The prompt was basically a world where the YJ team were the heros and the JL the sidekicks.

so I picture the Batman and Robin dynamic to be somewhat reversed...

"You'll need a better car- I don't know how you managed with that old ford- and a better grappling line. You also need something better to deal with villains like Freeze and a way to carry all the stuff."

Nine year old Bruce Wayne eyed the dark clothed vigilante standing before him. The man, Richard Grayson's, mask was pulled aside revealing piercing blue eyes which bore into the child's skull with bemused fascination.

He smiled slowly. "Kid, not that I don't appreciate you offering to finance my crime fighting, but I can't take all this from you. You're only, what, like ten? Do your parents know that you track down vigilantes in your spare time?"

"My parents are dead," Bruce scowled, "You were the one who brought their killer to justice when no one else did. You've made a name for yourself in the underworld, but you could do so much more if you had recourses available to you! I don't want to live in a world here a kid can watch his parents shot in front of him and not have done anything to try and make it better!"

The older man tilted his face away to give the boy privacy in which to compose himself.

"Still kid, I can't take al this from you. It's too much."

Bruce frowned at him.

"I'm not giving it to you for free."

Grayson raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"I have a condition."

Richard looked briefly from the elaborate rope trap strung between two fire escapes down to the fiercely brilliant child who had set it up to capture him.

"It doesn't look like I'm going anywhere, kid, so let's hear it."

"My name isn't 'kid', it's Bruce and you better remember that, because I'm going to be your new partner!"

The dark clad man tilted his head in consideration.

"Ok, but I have a condition of my own. If you're making my costume- which I assume you already have planned somewhere- I get to make yours. Deal?"

Bruce nodded, a smirk flickering across his lips.

"Deal."

Alfred looked stoically at him. Richard shifted uncomfortably.

"So, you wish to apply for a position as Young Master Wayne's care escort. Why might I ask?"

Grayson felt a bead of sweat run down his neck. 'Gee kid, you never said anything about an INTERROGATION!'

Out loud he answered, "I believe that it would be good for Bruce to experience life the way any boy of his age should be able to. Raising a child today can run any one person ragged, and having faced a family tragedy myself, I feel that I can relate to him in his plight."

Alfred's cold flat stare remained unmoved.

"Mr. Grayson, do you think that I am unaware of anything which goes on in Wayne Manor?"

"N-no sir!"

Alfred smiled politely.

"I'm glad we've had this chat. We will be sure to contact you if you receive the position."

Richard, recognizing a dismissal when he heard one, stood up. He laid a hand on the doorway and turned slightly.

"I will not let anything happen to that kid."

Alfred, apparently unconcerned, straightened the papers on his desk.

"Oh, I know Mr. Grayson, but in trying to protect out children from anything happening to them, nothing will end up happening. Good Day."

Not sure whether to celebrate a victory or not, Richard Grayson left.

Robin scowled at his costume's reflection.

"It has color."

Batman smiled beneath his cowl. "Its so I can always find you when you run off without me."

Robin's scowl deepened.

"I look like a traffic light."

"Hey, don't go dissin' the threads! This costume happens to hold great sentimental value to me!"

"It looks like a clown suit."

"Acrobat, actually, but that's not the point." Batman's smile turned down, "I don't want our costumes to look too much alike."

"Do you really mean that?"

"Yeah, why?"

Robin ripped off his mask eyes damp and before Richard could say anything more, ran off into the cave.

Confused Batman followed. It took an hour of searching, but he eventually found the boy wedged in one of the cave's undeveloped corners.

"Bruce?" he called, easing himself into the gap. "Bruce, why did you run off? What did I say?"

"You don't want me to be your partner," the boy sniffed. "You don't want my costume to be affiliated with yours."

Richard Grayson mentally banged his head against the wall. Carefully he laid a hand against the child's shaking shoulder.

"Bruce, you know I didn't mean it like that. I want you a my partner, but I also want you to be safe." He took a deep breath. "I'm just afraid that if out costumes look too similar, people might fire at you thinking you were me."

Bruce looked at him. "Really?"

"Really."

Without warning Batman found himself with an arm full of crying Robin. Carefully he wrapped his arms around his charge and carried him out of the cave.

As they recovered from their emotional roller coster with a plate of hot cookies, Grayson couldn't help but be reminded of another little boy in red and green tights who once flew along side him.

He shook his head, dispelling morbid thoughts of years past.

"Are we feeling better?" he asked his new charge. Bruce nodded.

"There's just something we have to talk about."

"Ok, shoot."

Robin fixed him with a steely stare, "Batman shouldn't be afraid of anything."

Richard laughed.

"Why are we here?" Bruce growled through the tinted limo windows.

Richard Grayson gave him a side long smile as he adjusted his tie in the mirror.

"You wanted a secret identity. The perfect cover for a mature sidekick is a childish rich kid who likes to go on roller coasters."

"Doesn't that mean you should be all dower and angry?"

"You're serious enough for both of us kid."

Bruce scowled and thumped his back against the seat.

"That's not fair."

"Life's not fair," he tightened his tie, "Now let's go out and face those media vultures before they start circling the car."

Forcing a carefree smile onto his face, Bruce waited for Alfred to open the car door and stepped out.

"I SAID I'LL FIGURE IT OUT ON MY OWN! NOW GO AWAY!"

The sound of a door slamming echoed off the polished walls of Mount Justice shaking Robin from his book.

He glanced up just in time to see Superboy storm through the kitchen past Barry and Kid Martian's oreo eating contest and fling himself onto the couch with huff.

Aqualad, prince of Atlantis, looked over from his TV channel surfing. "Big Blue again?"

Superboy grunted and pressed the heel of his hands to his face.

"Come on Clark, at least give him a chance," Black Canary chided from her position on the lounge chair.

"Yeah," Oliver quipped from beside her, "at least your mentor wants you."

"That's enough," Robin said, efficiently ending the impending argument. "If Superboy doesn't want a mentor, that's Clark's business. He can just learn to fly on his own when the time comes instead of seizing the opportunity now."

Superboy's groans intensified in volume. "He's not my father, he has no obligation to baby me. Why can't he just get that?"

Barry laughed. "Hey, at least we know what cool powers you'll have in the future! I mean, I can do a bunch of stuff Flash can't and it's weird to not know my potential."

Robin sighed and returned to his book. "Be that as it may, we still have a middle ages Kryptonian trying to break down our door we need to do something about."

Barry gave his friend an odd look.

"Go, it's going to be so creepy if you ever become Batman- I mean, seriously, a Batman who doesn't smile?"

So, backstories:

Richard Grayson, after the death of his wife Barbara and son Damian in the circus, becomes a vigilante in order to hunt down their killer. By continuing hero work he gains a reputation, and is found by emotionally distraught child genius Bruce Wayne. Wayne agrees to back Grayson's work financially if he takes up the name Batman and has Bruce as his partner. Richard agrees, and works in Wayne manner as young Bruce's escort and co-caretaker along with Alfred.

Bruce Wayne, nine year old billionaire adrenalin junkie, is often seen bullying his care takers into taking him to theme parks and sky diving. Scared by the recent death of his parents, young Bruce Wayne became obsessed with bringing their killer to justice, but was beaten to the punch by the as of yet nameless Gotham vigilante. Setting a trap for the elusive hero, Bruce offers to finance his work so long as he agrees to take Bruce on as a partner. The hero, Richard Grayson, agrees on the condition that he oversees Bruce's training and costume design. Though learning the trade quickly, Bruce is sometimes frustrated with the way Grayson babies him on missions. Secretly, though, he enjoys the way Richard treats him like a son. Bruce lives in Wayne Manor with his butler Alfred and second caretaker Richard Grayson.