta explore all avenues in case this hero thing doesn't work out," Robin replied with a smile. He wouldn't let the clone know he was there to make sure this thing wasn't deadly. It'd only panic him. "How you feeling?"

"Sick." The shorter waited but he didn't say much more.

"I mean, what are you feeling? Gimme some symptoms big guy."

"My nose is running, I'm hot and cold and my throat hurts," Connor listed as he made his way back to bed. "What's in the bottles?"

"Cold drink, warm drink, healthy drink," he answered, pointing to each bottle in order. "Ice water, tea and lucozade sport that I put in a bottle to match the theme. The meds are something I snatched from B. We use them on the supers when they get sick."

"Supers?"

"Anyone with powers, alien or not," he explained. "When did the symptoms start?"

"This morning."

"You didn't feel sick before then?" Connor shook his head. Either its fast-acting or it has an incubation period. "Been anywhere nice without me? Exotic maybe?"

"Does school count?" Connor said, his voice deadpan. He suppressed a laugh. 

"Depends on the school. Anyone else getting sick?"

"Yeah, they said it's the season for it." Could be a cover. He'd have to look up hospital forms to make sure none of these kids were getting put in the ICU. Could be poison. Could just be the solar light thing. Too obscure to tell. "Is it happening in Gotham too?"

"Happens everywhere, every year." He grabbed a pocket thermometer from his utility belt. "I'm just gonna check your temperature, make sure it hasn't gone up any. Is that alright?" The clone nodded, silently appreciating that he'd asked rather than just done it and put the thermometer in his mouth. He took it out once it beeped and handed it over. "A little high but I'm not calling the morgue. Now, this next bit is gonna feel a little invasive but it's just to make sure this isn't something other than a cold. We're still not too sure about your biology so this might be the sign of a deficiency."

"Are you doing it?"

"Yeah, I'll be doing all of it. Taking and testing. Nobody is gonna see the results other than me unless you say it's okay. I can even go over the results with you." Connor hummed and stuck out his arm. "Great." Robin grabbed a needle from his belt and took his gloves off, gently probing the clone's arm to find a vein. 

"Can you...would you tell me what you're doing when you do it?" 

It was no secret that Connor had a big aversion to anything medical. He glared at the medbay as though it would simply wither away under his gaze and if someone got hurt, he'd stop right in front of the door like a vampire awaiting an invitation. They tried to do as much medical intervention as possible outside of the sterile environment of the medbay. It was better to let him win the battle of wills first by going to the place where he felt safe than trying to drag a human tank down the hall. Connor wouldn't let other doctors touch him either. It had to be a member of the team or one of the team's caretakers. Robin often took the role of doctor, having the most field medicine training and not flinching at needles. It helped that he could also understand what he was seeing. Everyone knew how to take samples but no one else could work the machines and interpret the data necessary to make it useful. 

"Of course," Robin responded. "Right now, I'm trying to find a vein. It's easier without the gloves." It took some pressing to find something viable. He brought out the tubes and set them on the table. "I'll take three vials. That way I get a good picture of what we're looking at. It's gonna feel pretty weird so tell me if you get lightheaded or your vision starts to tunnel."

"What will you do with the blood after?"

"I'll put it in the biohazard bin we have. Basically gets blown up so nobody will get the contents. There's one in the watchtower too, I think that goes to space." Connor nodded along, feeling more at ease. The younger cleaned the area with an alcohol wipe and then went about collecting the samples. He noticed discomfort in Connor and did his best to pull his focus away. "Needles are kinda difficult for you guys. We have to get these specially made. We have a bunch of bent prototypes. I helped design one when I was younger. Should've seen my face when we tried it on Wonder Woman. It snapped like a twig."

"Will you make me feel better when you find what it is?"

"I'll do everything I can. If it's a cold then there's not much more I can do other than painkillers and hydration. If it isn't then I'll find something."

The blood samples were ultimately a waste of time much to Robin's disappointment. He tried not to let it show as he had Connor over his shoulder staring at the results. There was an increase in white blood count so this wasn't something psychological causing symptoms and ruled out Connor lying about it. He never thought the super was lying but Batman didn't trust anyone he couldn't throw. He noted that it wasn't skyrocketing. It was within the levels you'd expect to see with an average virus but it couldn't be a cold. A cold shouldn't affect someone like Connor. He could carry the virus but he shouldn't be having the symptoms. 

Checking vitamin D was a dead end too. Again, it was within normal parameters, if not better than expected. Robin guessed it made sense since he had grown underground in the absence of sunlight and still had full access to his powers. 

Whatever this was (because he refused to admit it was a cold) didn't cause Connor any drastic damage. That could be attributed to his power set which meant Robin would definitely need to look into the students that went to the same school. It didn't take knocking out a big hitter to be a problem for everyone else. 

"You're in the clear supes," Robin said, putting on a smile. "You've even got good vitamin D levels. I don't have that."

"Why not?"

"Gotham's the England of America. Pretty much everyone is deficient over there. You're all good though. Some elevated white blood cells but that's to be expected with any sort of infections and it's hardly noticeable." Connor nodded. "I'm gonna let you rest for a bit and then we'll check in."

"Are you staying here?"

"I'll be in the living room if you need me."

Robin wouldn't say he was going over the top checking hospital records and comparing them to the school register, he was just thorough. Thorough enough to get another dead end. He thought he had something but none were related to illness. Two had broken bones and another had a complication with a previous surgery. He double-checked the complication on the chance it was related to something mysterious they contracted but it was a stitch that came undone. They weren't in any of the same classes as Connor anyway. 

That ruled out this being airborne and he doubted Connor was going around kissing people so he could rule that out too. That left poison, a Kryptonian-specific virus or a cold. Obviously, it wasn't a cold so he started with poison. 

Poison would likely cause vomiting or airway issues unless the poison wasn't strong enough to affect a person like Connor. Who would poison Connor? It couldn't be a villain because his secret identity was somehow still intact and they'd already found their mole who didn't share information on who they were outside of work. It would have to be someone with a personal grievance but that also didn't give him much to work with. From what he knew, Connor wasn't popular but he wasn't unpopular. He was kinda there. It was a little outlandish for a kid to do it, even more so to suspect a teacher. 

He thought again about Connor's symptoms. All of them pointed to a cold. Carbon monoxide came to mind but he dismissed it quickly. There would be other victims and it would be hard to filter it into the mountain with the strict safety protocols in place. He quickly checked the system and found everything had been in working order since his last check. 

What about accidental poisoning? Not every poison case was intentional. With carbon monoxide ruled out, he went on to chemical pneumonia. It didn't match up with the symptoms but if he kept in mind that Connor may not be severely affected, it might work. Then again, if he was exposed to it then others would be too. None of the others were sick and again, no one in school was getting sick either. He put it on the back burner.

There was lead, arsenic or ricin but they all had the same problem as chemical pneumonia and carbon monoxide. It couldn't be injected, Connor was far too aware of himself not to notice a needle being stabbed into him and he wasn't in the habit of hiding things he knew to be dangerous. 

What about those patches he got from Lex Luthor? Maybe this was withdrawals. No, Canary was on it like vultures to a carcass. She would spot it from a mile off and to their knowledge, he'd been clean for a long time. There would also be signs of his powers being enhanced and he hadn't seen anything on their missions. He let out a sigh as the guilt settled in. He should've done something, he knew that. He'd mentioned it to Batman but he knew he could've done more. He shook his head. He wasn't going to get sucked into his past mistakes. 

Kryptonian-only virus was his next avenue. He pulled up meteorology reports and found nothing had entered the atmosphere. It would've flagged up in the Watchtower and subsequently, Batman would've told him to aid in the investigation. There was the possibility of an old meteor causing the exposure but they'd notice a massive cosmic rock. It didn't have to be from the primary source though. Lex was well-versed in Superman's weaknesses and it wasn't far-fetched to think he wanted some sort of revenge on his lost project. He mulled over the idea and decided it was best to go to the source.

"Hey Supes, it's Robin," he greeted.

"Aren't you supposed to be in school?" He rolled his eyes.

"Something came up. I have a quick question for the case I'm working."

"You're skipping school for work?"

"Can you look past that for a sec? I just need an answer." Superman let out a long-suffering sigh.

"Shoot."

"Have you had any reports of Kryptonian-specific diseases on Earth? Even a suspicion is worth something."

"No, I made sure of it. Why? If Batman is making another contingency-"

"Ksch ksch, sorry really dodgy connection gotta go bye!" He hung up to the sound of Superman calling his name. He let out a defeated groan and stressfully ran a hand through his hair. There was still the possibility of Lex having it but he doubted that Superman wouldn't at least suspect something. 

That left the impossible. A cold. It couldn't be a cold! If it were a cold then they'd have to reclassify Connor from Kryptonian Clone to Metahuman which would lead to an investigation on what exactly he was weak to. Surely he'd be sick prior to now if he could get sick. It had to be something else. 

"Robin?" Connor's voice called. He looked up from where he'd been hunched over his laptop to see the clone watching him from the hallway. "I can hear your stressed sighing."

"I do not stress sigh."

"You do," he said with finality. He looked a little better. His nose wasn't running as fast and he'd gotten some of his colour back. How long had Robin been sat there? "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, go back to bed."

"No, I don't want to," the clone replied. "You're not a very good caregiver."

"Why's that?" Robin asked, slightly bemused. "Not enough cookies?"

"You didn't check on me," he answered, walking over to his laptop so he could see the screen as the shorter of the pair reeled from that emotional blow. "Why have you typed out the letter A so many times?"

"Carthatic." Connor raised an eyebrow.

"What are you doing?"

"Working on a case." The clone stared at him for a moment.

"I can see my name, Robin." Glancing at the computer, he saw that the title of the document was just Connor's name. He winced at how it looked and patted the seat next to him so the clone would join him.

"It's nothing sinister."

"Then what is it? Don't I have a right to know?"

"You do. I just didn't want to worry you."

"Why would it worry me?"

"Because you can't get a cold and I can't figure out what else it could be."

"Why can't it be a cold?" Robin huffed as though it were obvious.

"Because it just can't be. You're classified as a Kryptonian Clone. Sure you have human DNA but it- You shouldn't have colds."

"What's that thing you told us about when investigating? Something's razor."

"Ochams Razor. The simple answer is usually the right answer but-" Connor held his hand up.

"What's the simple answer?"

"That you have a cold."

"So?"

"You probably have a cold," Robin mumbled. 

"I see what Wally means when he calls you paranoid. This is overdramatic for a cold, isn't it?"

"But it might not be!"

"Do you have any evidence for that?" 

"No," he whispered after a moment.

"Overdramatic," Connor concluded. "I feel better now."

"That's good. Do you want anything? A medal for putting up with me maybe?"

"For you to take care of me."

"You got it, big guy."

When Canary returned, she sent Robin home so she could take over. He said goodbye to Connor and wished him well before calling Batman.

"It was a cold."

"I thought so. It's still best to be sure. Thanks." Robin glared at the phone. This was probably payback for drinking the last of the coffee.