Disclaimer: Do not own!
Okay so this is a rewrite of one of my stories "The Meeting" because it was kind of choppy so I wanted to add a little more flow and reason to the story itself I hope you like the rewrite. And if I get enough positive feedback I may write a sequel about Wally and Dick meeting Roy.
"Hey Dick!" Dick Grayson, young protégée to the Dark Knight himself, looked up from the book he was reading and glanced questioningly at Wally West.
"Aren't you supposed to be in Kansas Wally?" Dick asked slowly as he straightened in the armchair he sat in. Wally shrugged nonchalantly and jumped onto the leather couch opposite the Dark Knight's sidekick. "What's up?"
"I-have-a-question-that-I-wanted-to-ask-you," Wally exclaimed, his words had slurred together, like they normally did. Dick raised an eyebrow at his fast-paced friend.
"Come again?"
"I have a question to ask you." Wally repeated, slightly slower this time. Dick nodded slowly. "Do you remember the first day we met?" A smile slid across Dick's face. How could he forget? It had been his first time at the JL Command Center. They had got into a lot of trouble that day.
"Yeah I remember, why?" Dick replied with a smirk.
"Well you see, my English teacher wants me to write a creative writing piece for my class, and I thought I'd base it off of the two of us and our first meeting," Wally started excitedly. "And I was wondering if you wanted to help me? That is if you remember everything."
"How could I what happened?" Dick stated. Wally laughed as he took out a notebook and a pencil and pulled up next to Dick. "So where are we going to start?"
Flashback-6 years earlier-The JL Command Center
Robin nearly skipped behind his mentor, as Batman stalked down the hallway of the JL Command. The smile that was across the young boy's face was so large it nearly split his head in too. The dark Knight stopped abruptly and the young Robin smacked into his calves with a loud 'omph'. "Now listen here Robin." Batman grunted as he turned to glare down at his sidekick. "Don't touch anything and unless I say you can talk, don't. Understand?" The 8 year old boy nodded obediently and his face turned somber like Batman's. "Good, now come—" A red and yellow blur flew down the hallway and past the Dark pair, followed shortly by a slightly smaller blur, who stopped right before the Dark Knight.
The boy was no more than 10, with fiery red hair and deep green eyes as he stared awestruck into the deep black cowl. "Y-you're THE Batman, Uncle was right, you are a—" The young boy was cut off when said Uncle zipped behind his nephew and clapped a hand over his mouth and laughed nervously at his colleague.
"Sorry about that Batsy, Kid Flash here is just a little awestruck with this whole Command Center," Flash explained. "So where's your little tike?" He looked around quickly, still holding on quite tightly to his nephew's mouth. Batman turned to glance down at Robin and ushered the young boy forward. A small blush embarrassed had settled over the young boy's cheeks as he stared nervously at the young speedster. Flash let go of his nephew's face and smiled at him. "Go on Kid Flash, don't be shy." He urged. "God knows you've never been before." He added quietly to Batman.
Kid Flash stuck out a hand and offered it to Robin. Robin, equally hesitant reached for the hand and shook it quickly before once again ducking behind his mentor's black cape. "Robin, just talk to him." Batman growled to his young protégé. It was those words that brought the life back into Robin's face as he pulled out from behind Batman's cape and walked up to Kid Flash confidently.
"Hello," Robin greeted seriously, taking on his mentor's somber scowl once more. Flash chuckled softly and smacked Batman playfully on the shoulder.
"Looks like you rubbed off a little too well on the little tike," He observed over the Dark Knight's shoulder. "We should probably leave them alone so they can get better acquainted, they probably will be little less shy once us big bad grown ups are gone." Flash continued as he pushed the reluctant Bat away from the two young boys. "I'll come find you later Kid, don't get into any trouble."
"Robin remember what I told you," Batman added coldly before they disappeared around the corner. Kid Flash turned back to Robin and smiled, there was a large gap where a tooth should have been.
"So your name's Robin? You don't look like a Robin to me; you look more like a walking traffic light," He exclaimed with an amused chuckle, eerily similar to the Flash's. Robin scowled at the young speedster and tightened the cape around his shoulders, awkwardly trying to hide the vibrant colors of his uniform. Kid Flash laughed again and took the Dark Knight's sidekick by the shoulders. "I'm just kidding Bird Boy." He stated.
"Why don't we do something fun? I'm pretty sure my Uncle pointed out where Wonder Woman's room was on the way down here. And I heard she brought her sister today to." He continued with a small mischievous grin. He began to push the Boy Wonder down the hall, when Robin pulled away, an equally sinister smile spreading across his face.
"I've got a better idea—" Robin paused for a second and tapped his chin softly. "—Twinkletoes." He added with a small triumphant smirk. "Come on, follow me."
"Hey wait a second; I thought this was my idea?" Wally exclaimed as he threw the notebook onto the table and crossed his arms childishly over his chest. Dick laughed and shook his head.
"No Wally, I thought of it. You were set on seeing Wonder Woman, though that doesn't really surprise me." Dick answered as he picked up the notebook and pencil. Wally scoffed and ran up to peer over his shoulder. "Now where were we?"
"We really shouldn't be doing this Robin; can't we just go and sneak into Wonder Woman's room instead? I mean at least she would be nice to us if she caught us. Right?" Wally muttered quietly as he held tight on the Boy Wonder's cape. Robin rolled his eyes as he hacked into the access pad of Superman's quarters. "Why are we even doing this anyway? I mean this is-daring-and-all-but-I-don't-know-how-this-can-be-more-exciting-than-Wonder-Woman?"
"Well, Batman told me once what Superman's real identity was. I wanted to see if it was true." Robin replied as he typed in the last of the code into the small keyboard. There was small beep and the door to Superman's room slid open. "Apparently he's some sort of nerd with glasses, but I don't believe it."
"No way," Kid Flash cried. Robin whipped around and held a finger to his lips gravely. "Oops, sorry." They inched deeper into the Man of Steel's bedroom, Robin stopping every once and a while to peer into a nook for any sort of evidence. "So what kind of stuff are you thinking we'll find Bird Boy?"
"I don't know, but there's got to be—ah ha!" Robin whispered. He reached a scrawny arm in the back of one of the drawers and shuffled through its contents. "I found something." Pulling out a small picture, both Kid Flash and Robin peered down at him with wide awe filled eyes. "Wow, I can't believe I actually doubted the Batman."
"Hey wait, I've met this man before, he's—" Kid Flash began slowly as he pointed to the man in the picture.
"We can't give away Superman's identity; my teacher will be reading this. Bart will kill me." Wally exclaimed nervously. "Or worse, Batman will glare me to death!" He added panic-stricken.
"I love how you don't worry what Superman himself would do to you," Dick replied as he tapped the pencil impatiently against the notepad. Wally squeaked, frightened, as he cowered in his corner of the leather sofa. "Don't freight Twinkletoes, I've got it all planned out. Now back to writing."
"I'm what?" Both boys froze as a shadow loomed over them. The shadow of the one and only Man of Steel. Robin dropped the picture and turned to face Kid Flash nervously. A terrified scream escaped the two boys as they jumped up and scrambled out of Superman's quarters, neither daring to look back at the Kryptonian.
Once they were safely out of dodge, they collapsed against a wall. "I am never doing that again, never ever never!" Kid Flash shouted as he crossed his arms childishly over his chest. "I want to go to Wonder Woman's room, let's go to Wonder Woman's room." He hopped up and offered Robin his hand. "Come on, I'll run us there." Robin stared back from where they had just ran, and then back at the anxious speedster.
"If we get caught by Wonder Woman, I'm never going to play with you again." He stated as he grasped Kid Flashes hand.
"Don't worry about it. Besides you were the one who wanted to go to Superman's room in the first place. So it's your fault we got caught." He stated with a nonchalant shrug.
"Are you sure your teacher will believe you wrote this? It's too good for you Wally."
"Shut up Dick and keep writing."
Wonder Woman's room was easier to hack and once the two boys entered, Kid Flash was extremely disappointed to find a plainly decorated quarter. "Oh come on, I was expecting something interesting. Like some sort of Amazon souvenir I could take home with me." He hissed disappointedly. Robin rolled his eyes as he shifted through some of the things on the floor. He froze and grasped his hand around a small tear of fabric.
"Well this looks pretty interesting to me," Robin noted as he held up the cloth for Kid Flash to see. The young speedster ran over to Robin and observed the fabric closely.
"Very interesting—what's it supposed to be?" He asked bluntly as he eyed it jadedly. Robin stuffed the cloth into one of the pockets of his utility belt. "What do you hide in all those compartments?" The Boy Wonder slapped the speedster upside the back of his head and scowled.
"Stay focused, the cloth is Batman's uniform. What is it doing in here in the first place?" Robin hissed as he dragged the fast-paced boy from Wonder Woman's room.
"Well it's not like we can just go up and ask Batman," Kid Flash replied with a small shrug. Robin smirked and glanced down at his new fiery haired friend. The calm expression on Kid Flash's face dropped, followed quickly with one of complete horror. "Bird Boy, you can't just go and confront Batman with a question like THAT! He'll murder us with his glare. It's like suicide! I like my life. I like—"
"Why do I sound like such a sissy right now?" Wally complained. Dick handed him the pad of paper and pencil, a smirk on his face.
"Because like today, Batman still makes you wet yourself. It was just a little more prominent back then." He replied. Wally stuck out his tongue at the Boy Wonder and turned back to his notebook.
"I want an answer, so I'm going to ask Batman." Robin continued confidently as he stormed down the hallway.
"Poor kid, barely knew him, I'll visit your grave every Christmas with my Uncle. That is if I live through Bat's glare." Kid Flash moaned as he followed reluctantly behind his new friend.
The boys' mentors sat in the Conference room alone, in a deep conversation when Robin cleared his throat loudly. Batman turned to glare at his sidekick coolly. "What do you need Robin?" He growled. Even behind the mask, his glare held the same intensity. Robin stuck the piece of black cloth in the Bat's face and scowled.
"We found this in Wonder Woman's room. What was it doing in there?" Robin stated coldly. "I want an explanation."
"You were in Wonder Woman's room?" Batman questioned icily. The intensity of his glare grew and Robin stumbled. He hadn't expected that to be his response. Kid Flash cowered behind the Boy Wonder's cape, pointing at his new friend innocently. "I don't believe I have to explain anything, but you and Kid Flash sure do." He grabbed Robin by the wrist and pulled him so they were inches apart. "Didn't I tell you not to touch anything?"
"W-well...um yes you did, but I thought—" Robin stammered anxiously.
"That you'd touch something!" The Bat growled back. His protégé eyed the ground guiltily, and didn't respond. Batman turned to Kid Flash who hadn't moved and grimaced. "I'm not the one who will be punishing you. That's up to your mentor."
"Yes sir, just don't kill me!" Kid Flash squeaked as he ran over to the Flash.
Robin didn't speak the entire way back to Gotham, and not once did he look up to meet the eyes of his mentor. "You know I trusted you wouldn't touch anything when I let you come to the JL Command Center." Robin nodded sadly, still not looking up from the ground. "And that's why you're grounded for a month." Robin straightened slightly and glanced questioningly at his mentor.
"Just grounded?" Robin asked. "You aren't going to lecture me, or make me go through dangerous training to prove myself worthy to be your protégé again?" Batman nearly smiled as he turned to leave. "I don't even get a deadly glare?"
"That was fairly good detective working Robin, but I'd be little less forward next time," Batman commented. "You'll never get anything out of a suspect if that's your approach." And with that he disappeared.
"Wait, you just got grounded for a month? I was grounded for three, and I could go on missions with my Uncle for a month. Man since when does the Bat go easy you?" Wally shouted as he slumped in his chair.
"Trust me Wally, that doesn't happen anymore." Dick replied with a shrug. "Besides, it probably would have been worse if I had mentioned we also snuck into Superman's room."
"What's this about sneaking into Superman's room?" Wally squeaked as Bruce Wayne rounded the corner and glared at Dick.
"Well look at the time, I should be going. I can finish the rest of the story by myself thank you very much Dick. If you survive I will be sure to visit you again." Wally stated quickly as he jumped up and bolted out of Wayne Manor.
"Ah man." Dick groaned as he turned to face Bruce. "Yeah about that—"