"Catch Me In the Moonlight"
It's more of a test for everyone else, and probably to see how smoothly they can complete a full patrol together.
So he can honestly say he feels no guilt whatsoever that he's actually having a lot of fun on this mission while the rest of his team was practically sweating bullets the entire bioship-ride over. Say what you want about Gotham, but it's almost always been his playground—one giant jungle gym. He knows the place like the back of his hand, and dangerous is not the right word to describe it: maybe exhilarating.
He lets out a loud cackle and shoots his grappling gun, swinging around the corner of the tall building and retracting, tumbling back into a run along the next rooftop.
Definitely exhilarating.
"Aqualad to Robin," comes from his earpiece, "How is Northern Gotham?"
He does a cartwheel into a somersault off of the edge and just falls for a few seconds before shooting his grappling gun once more, throwing his feet over his head so that he twirls backwards in the air and plants his feet atop the head of a gargoyle, crouching.
"Dead silent," he chimes.
"Please don't use that word here," Kid Flash grumbles into the line, and Robin chuckles and straightens up as he retracts his grappling gun.
"For once, I actually agree with Bay Watch," Artemis adds. "This place gives me the creeps."
"Babies," he mutters, and then laughs when he hears several offended voices erupt in protest in his ear.
He gets this kind of lurking feeling, one that is vaguely familiar, and whips his head around in time to see a blur go past him in his peripheral vision. He smirks and lets the voices of his teammates drown into the background as he backflips onto the roof and takes off. If his intuition is as reliable as it always has been, then he knows exactly who this blur is. No real need to alarm the others.
So he does the ninja thing as Kid Flash so loves to call it, and disappears soundlessly into the shadowed side, picking up speed.
He lunges forward, throwing a hand out, but the leather escapes his fingertips and he lets out a cackle, leaping off of the building into an aerial somersault and landing onto the top of a Wayne Tech billboard.
She's standing on the other side, heels clicking against the metal as she is walking backwards while facing him, licking her lips and coming to a halt as she reaches the end. He smirks and runs forward, whipping out his grappling gun and shooting it out. He jumps off of the side of the billboard and swings around her, watching a look of amusement cross her face as he passes, and kicks his feet up.
Mid-twirl, when his feet are above his head and he's kind of suspended for a second upside down, he sees her rope coiled around the head of a gargoyle and she is swinging after him. She does an aerial flip and lands her heel-clad feet safely upon the rooftop.
He smirks a bit as she is about to dart off again and does a vertical twist so that he lands on the gargoyle head with his body leaning over in a look-at-me-I'm-about-to-fall manner.
A hand grasps his cape, tugging him in place perched on that stoned statue and he cackles, looking over his shoulder at her.
"Why are birds so suicidal?" her voice muses behind him, "So eager to fall to their deaths for the sake of flight."
"Actually," he corrects, "I think the Momma Bird is the one who pushes her little birdies out of the nest." He twists around and sits himself backwards on the gargoyle, legs dangling off as if he were on a swing rather than perched at a dizzying height on the side of a roof. She finally lets go of his cape, reassured he is no longer about to fall, and crosses her arms over her chest.
He grins a little too brightly at her. "What brings you out tonight, Selina? Had your eyes on something you wanted to steal, or are you just itching to stretch your legs? Do cats even go out for walks?"
"Very funny, Richard," she purrs.
"So are you going to answer my question or what?"
She chuckles. "You are so much like your father," she tells him, "He never liked beating around the bush either."
"You know, eventually I'll have to report to Batman what happened on our patrol," he informs. "I'm not sure how detailed I want to be, yet."
"Fine. If you must know, it's been a while since I've stretched my legs," she admits, sitting on the ledge beside the gargoyle he's perched on. "Must it always be so suspicious to see me out and about?"
He shrugs. "Not for me. And not for Bats either, but I think he thinks it'd go against our moral code as heroes not to assume that you're completely innocent, considering your track record and all."
She gets this kind of smile on her face and nods. "I suppose I should be flattered."
"Coming from Bats, I think that's one of his highest forms of compliments," Robin laughs, and then kind of quiets down as he takes in the distance in her eyes. He arches an eyebrow and tips forward, leaning to try and bring them face-to-face. She blinks, obviously snapping out of her thoughts, and he asks, "What's the matter? Disappointed it was only me?"
She laughs like she's supposed to and ruffles his hair, prompting a scowl and him trying to swat her hand away. "Don't degrade yourself, boy, you're not the worse company."
"Gee, thanks, Selina."
"Should you be so comfortable with a potential enemy?" she questions.
He shrugs and tries to fix his hair. "Why? It's just us."
"For now," she corrects, "assuming that your little friends don't come around to try and save you from the big, bad cat."
He laughs. "They won't. They're kind of terrified of this place, especially at night. And I can take care of myself, thank you very much!"
"Oh, I know you can," she replies. "Batman has always had the utmost confidence in his Little Robin. I must admit, it was rather a surprise. He never struck me as the type to want kids."
"Neither did you, and yet…" He trails off, letting out a sigh and meeting her eyes. "I've kind of missed it here. If it makes you feel any better, I've missed you too, and I know for a fact so has Bats."
"Well," she exhales, "that makes one of us that thinks so." She reaches over to ruffle his hair again, laughing when he lets out a groan of frustration and swats her hand again. "But if we're laying our cards out on the table here, then as a matter of fact I've rather missed hearing you chirp around the city."
His stomach growls loudly and she laughs again and kind smirks at him. "Did you not bring your midnight patrol snack?"
"Knew I was forgetting something," he chuckles, patting his stomach and swinging his legs. "I'm in the mood for something sweet, like cookies."
"Cookies?"
"Miss M makes them all the time." At her lack of response, he adds, "Teammate. Let's go, I'm starving!"
"It's not like any decent restaurants would be open at this hour in Gotham," she reminds. "Besides, are you just going to waltz in dressed like that and leave your post?"
He frowns. "Okay, well, could you get me something to eat then, because I—" His sentence is cut short as the sound of shattering glass, screams, and an alarm go off in a quick procession. Their eyes snap below them to a convenience store with the front window shattered on the sidewalk. "Isn't that a bit cliché, even for a Gotham criminal?"
"Don't complain," she tells him. "Or do you not want food?"
He rolls his eyes and swings his leg, shooting his grappling hook across. "Whatever you say, Mom."
Her eyes widen slightly, though she doesn't miss her cue to grab onto the line as Robin is swinging out, taking them through the air.
Mom.
She lets a laugh out into the night.
"So, I take it patrol had no problems?" a gruff voice asks him in the early hours of the morning as they pull up to the driveway of the Wayne Mansion.
"Yup," he replies, popping the p, and then laughs. "Too lazy to read the reports?"
Bruce smiles at him—like a full-on smile he has reserved for when they're alone (or only have Alfred as company), not his patented blink-and-you'll-miss-it, I'm-not-at-all-smiling smiles he gives whenever they're around the League or the Team—and drops a hand on his shoulder. "I trust your judgment," he reminds as they climb the front steps. Dick smirks way too proudly. "You should know that."
"I do," he states matter-of-factly. Considering they were out all night, he on patrol and Bruce on League business, they're surprisingly wide awake.
When they get the doors open, Bruce opens his mouth to say something, though stops short when they realize that Alfred is waiting for them, and he's not at all alone.
"Ah, Master Bruce, Master Richard," Alfred greets, "Welcome home."
The woman standing beside him is dressed for the sunny weather, in jean shorts and a blouse with her wavy, black hair pulled up into a ponytail and shades atop her head. Her green eyes are sparkling.
"Miss Kyle arrived a few minutes ago," Alfred continues, filling the silence of Bruce and Dick staring at a smirking Selina Kyle, "in hopes that you would join her out for brunch on this nice day."
"I… Really?"
Dick laughs, and then throws his hands over his mouth when Bruce glares at him, though continues laughing behind them. Selina looks completely amused and nods too slowly. It looks as if she's biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing as blatantly as Dick is, though you can't really blame them for finding it funny since Bruce never hesitates.
He looks up at Bruce to see if there's a reaction on his face (he thinks intrigued is starting to show; which, ew) and then back at Selina.
"Will there be cookies?"
A/n: Probably never, ever, ever going to happen; but that's the beauty of fanfiction! Plus, my hardcore Bat/Cat-shipping heart needed this. It was terribly long overdue for myself (:
So you read it. Love it? Hate it? Please review it!