Superboy was sitting on the couch next to Wolf, his hand absentmindedly running his hand through his friend's white fur and staring at the relaxing fuzz on the television. He felt the calming buzz driving out all of the painful ringing from the day's arguments. For some reason, everybody always decides to argue the loudest when they were in the smallest rooms where the noise constantly assaulted his eardrums. The mind link was so much kinder to his oversensitive hearing.
Just as Superboy's mind was clearing and the heavy fog of sleep was settling over him, a loud metallic thud frightened him out of his peace. Superboy was instantly on his feet and ready to fight the threat. Instead of a villain, all that Superboy saw was Robin entering into the kitchen. Superboy turned back to the television, willing Robin to stay quiet and leave him alone, but a strange sound caught his attention. It was like a choking sound, but very faint. Superboy turned around again, to tell Robin to shut up and stop making that sound, but he was met with the sight of Robin falling to the floor clutching his throat.
Superboy turned on his heel and raced to Robin's side in half an instant. He barely caught the boy before he took a nosedive. Superboy turned Robin on his back and held his head in his own lap. Superboy's hands hovered above Robin's chest, hesitating like he was waiting for the answer. Robin's lips were slowly paling, then turning blue. Robin slapped Superboy's leg harshly, gaining the boy's attention. He began motioning quickly, repeating the motions until Superboy realized that he was speaking in a struggling form of sign language. Superboy began searching his Cadmus education thoroughly before he found a small stock of words in ASL. He could make out a few words and some of the rapidly fingerspelled letters.
"Allergic?" A pained nod. "To bee stings?" Another. "Where's your EpiPen?" Robin looked relieved as he signed again. "In the cupboards to the left of the sink." Superboy hurriedly moved Robin off of his lap and jumped to search the cupboards. He ripped more than one of the doors off of its hinges before spotting the orange tube. He sprinted the twenty feet back to Robin and threw himself on his knees next to the boy. He ripped the cap off with his teeth and steadied Robin's hip and leg with his free hand. With the other, he jammed the needle into the outside of Robin's thigh, through the spandex, and pressed the button. He watched the fluid drain from the pen and pulled the needle back out. He shifted to sit beside Robin's head, waiting for any reaction.
Just a few short moments later, Robin's breathing became noticeably less labored and the blood went back to his lips. Superboy let out a breath that he wasn't aware he had been holding. Superboy felt tears leap unbidden to his eyes, but he didn't let them fall. Robin finally was breathing deeply enough that he could speak again. Superboy helped him to sit up, and Robin of course shot out a snarky remark.
"Makes being a clone of Superman seem pretty okay, doesn't it?" Robin choked out a bitter laugh. He looked up and saw the hurt and fear in Superboy's blue eyes and sighed as much as he could. "I'm sorry Superboy, that's not what I meant. I know how you feel about being his clone and I shouldn't have brought it up."
Superboy waved off his complaints. "It's not a big deal. Are you okay now?" Robin nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He held his hand out and Superboy obliged, pulling him to his feet. Once Robin was upright, he doubled over coughing. Superboy caught him this time, easily pulling the smaller boy up into his arms and took off racing towards the medbay. On the way, he mentally shouted at M'gann to set up a mental link between him and Batman, who was in the tower for a small mission briefing. Only a few members would be going, so Superboy didn't need to be there.
M'gann linked the two up in seconds, with only slight confusion.
Superboy? What's going on?
It's Robin. He had an allergic reaction to a bee sting. I gave him his EpiPen but he still isn't okay. It helped some, but he tried to stand and fell over coughing. We are on our way to the medbay right now.
I am on my way. Set him up with an oxygen mask and keep him conscious until I get there.
Roger.
Superboy felt the connection dissipate and he pushed himself to run even faster than he was. Robin was rubbing at his chest and the whistling in his lungs was not making Superboy feel any better. They arrived at the medbay a few seconds later and Superboy had to hold himself back from breaking the door when it didn't open fast enough.
Superboy ran to the nearest bed and gently set down Robin. He snatched up an oxygen mask and placed it over Robin's nose and mouth, all the while hooking it up to the oxygen tank and turning the tubes to open them all the way. Once the mask was in place and working, Superboy moved to Robin's head and placed his hand on the side, gently brushing through the dark strands. Robin's eyes were half-lidded, but bright and reactive. Superboy clicked his fingers right in front of Robin's nose, trying to keep him awake. The smaller boy flinched and focused on his friend, though with some difficulty. Superboy thanked his lucky stars that Robin was still thinking straight and smiled shakily at the boy.
"Hey Rob, how ya feeling?" Robin grinned but didn't answer. Suddenly, Robin was coughing again, struggling to bring in air. His hands flitted rapidly, and Superboy acted without thinking. He lifted Robin's head and torso and sat on the bed, holding the boy upright. Superboy placed his hand on Robin's sternum and gently pressed down, rubbing in small circles. Robin smiled again, wider this time, and Superboy listened as his breathing loosened and the whistling went away slightly. He might not normally like his super hearing, but at times like this he wouldn't trade it for the world. If it meant keeping Robin safe, Superboy would do anything.
Superboy kept gently rubbing Robin's chest for almost two more minutes before Batman rushed through the door. He was closely monitoring the boy's breathing and heartbeat to make sure no more changes occurred. Superboy looked up slightly at the Bat's arrival, but still kept up the rubbing and whispering softly in Robin's ear. Batman worked around the pair, administering drugs and clipping wires and sensors to Robin's body. When it came time for the ECG sensors, Superboy took it upon himself to unzip and remove Robin's uniform, still managing to keep the boy nearly still for the entire process. At some point, Superman wandered into the medbay and was marveling at the extreme control Superboy was exhibiting over his powers. The boy had no control in combat situations or in normal circumstances, but put him in the position of protecting his best friend and he was a gentle as an average human would be with a child.
After half an hour of being poked, prodded, injected, and otherwise examined, Robin nearly threw the rest of the justice league out, leaving only him and Superboy. Robin took his first easy deep breath in almost an hour and relished every second of it. He held it for just a moment too long, however, and started another small coughing fit.
Superboy rubbed at his friend's chest, ribs, and collarbones to relieve the pressure of the coughs and allow him to relax again. When he was finished, Robin shot Superboy another snarky grin and chuckled. "You know, I might just have to keep you around for these. You made it go away in about a third of the time it normally does."
Superboy grimaced. "So it normally takes a couple of hours to go away?" Robin nodded, sneering. "How often do you get them?"
Robin frowned. "More than I'd like to get them, that's for sure. Probably about one or two times a month, which is a lot. I'm not honestly feeling the aster when it comes to these. It gets kind of touch-and-go every once in a while, which is not cool."
Robin's voice was still hoarse, so Superboy leaned to get a glass of water. "Don't go!" Superboy stilled and looked at Robin. The Boy Wonder looked a little surprised by his own outburst, and turned slightly pink. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that you couldn't go, just that I… I guess I want you to… stay with me… Please?"
Superboy looked down at the boy in his arms with his eyes downcast and his cheeks turning pink from the embarrassment, and wondered how he was ever the badass little spitfire that disappeared and took out four bad guys without making a single sound. He would never understand.
"Of course I'll stay with you. I'm not going anywhere." Robin looked up happily and gave Superboy a genuine smile.
When Batman came in to check on his protégé later and found the two boys still in the same positions, he didn't question it. He just adjusted one of the IVs, checked Robin's breathing and heart rate, and placed an extra pillow behind Superboy's head to make sure his neck didn't hurt too bad when he woke up.
Superboy never told that he was awake for the whole thing, woken by the scrape of the door on tile. Still, if he was a little more comfortable around Batman afterwards, no one said anything.