Disclaimer: I talked to a witch doctor and this is what he said! I don't own young justice. Too bad. Now get over it.

HALLOS! yes, I'm still alive. Kinda a reaction to one line in 'satisfaction' I guess. I know I already did something like this in 'Friendly Patrol' but that was with the assumption that they made July 4th Conner's B-day. Guess not. and mathematically, is Conner really six? I mean, he would have had his first birthday after first season ended. This would have been his 5th bday, wouldn't it? =/ hmm... whatever. Oh yeah, NOT SLASH!

Didn't Forget

Conner kept his eyes on his homework, keeping busy while the others were out having social lives. No mission that night, sadly. He almost wished there was a crisis somewhere he could take care of, just to clear his depressed mind. After all, everyone forgot his birthday.

Not that he blamed them, really. Artemis' death and funeral, La'gaan's abduction, everything with the invasion, Speedy's recovery, Flash's grandson appearing, Raquel's bridal shower… He was just buried with everything happening around him. If Superman was back on earth though, he was sure they would have gone out for burgers or something.

But Superman wasn't there. No one remembered his birthday with everything else going around. It was nearly night and all he had to look forward to was a good night's rest and getting his homework done. If only someone would stop pacing outside his door. It was getting very annoying.

Light footsteps, had to be one of the rookies. Normal, so not Gar or that Bart. No muttering, so not Jamie. Cassie was with the girls wasn't she? So that left…

Now curious, Conner left his desk to ask what Robin was doing. He just touched the side panel to open the door when the kid finally knocked. Seeing him jump back a step in surprise was pretty funny, but it would have been funnier if he screamed and tossed that bag in his hand in the air. Too bad. He could have used a good laugh.

"Do you need anything Robin?" A little annoyance entered his voice. Really the kid shouldn't have been pacing in front of his door. It was super annoying.

"Wah... uh… not really." Tongue tied. Were he and Nightwing really brothers? That guy could talk up a storm at the drop of a hat. The Robin before too. But this one… well he talked more than Batman, but not by much. Looking away and down the kid tried to talk, shamefaced. "I just…"

He looked over to the grocery bag he was carrying, unsure. Conner looked once at it and recognized the logo on it, but thought nothing of it. Was he trying to give him a pity present for forgetting his birthday? He didn't need it. He wanted to get back to his homework, and brooding. Wendy's party-hat was all he needed, really. "Just spit it out."

Robin pouted a bit before taking a deep breath and trying to talk. "I just heard today was your birthday. Or, read it really. Old reports. No one's been talking about it, so it was a real surprise to me."

The clone blinked. Okay, he really shouldn't be giving the kid a hard time. He wasn't there last year, so he wouldn't know. Now the guy was feeling bad. Robin continued, still nervous. "I know a lot of things have been happening, so maybe everyone else forgot, but I don't like it when birthdays are forgotten. Had too many of those."

Conner blinked. Forgotten birthdays? With the way Nightwing fussed over Robin, you'd think it'd be normal for him to have huge parties all the time at their place, for any small occasion. How could he be forgotten?

The kid lifted the bag he was carrying. "Back home, there's this cake place that's amazing. Every year I'd buy one and sneak it on campus with some ice cream and have a party of one. I was wondering if you'd like some. I…" Robin grinned sheepishly, shrugging slightly, "I didn't know what kind you'd like so I got yellow cake and chocolate ice cream. They're pretty standard, aren't they?"

The clone blinked at him for a moment in surprise, then smiled graciously. "Thanks." He took the bag from him and looked inside. Single cups of ice cream with wooden spoons took half the room and a small round cake, paper plates, forks and a knife took up the rest. Just enough for a small party.

He looked at the kid again, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. A small unsaid message came with the delivery. 'You don't have to be alone.' "Care to join me? There's enough for two or three here."

Robin grinned, his nerves ebbing away. "I certainly hope so."

Half an hour later the two were laughing over the growing trash pile in Conner's room. Or rather, Robin was laughing at the story Conner was telling about past parties. Robin was particularly laughing at the trouble Nightwing got into and marveling at what he told him about his other predecessor. From what the clone could figure from the kid's questions, he never met the second Robin. Blew his theory about all the bird boys being literal brothers.

The two of them would probably be eating desserts and talking late into the night if a beeper on the boy hadn't gone off. Robin immediately took it off and looked at the time. "Ah cripes. I need to get out on patrol."

Conner nodded in understanding. All the Bats were particular about Gotham and patrolling its streets. Unless there was a mission or they needed training or some kind of meeting was being set, they were usually back in their city taking care of things. They didn't just hang out at the cave, though occasionally they made excuses just to go there.

He looked over to the slowly melting ice cream. "I should probably put the rest of this on ice. Thanks for coming by, and remembering."

"No problem." Robin gave him a smile as they went to the door. It slid open as they talked a little more. "Food is always better if you share it. And happy birthday. I'll get you something better next ti—WHOA!"

"What are you two doing?" Bart zoomed right in front of them, making both take a step back in surprise. He looked over and around them curiously really fast. "Is that cake? Ice cream? You had cake and ice cream?! Without me! Not fair! Wow your room really needs more personality. I vote we paint it neon green with glitter stripes!"

"Get out of my room!" Conner finally shouted at him, more than a little annoyed at him. Really, this kid needed to slow down. Robin just pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to ignore the speedster.

"Aww... But I wanted cake and ice cream! Ice cream and cake! Which is better? Which is worse? Wait, you had it together? That's weird. They only go together on—" He gasped dramatically, gaping at the two of them. "It's you're birthday! I can't believe it! Why didn't we have a party?! We need a party!"

"I don't need a party!" the clone interjected flatly before the speedster could make even more of a mess. "This was just fine."

"No it wasn't!" Bart objected, pouting to them. "Because it didn't have me! The more the merrier!"

Robin stifled a snicker, shaking his head before turning to leave. "Looks like you've got company. I gotta jet."

"NO!" The speedster whipped passed the kryptonian, taking the bird's sleeve in hand as he started begging in a very childish way. "You have to stay! The three of us should have a huge old party! Like a dinner and a movie!"

"That's more like a date," his captive stated flatly, "and I have a girlfriend."

"It's not a date if it's just a group of friends." They all jerked around when NIghtwing appeared seemingly out of nowhere. A grin grew on his face. "What's going on here anyway? Is that ice cream? Why wasn't I invited?"

"Why didn't you remember?" Robin quickly retorted, freeing himself from the speedster.

"Who says I didn't?" Their leader grinned at Conner, taking a gift card out from his glove. "Happy birthday Kon. Couldn't figure out what you'd like so I just went with Visa."

The clone bit back a chuckle as he took the card. "Thanks. How much on this one? There's some things I've been wanting to get for school."

"About a hundred. But you can't use it for school." His grin became impish. "You have to use it on something frivolous, and on yourself. That's the requirement for any birthday money."

"That's so crash!" Bart leapt for joy, coming straight back to Conner. "This is a sign from above. We should all go out and paint the town! Nightwing's buying."

"What?" the clone started to object. Really, this kid was pushy!

"Count me out," Robin stated flatly. "I've got work."

"No, you should go!" The younger bird gaped at his brother in surprise. The acrobat just grinned encouragingly at him. "It'll be fun. I'll go out with Batgirl and take care of things in Gotham tonight."

"But—" His predecessor put his hands on his shoulders, very firm and encouraging at the same time.

"Don't worry about it. I'll cover for you tonight. The three of you should go out and have fun. I heard a new kind of Sherlock Holmes movie came out last week." He looked over to the other two, grinning and edging them on. Robin did seem to perk up a little at the mention of the movie. "You guys should pick up some Chinese and sneak it in. There's this place on Eighth with some amazing sushi."

"I haven't even agreed to this yet." The clone almost gaped at his longtime friend. Setting this up without any of his say so… The first sidekick really needed to get things straight.

"Yeah! We should do it! Crash me right into it will ya?" The hyper speedster yanked on Conner's leave begging. "Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Pleeeeeaaaase! Let's go out and have fun Superboy! Please!"

There was little worse than a begging speedster, especially one who made cuddly puppy eyes at him at the same time. It was hard to say no. "FINE!" he near shouted in exasperation. "We'll go check it out."

"YES!" Bart punched the air in excitement. "Magical Holmes! Here we come!"

As they started towards the tubes to reach the zetapoint in Happy Harbor, the younger bird seemed uneasy about all this. He looked over to Nightwing for guidance. "Are you sure about this? I really don't mind going on patrol you know, and there's still Bludhaven."

"They can miss me for one night. But nights like this one," he looked over to Conner, their eyes locking onto each other for a moment sadly, "don't always come. You should cherish your time together as long as possible."

The unspoken reminder of those they lost, those close to them, hung heavily over the older members of the team. Both would have liked to hear Artemis' criticizing Bart's enthusiasm. Dick would have loved to see Jason joining in with the others. But neither of them would be coming back to be part of their lives.

Robin caught the references and nodded solemnly. Hoping to break them out of the gloom starting to come, Nightwing took the ice cream Conner was still carrying and shoved his brother forward. "So go have fun! Or so help me I'll take this to Gotham and you'll never see it again."

"Hey!" both clone and bird objected loudly, glaring at the man. He just laughed at them, zipping over to the kitchen area to take care of the dessert. Conner shook his head, looking over to Robin in exasperation. "I swear, your brother's nuts."

"Welcome to my life."

END

A/N: heh, gotta love friends. Seriously, I've had birthdays after leaving home where I wanted no one around me at all because Birthdays were very personal affairs growing up (family only). But honestly, I loved it whenever a friend would dash my lonely plans away in a heartbeat. Hate crowded birthday surprises though, so embarrassing!

Anywho, does anyone else know why you don't put Bart and Sushi in the same room? *evil laughter* Can't wait until the season pans out further. and YAY! JASON CONFIRMED! now we need flashbacks. and we need confirmed the whole 'batcave's crowded enough' remark. Just how crowded was it? B)