Warnings/Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or its characters. This is my first fanfic of this fandom that I've completed and feel confident in enough to post. This takes place late season 1, after Failsafe. I like to pretend season 2 isn't a fatal punch to my feels and the only reason I don't deny its existence completely is because I like Blue Beetle and Tim/Robin. Warnings include bromance of the romance persuasion. Really, it is bromance with a few friendly comforting kisses thrown in. Barely qualifies as BL. Oh and a genderbent!insecure!Robin, if you couldn't tell from the summary. One or two swear words tossed in.
Basically, I'd been reading some fem!Robin fanfics awhile back, and was a little annoyed at how some of the authors wrote Robin as adjusting to being a girl in a flash and even dressing up as a girl like it's no big deal and how everyone only wanted to bang him. So this idea came into my head about Robin not being okay with it and hating the idea of even having his physical identity stripped away. Cue awesome best bro Wally. I hope you enjoy~ No flames, you were warned about the kisses.
~x~
BEST best friend
~x~
"Due to Joker's most recent gas," Batman's voice was extra gravelly, showcasing a very much darker mood than usual. "That Robin was exposed to, his body has suffered some serious changes resulting in-"
"Rob's hurt? Isheokayhowbadwasithowsoonca nIgoseehim?"
Wally had shot to his feet the moment Batman had zeta-beamed into the cave but at the mention of his best friend and Joker in the same sentence, his green eyes had blown wide with worry as he speedtalked without being conscious of it.
Batman's already dark glare darkened further. Wally's mouth clicked shut audibly but he remained unflinching, refusing to look away in case he missed the answers he desperately sought.
"Robin's body suffered serious changes, but he is unhurt. However, the gas was a mutated biological weapon that Joker turned into a prank of switching a person's gender."
A short, deafening silence met the completion of the Dark Knight's explanation.
"…Robin's a girl?" Artemis tentatively asked for confirmation, being the only one daring enough to say aloud what they all had thought.
"Yes. I am in the process of finding a cure but for the next few days at least, his gender is female." Batman looked very much pissed at Joker's latest stunt, especially so since his ward had taken a direct physical hit to his body. Just in a much different way than usual.
"Can I visit him?" Wally quickly asked again when Batman turned and swept off towards the zeta tubes, having finished informing the team of this most recent development.
Batman didn't pause as the computer recognized him. "Ask Robin." And then he was gone, back to Gotham.
Wally zipped to his room and was back within milliseconds, now holding his phone to his ear. He made a sharp, frustrated noise when the call was rejected on the second ring and would have been halfway to Gotham anyways if a text hadn't vibrated his phone near instantaneously afterward.
I don't want you to hear my voice, KF
Wally's keys creaked as he used his speed to text a very quick reply.
Dude! Bats just told us! You're ok, right? Not srsly hurt? Can I come see you?
"Slow down, Baywatch." Artemis mumbled although she was peering over Wally's shoulder too like the rest of the team to see Robin's message.
"I hope he's alright." M'gann worried, clasping her hands under her chin while Wally worried at his bottom lip, anxiously waiting for a reply.
Kaldur laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure he is. Robin is very strong and mature for his age."
Superboy just crossed his arms tighter, looking more displeased than usual.
They all leaned in close again when the speedster's phone buzzed with a reply.
Not ok. Not hurt. No.
Wally whined and Artemis elbowed him in the ribs because ow her ear and only dogs should sound that high pitched while whining.
Dude, let me come over! You KNOW I freak out when Joker's involved and I don't see you immediately afterwards!
Yeah I know but still no
Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplea sepleasepleasepleasepleasepl easepleasepleasepleaseplease pleasepleasepleasepleaseplea sepleasepleasepleasepleasepl easepleasepleasepleaseplease pleasepleasepleasepleaseplea sepleasepleasepleasepleasepl easepleaseplesasepleasepleas eplease!
Dude stop you're going to break your keys again
Not like you can't just fix it for me like always, c'mon Rob! I'm worried here!
Wally held his breath hopefully when no immediate denial showed up again. It meant Robin was reconsidering. It was weirdly silent in Mt Justice as the team peered anxiously at the cellphone screen for the reply.
Fine, but I'm coming there. Everyone there?
Yes! And yhea they are
Nice typo. Be there in a sec
"Yes!" Wally enthused audibly this time, throwing a fist in the air for his triumph.
Artemis shifted her weight so that she wasn't leaning over Kid Flash anymore. "Excited you get to see your best friend as a girl? That's messed up, Kid Perv."
"What?" Wally looked at her weirdly, but zipped over to the zeta tubes the second the computer announced Robin's arrival. "ROB!"
Robin, in his civilian clothes and shades, squeaked –actually squeaked- when Wally snatched him off the floor in a tight hug.
"Dude! You're totally okay! Not bleeding, nothing broken!"
Robin wiggled in the exuberant hold, pushing at Wally wherever he could reach. "KF! Put me down!" He visibly winced at the sound of his voice, higher pitched than his usual tenor unless he forced it lower.
Wally obeyed but still beamed down at his best friend's face. His face. Robin's expression faltered somewhat that Wally's eyes didn't roam downwards like he'd expected. Before he could comment on it, however, the rest of the team was crowding in, touching Robin each in their own way to reassure themselves that he was there and safe.
M'gann threw her arms around his neck and Robin flinched at the press of their chests together as he awkwardly patted her back.
"So you don't look any different." Blunt as always, Artemis pointed out after the Boy Wonder had been released from Miss Martain's relieved hug.
Rob glowered at the blonde archer, but was unintentionally cut off by Wally's retort.
"That's what makes it okay." The speedster emphasized. When he got uncomprehending (and slightly surprised) looks, the redhead elaborated. "Robin still looks like Robin. Robin is still Robin. If he had come in looking like Zatanna I would have freaked out."
And no one knew it, but that was the first time Robin had smiled genuinely in hours. Wally thought he still looked like a boy. There were slight differences, like his face was more heart shaped and his shoulders not as broad. His hips were more prominent and his chest… well, the hoodie and jacket did wonders for covering what he hadn't ever wanted there. Because of these slight differences, his uniform didn't fit properly anymore, hence why he had shown up in his civilian clothes.
"I thought he might have gotten longer hair." M'gann shyly admitted, looking to Robin nervously but the thirteen-year old took no offence since she was apologetic.
"No way, long hair is for girls." Wally stated as if it were completely obvious, jerking his thumb at Artemis' long blonde ponytail for emphasis, zipping out of the way of her resulting punch.
No one mentioned that Robin was now technically a girl, and that, along with Wally's comment and actions of treating him like normal, made Robin's mood lift sky high. He really had the best best friend.
~x~
The Joker's mutated biological gas took longer than Batman or Robin had expected to figure out, and Robin was already passed his first week into the realm of new gender. Despite the amazing support provided by the normalcy his friends treated him with, Robin was plain sick of being a girl. He'd never been so mortified in his life than when he came back to his room and found that Alfred had laid out an athletic sports bra on the bed for him to wear. At least the butler was sensitive enough not to get something girly with wiring and padding. The tightness of the sports bra reminded Robin of his acrobatic leotard top, and soothed his embarrassment somewhat.
Wally was the ultimate balm to this sore problem. He didn't alter any of his mannerisms to Robin's new body, still persisting with the random touches they'd always shared since they'd become fast friends. He still made terrible jokes, accused him of cheating on their video game spats, and never implied that Robin was anything but his usual male self. It was making Robin's chest warm with happiness that he had such a best friend as Wally.
Artemis was her usual jerk-kind-of-teasing-self but she always touched Robin's shoulder when she said something, so Robin knew she didn't really mean anything and he could always give back as good as he got. Their banter was a therapy in a kind of way that lessoned the impact of the gender change so that it didn't seem as a big deal anymore if they could make fun of it.
Kaldur was a pillar of support, and due to his Atlantean upbringing, he didn't distinguish a difference in strength or worth between genders, and treated Robin just as he had before without exception. He even sparred with Robin and hadn't hesitated to grab the Boy Wonder by the waist and throw him across the training floor. Despite the toss, Robin had been happy.
After the initial comment about might have having longer hair, M'gann cheerily returned to having Robin as a brother and was her usual bubbly affectionate self, making cookies by the burnt dozens, that Wally always ate regardless of condition.
Superboy hardly understood the social differences between girls and boys anyways, and the fact that it was even possible to switch genders barely registered on his radar of "things that should be treated differently." Long story short, nothing changed there either.
But still, Robin was impatient to get back to being a real boy. And wow did that sound like a Pinocchio line. Robin hadn't been able to go on any scouting trips with Batman through Gotham because his uniform didn't fit perfectly anymore, and with a city like theirs, even the slightest distraction or hindrance could be your life. The team hadn't gotten any recent missions either, so Robin was itching to do something, but his usual hobbies were rejected because it involved tight clothing and he hated to see the gentle swell of his chest and sensual jut of his hips.
Okay, so despite everyone being beyond amazing and just what he needed to feel better, when alone with just this new body of his, Robin felt so depressed knowing that this female anatomy was now his but it shouldn't be- wasn't his. He defied any and all use of using feminine pronouns or adjectives to himself, because he was a he. End of story. Period.
…
And shit that just brought up something else to his mind that was beyond horrifying. Period. The menstrual cycle. The average age for a girl to hit her first period was at age twelve, and he was thirteen. If Robin ended up having one before Batman could change him back, he… he didn't think he could handle it. It would be the tipping factor into a full blown breakdown.
And like usual when Robin was upset about something, Wally picked up on it the very next time they saw each other.
~x~
"Dude, what's the matter? You've been zoning out so much I actually beat you in one round. That seriously means something." Wally was only half joking, setting aside his controller and turning halfway on his seat on the floor to where Robin was sprawled on his bed in his Uncle Barry's house in Central City. The Boy Wonder was visiting for the first time since the Joker gas incident.
Robin sighed and set aside his own controller and grabbed one of Wally's pillows, hugging it tight to his chest and pressing his face into it, uncaring if his shades smushed uncomfortably to his face. It smelled like Wally.
"Dick?"
Wally's voice was gentle and concerned, the tone and real name were specially reserved for moments like this between each other.
At the sound of his very much male name, Dick blurted out all his insecurities in a garbled mess right into the pillow, hoping Wally could hear him enough because he was never going to repeat anything like this ever again.
Thankfully, Wally could hear him and reached up to comfortingly squeeze Dick's closest knee. "Bats isn't going to let you stay like this, you know that. And if it takes any longer, I'll find the cure myself." The speedster grinned at Robin's resulting snort. "Okay, maybe best wait on Batman, but you won't be like this forever. The world needs their Boy Wonder."
Dick mumbled an unreassuringly, "Yeah…" in reply. "It still really sucks… Hey, Wally?"
"Yeah?"
"Kiss me?"
Wally blinked at the unpredicted request. A few months prior, during the disastrous, heavy on the dis, training mission inside M'gann's mind, when they had thought they were going to die, KF and Robin had shared a rough impulsive mash of the mouth during the final seconds. And then they had woken up, groggy and confused but alive.
Wally had been so relieved that he kissed Robin again the second they were alone together. It was just as impulsive as the one in the dreamstate, but this time not as hard to clack teeth. After that, it had become a special brand of offering comfort to each other; a way to show that they were loved and cared for no matter what. Nothing else had really developed out of the scattering of secret kisses, besides their bond growing explicitly stronger. Maybe it would eventually, but for now, it was perfect as it was.
Now, with Dick so upset at his body and unsure if he would ever get his original male physical self back (because he would never lose his mental, emotional self), Wally didn't even hesitate to obey the request for comforting reassurance that he was still very much loved.
"Yeah."
He shifted onto his knees, bracing both hands on the mattress in front of Dick's knees, ducked his head low and tilted to meet Dick's lips softly without awkwardly bumping their noses. He felt more than heard Dick inhale sharply at the initial contact before the brunette was pushing forward, firming the contact into something more solid. But then suddenly, Dick recoiled like the time Wally had accidentally nearly vibrated through him during one of their very first missions together, before the team.
"What?" Wally asked, alarmed by the abruptness and realizing with greater concern that Dick was biting really hard into his bottom lip.
Dick hugged the pillow even tighter, strangling the cotton stuffing inside. "I'm- I'm a… and you're- now like this, it's…"
Wally had never seen his best friend struggle to get words out like this before, but it took him only a few miliseconds of fast-paced processing before he realized what was really upsetting his pal and slapped a hand over his face. "Oh jeez, I'm such a douche, I'm sorry, Dick, I didn't even think. Yanno, since you're still so you that it doesn't matter what your body's like but you just said that you hated it and here I am being all-"
Dick unexpectedly darted in and planted a delicate kiss on Wally's parted lips, smiling a bit more brighter than he had all day. "Thanks Wally, for not thinking about it. I was the one overthinking it."
Blinking rapid-fire enough for it almost to qualify at speedster level, Wally stalled. "Uh… you're welcome…? So I'm not a douche?"
"No, you can still be a total douche."
"You little-!"
Robin's laughter was higher pitched than his usual cackle, but so what. Wally loved him for the person he is, not the gender he was.
So how was my first step into writing Young Justice fanfiction? I'm a huge fan of Birdflash, so it's highly possible that I may be writing a more solid relationship between these two in the future. Until then, please leave a review :)
