This was a very spur of the moment oneshot I decided to write after listening to superman (it's not easy) I quite like the song the story is Robin has a breakdown in his room and Raven who shares a bond with him comforts him
-Not superman-
It was after a particularly rough battle with Cinderblock. The Titans had been called out on what should have been an easy run of the mill job. Cinderblock was tearing up downtown jump city, ripping lampposts from the ground knocking over parked cars, basically the usual. The Titans arrived on the scene and responded rapidly to the threat by deploying their general battle tactics. Raven and Starfire would provide support from the skies, Beast Boy Cyborg and Robin would interchange in dealing the blows until a final power hit could be dealt. That's how it should have gone. No one expected a hostage. During the fray, Cinderblock grabbed a hostage. A medium height good looking blonde girl who was watching from the side-lines. None of the titans knew how to respond. Until robin reacted by putting his weapons down, slowly approaching Cinderblock and the hostage then at the last minute flipped on him and kicked him in the face causing him to drop the hostage. The other titans quickly jumped the downed villain and quickly restrained him by wrapping him in three uprooted lamp-posts. All the while Robin was checking on the hostage who had grazed her knee and scuffed her dress.
-Not Superman-
"are you ok miss" he asked concern in his voice holding out his hand to help her up
"No! I'm not ok, you're the super heroes you are meant to stop this kind of thing from happening but instead you let it happen right in front of you" the woman seemed a little distressed but mostly came across ad snobbish
"I apologise miss"
"you should, look at my knee I may need stitches and my dress is ruined"
"I think it's only a graze miss"
"and who made you the doctor, your meant to protect me"
"I assure you miss we had the situation under control and we would have reacted quicker but we had the rest of the population to worry about as well"
"the rest of the population was fine I got hurt and since it was your fault you can take me to the hospital" a little shocked at the woman's proposal he looked around to find a crowd of people looking disapprovingly at him and he let out a sigh.
"Friend Robin is everything ok?" Starfire who had finished what she was doing flew over and asked quizzically
"oh, yeah Star you and the gang go back to the tower I just need to sort some things out"
"ok we promise to save you some the pizza" after saying this Starfire flew away and Robin chuckled to himself over her poor grammar
"look at me boy wonder I need to go to the hospital… NOW!" Robin picked the woman up in his arms and perched her on his bike and reached for his helmet "ohhhh no, I'm not getting on a motorcycle with a teenager you can carry me" at this point Robin was beginning to get frustrated but complied regardless once again cradling the woman in his arms and walking in the direction of Jump City General hospital which was only a block away "what are you doing?" hearing this made Robin flinch a little
"I'm taking you to the hospital, like you asked" Robin almost growled
"no, my doctor is at Jump City Metropolitan" the hospital that the woman spoke of was on the other side of the city and this was the last straw for Robin and he simply dropped the woman and walked towards his bike
"WHAT do you think you're doing"
"what am I doing? I'll tell you what I'm going to get my bike then I'm going home to enjoy my pizza"
"how am I going to get to the hospital"
"frankly my dear I don't give a damn"
"listen to me you twerp you caused this now you're going to help me fix it or else" the woman stood up and walked over to the boy wonder and started poking his chest as she said this
"I caused this? You saw a team of superheroes fighting a supervillain and you thought I know I'll get closer then you complain when you get dragged into it then when despite your whining, I still offer to help you. You then do nothing but complain and obstruct my attempts to help making my life a living hell plus your walking fine now so there is clearly nothing wrong. So, if you'll excuse me I'm leaving" he then turned away again and grabbed his helmet but before he took off he heard a disturbance in the crowd of people
"my lawyer will hear about this" the woman called out and the entire crowd of people started booing simultaneously some even taking to throwing litter at him robin turned back to see a smirk on the woman's face but he simply took off ignoring the disapproving crowd.
-Not Superman-
Robin was sat in his room alone. The rest of the titans were in the common room enjoying their pizza. They had offered him to join them but he had politely turned them down and retired for the day. He was on his bed, his legs over the side and his elbows resting on his knees, looking at his hands. He let out a sigh. The events of the day had been getting to him and he had become more and more upset about it over the rest of the day. Deciding T.V would help he switched on to find the first channel that was on was a news broadcast displaying his outburst to the world. He threw the remote through the T.V screen turned around and screamed into a pillow eventually returning to his original position.
He took off his gloves and began inspecting his hands. Each scar he found on his knuckle from training too hard and each callous on his palm from gripping his staff. Despite this the very centre of his hand was still tender almost raw as it rubbed against his glove creating a tiny almost negligible stinging sensation, just enough to remind him he was human and not like his team mates. He sighed once again.
"I know I'm not perfect and I know I can't save everyone. I'm not that naïve" he said to no one starting a conversation with himself "but I'm still more than the villains we fight. I'm more than some pretty face for someone to take advantage of" at this point tears were welling up in his eyes but he bit them back "I wish that for once even just an hour I could be like everyone else and be able to cry or be like my team and be tough and strong enough to face the challenge with no fear. Instead of some disappointing amalgamation of both"
"Robin?" raven who sensed something was wrong with their fearless leader had come from the pizza party to check on him. This caused Robin to jump and fumble with his gloves in a hasty effort to return them to his hand. After what was too long he responded.
"Yes, raven come in" he adjusted his position to look as casual as possible "what's up"
"it seemed like something was wrong, are you ok?"
"yeah why wouldn't I be" he lied
"you seem distracted"
Relaxing a bit at the thought of his teammate caring about him he smiled and responded in a more convincing manor "thanks raven but you go back and enjoy the pizza"
"nah their too loud for my liking I think I'll just stay here for a while"
"if you must"
For a while the two sat in silence raven reading a book she had teleported from her room and robin once again inspecting his hands. With the gloves on this time.
"I can't imagine them being that exiting" raven noted without looking up from her book
"what?"
"your gloves"
"oh right no, I'm just thinking"
"about what" this time she put the book down and turned to face him
"after you left the woman who was taken hostage briefly was complaining about scraping her knee and what not and she wouldn't stop, she was being extremely difficult and I just snapped at her. This got a crowd of people booing me and throwing things and I can't help but feel like the people we fight" Raven looked at him with a face plastered in concern
"Robin look at me, you're not like them. You are an amazing, kind, determined and committed person to have the will to train so hard jut to help other people and expect nothing in return is a testament to all those things. Whatever that woman said to you didn't mean a thing and you exploding at her, even heroes have the right to bleed. You more than any of us"
"sometimes I don't know raven sometimes I just want to give up. I'm just a guy in a silly red sheet looking for something special that may or may not be inside me. See Raven I'm not so noble that I'm doing it for others, in truth I do this for me"
"Dick Greyson both you and I know that's not true you are noble and you do have that something special. Look at today with the hostage while we all stood there in shock you sprung right into action and handled the situation perfectly and if that woman can't see how lucky she is for you to be thinking so much about her well she doesn't deserve your thoughts. If you were thinking about me like that I would treasure every thought" taking a second to remember to breathe after her rant and then realising what she had said she blushed slightly and stood up heading for the door when robin didn't respond
"Raven" he caught her just as she reached the door
"yeah"
"this may sound absurd but do heroes have the right to dream?"
"of course they do, I mean we are just people at the end of it all. We all put our pants on one leg at a time"
"good because I actually do have a dream will you be willing to hear it" he looked at her with hopeful eyes
"sure" she walked back to her chair and looked at him and he responded by moving forward and hugging her tightly testing his head on her collar. This caught her off guard initially but she soon responded by hugging him back "what's this dream then" she said not letting go he responded only by capturing her gaze and slowly removing his mask revealing stern yet soft blue eyes then resting his hand on her chin and tilting her head up he gave her a remarkably soft kiss that she soon melted into however it was brief and he soon pulled back and quickly returned his mask to its place on his face
"I'm sorry that was dumb I just..." he was cut off by Raven putting a single finger on his lips quickly hushing him
"was that your dream" she asked shyly with a blush. He nodded thoughtfully, looking away worried he offended her "wow it looks like we share more than just a bond" after saying this she leaned in and gave him a soft kiss and a warm embrace then walked towards the door grabbing her book on the way out "goodnight Boy blunder" she chuckled slightly and walked out leaving Robin slightly dazed.
He sat back on his bed and took his mask off inspecting it. This time smiling.
-Not Superman-
I got some of the lyrics in the story itself because the fit nicely to this concept like I said this was quite spur of the moment just listening to this song so I hope you enjoy