this is a sequel to pancakes hope you like
"Found it!" cried Robin holding up a ratty old binder. It was green leather covered with food stains. Without giving on thought for the time- which was in fact was three in the morning.
He opened the door and ran down the hall to Starfire's room. When he got there he took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
"Yes," said Starfire's sleepy voice.
"Um, Star can I talk to you?" asked Robin.
The door opened and the red haired alien looked out at the young leader. "What is it that makes you wake me at this time of the night Robin?" asked Starfire, yawning.
"Oh, what time is it?"
Starfire shared the time Robin blushed. "Oh, sorry I just wanted to show you something." Robin handed her the little green book. Taking it she looked at it, opening it gingerly she read the recipes.
"Robin, some of these are not of the language English," she said.
"Yea, I know," agreed Robin. "But you remember yesterday when we were making pancakes?"
"Yes," said Starfire blushing.
"Well, um, you said that we would make cookies and it made me think… well anyway I found this. It's just some old recipes of mine. And I was wondering if we could make them? I mean of course we would do it tomorrow-"
"No I would like to make them now" said Starfire, floating up with a happy expression on her face.
Robin's heart lifted and he and Starfire both walked/floated down to the kitchen. Robin turned on the lights and a faint yellow flicker above them granted them sight. Starfire was still reading the recipes when she asked "Robin who is this 'Barbra G.', who signs the recipes?" she asked.
Robin blushed again, "she was friend of mine back in Gotham," he smiled. "She was a good friend"
"How good of a friend was this 'Barbra G'?" Starfire demanded.
"She was just a friend Starfire!" Robin protested, feeling his cheeks redden.
"If you say so friend Robin…" Starfire was stills suspicious while Robin got out the ingredients. "There seems to be many of these chips of chocolate cookies," said Starfire.
"Yea," agreed Robin. "They are a popular kind of cookies."
"Oh, I would wish to make these chips of chocolate!" cried the alien princess happily.
"Sure Star. But which one? Like you said there are a lot of kind recipes for them."
Starfire thought for a moment before saying "all of them!"
Robin only laughed.
"What is it you find so amusing Robin?" She asked confused.
"You remind me of a little boy I used to know. He couldn't make up his mind either."
Starfire flipped to the front of the book and found one with the name 'Richard G.' at the bottom, next to the name 'Barbra G.'
"Is this 'Richard G' a brother of Barbra?" asked Starfire.
"Somewhat," muttered Robin.
The recipe on the worn page was covered in stains and had a few crossed out words like they had been experimenting.
"Want me to show you the most delicious one?" Robin asked holding his hand out for the book. Star handed him the book and, peeling off the green gloves, Robin turned to a page near the back of the book.
Starfire looked at Robin's hands. They were a sight she could never remember seeing before. His hands looked strong, but small, because he was still a child. When he moved them she could see the faint scars on his hands.
"Found it," he said handing Starfire the book. On the page Starfire saw the name 'Alfred P.'
"Who is this 'Alfred'?"
Robin smiled, but it was a smile of nostalgia, "a really good friend. And…" he trailed off for a moment, wondering if he should say more.
"Yes?"
Robin looked up at the girl, with the child like stare and question in her lovely green eyes.
"He was kind of like a dad to me. He basically raised me… well he raised what used to be me." Starfire's confusion was obvious, but Robin shrugged off his previously. "But he did make the best cookies ever." He raised the recipe to the girl and showed her.
Gathering all the ingredients, Robin read them out loud while Starfire put them all in the bowl.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
¾ c sugar
¾ brown sugar
"Why is it there are two different sugars?"
"I'm not sure Star. But trust me it is good"
2 eggs
It took a while for Robin to explain that you had to crack open the eggs before you put them in the bowl, but after that problem was fixed it became easier.
1 c shortening
"What is this shortening of which you speak?" asked Starfire.
"Oh," Robin laughed "that means butter and don't forget to unwrap it"
2 1/4 c flour
½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp vanilla
"What is this vanilla?"
"It's that brown bottle with the blue lid… no not that one the blue lid… yep that one."
1 t baking soda
1 bag of chocolate chips
Beat well
"No Star! Don't punch it. It means mix it" cried Robin handing the girl a spoon.
Both Robin and Starfire placed the small, sticky, balls of cookie dough on the pan. Starfire placed them in the oven and Robin and set the timer for an hour. (1)
While waiting for the food to come out of the oven Starfire looked through the cook book.
"The ones that are not of this language, I can read but I have never preformed the ritual for the receiving of the language."
Robin blushed scarlet and mumbled "Yes, you have Star that's—that's my native language."
Starfire cocked her head looking at the boy she called her leader. "Your native tongue is not of the language English. Please tell me what is it called?"
"It's called Romani," (2)
Tactfully, Starfire let the subject drop and kept flipping through the book. As she reached the back a small disc fell out.
"What is this?" she asked picking it up of the floor.
"Let me see," Robin held out his hand and took the home made disk. On it in messy writing was having fun, cookies, ball and cave.
"Robin what is this disk?"
"Just some moments from a few years ago, where I used to live."
"May we watch of it?" Starfire asked excitedly.
"No, you don't want to see this," Robin argued
"Please Robin?" she begged.
Robin looked at her trying to hold his ground, but her big green eyes silently begged and he gave in.
"If you want to Star,"
Starfire grinned with happiness, in her excitement she kissed Robin on the cheek and flew over to the disk player.
For a moment Robin was stunned. He stood in the kitchen and touched his cheek. Over on the other side of the room Starfire was sitting on the couch waiting for the blue, home video screen to start playing. Pulling off his cape he jumped over the counter and the back of the couch to join her.
When the video started a girl with brown eyes and red hair pulled in the back of her head with a clip was on the screen.
"Welcome," she said in a fake French accent, "to 'cooking with Barbra and Richard'."
Behind her a child's voice said, "yuck don't use my full name." then louder he said, "It's cooking with Babbs and Dick!"
"Fine then," she said sounding annoyed but her tone of voice said she was teasing.
She backed up to show a counter covered with flour, sugar and other materials for making cookies.
"Chef Dick, recipe shall we make today," she said faking the French accent again.
"Um," said the kid's voice from off screen, "all of them!"
On screen Barbra laughed. "I would but half these are gibberish."
"It's not gibberish, it's Romani." For a moment the child's voice sounded hurt.
"Oh" a frown creased Barbra's brow before she teased, "but I don't want to do any of these." She looked down for a second before saying "hey let's make up our own!"
"Ewwww!" cried the boy, Dick's, voice. "If you make it we'll all be sick!"
"Oh that's it you little cretin! I am so going to get you." She jumped over the counter and seemed to attack the voice behind the camera. The camera dropped to the ground, there was insane giggling from the two of them before the camera was turned off. And the screen changed to a blue color.
Starfire turned to Robin who was half smiling.
"Was that the Barbra and Richard from the book?" asked Starfire.
"Yea that was them. Insane aren't they?"
"I found them fun. And full of, how did you say, childish happiness."
"They were always like that. When they met, they hated each other, but after a while they became the best of friends."
The screen turned on again and this time there was a grown man on screen with a small boy, both dressed in gym attire.
"And the play offs for the world championship continue. With Wayne ahead by two points" said Barbra's voice. "Will Grayson be able to succeed where so many others have failed?"
In the video the small boy had a basketball in his hands and was dribbling it as fast as he could. Running between the man's legs he dodged a swipe for the ball.
The screen zoomed in on the boy, blurring for a moment before coming in to focus on his face.
The boy was cute with big blue eyes, dark messy hair and look of total concentration on his face.
"Oh," Starfire gasped. Those eyes… oh those eyes were beautiful. Robin looked over at her and saw the look on her face. Now he knew she was 'lost in those baby blues' as Alfred would say.
"Go Dick!" cried Barbra's voice. For a second the blue eyes darted to the screen and he grinned. The boy, Dick's, darted out of the screen and the video zoomed out.
Dick jumped up on the man's back and scored a point by bouncing off of him.
"Yes!" cried Dick jumping into the air.
The man turned around as Barbra's voice said in imitation of a reporter, "Yes, folks he's done it. Grayson has snatched victory right under Wayne's nose and won the championship!"
The man, who Barbra had called Wayne smiled down at the boy and ran his hand through the boy's hand, making the mess messier.
"Good job, Dick"
"Thanks, Bruce. But I did it, that is the first time I won!"
"Yes but now you can't you use that move again. I'll catch it next time."
"So?" Dick jumped around Bruce and onto his back, slinging his arms around Bruce's neck.
"You want to go for a ride?" asked Bruce playfully, running off. "I'll give you a ride!"
"No fair!" said Barbra, putting the camera down to show her tennis shoes, "I want a ride!" and with those words the camera turned off.
"Who was this Bruce?" asked Starfire.
"He was Richard—Dick's—adopted father," Robin said carefully.
"What do you mean by 'adopted father'?"
"Dick's real parents, they died, so Bruce took him in and raised him."
"Oh I see. Tell me how did Dick's parents… how did they die?"
Robin opened his mouth to continue when the screen turned on again.
The scene around them was dark stone lit only by a faint blue light
"No, we can't watch this one!" cried Robin getting up off the couch.
Starfire pulled him back, and her strength is the only thing that kept him there.
"Hold still Dick I want to get a picture of you in your costume," said Barbra
"No way, it's weird enough I have to wear it, I don't want proof," protested Dick's voice.
A shriek from Barbra told everyone that someone had surprised her, or in this case grabbed her camera.
In real time Robin put his head in his hands, not wanting to see Starfire's expression to the next thing on the screen.
The screen turned to see Barbra in a black uniform, complete with cape, knee high boots, and a symbol of a bat of her chest. However the costume was not complete, the cowl was not on her head which clearly showed her brown eyes, and her red hair that wasn't pulled up behind her head but in a ponytail at the base of her skull.
She modeled her costume, walking around like she was on a runway.
"Put on the mask!" cried Dick's voice.
Pulling on the cowl, Barbra's chocolate brown eyes were covered with white fabric making them look bigger. The cowl was complete with small points, almost like ears on the side of her head.
There was a scuffle with the screen and Dick's head was on screen. Zooming out you could see the costume with the red top, green sleeves, dark cape lined with yellow, and the pin marked with the letter 'R'.
Starfire looked, flabbergasted at the screen before the young Robin attacked the camera and it turned off.
Robin's head was still in his hands when the video ended completely and the machine spit out the disk. The little homemade video was on the floor and Robin went to pick it up. He shoved it back in the case, which was still on the machine.
He turned to see not only Starfire. But behind the couch, the rest of his team was standing there with mixes of surprise and confusion on their faces.
"I-" Robin began, but just then the timer for the cookies rang. Trying to avoid a conversation Robin muttered "that must be the cookies." He pushed past his team back into the kitchen where wonderful smells were coming. But Robin couldn't appreciate the smell that he hadn't been able to enjoy for over two years.
"Robin…" said Starfire tentatively.
Robin pasted a fake smile on his face and turned with the cookie plates in his gloved hands.
"Enjoy," he said placing it down on the counter.
Not knowing what to do everyone took a cookie and bit. Cyborg ate the whole thing in one bite and gave noises of contentment. Raven, didn't show any outward signs of enjoyment, except by pulling off her hood. Beast-boy's eyes widened with shock and he ate the rest of the thing in one bite. Starfire bit and said,
"Oh, my I do think I have found my new favorite earth food!"
"And Alfred's cooking beats all others once again," said Robin, smiling slightly at his friend's reactions.
"These are amazing, who's this Alfred? He's awesome!" said Beast-boy enthusiastically.
"He lived with me. He's at my old house in Gotham," said Robin, still not taking a cookie for himself. "How much of the video did you see?" he asked the rest of his team. All looked down guiltily.
"I came in right before it started, Raven came in around the middle of the first and Beast-boy arrived a little after Raven," admitted Cyborg.
"So you all know," Robin said and I wasn't a question it was a statement.
"What is it that we know exactly?" asked Raven.
"Who I am," Robin lowered his head even more leaning against the counter, "Or more accurately, who I was."
Cyborg tried to remember all the words from the video, "that girl, Barbra, called that man 'Wayne'. And you called him Bruce… so," his eyes widened.
"Bruce Wayne?" beast-boy cried
"Who is this Bruce Wayne?" asked Starfire.
"He's the owner of a big-time company, called Wayne-tech," said Cyborg.
"Yea. He's like a millionaire!
"Billionaire," Robin smirked, nodding, "but, you're getting better at detective work, both of you." His smirk faded. "Continue," he gestured for Cyborg to keep explaining.
"Bruce Wayne began taking foster children in five years ago, but the first one he took in- I can't remember his name—he went to a boarding school somewhere in England. He hasn't been seen or heard of in… two years." Cyborg's real eye became as big as a dinner plate. "You… you…"
"Grayson!" Beast-boy cried. "Richard Grayson. He was taken in by Bruce Wayne a little after his ninth birthday. I remember watching it on the news just a few weeks ago. It's going to be the fifth year that the greatest acrobats the world has ever known died. Then they had this entire documentary on the group. They were called 'The Flying Graysons'. Most of the family died except Richard Grayson who was adopted by Bruce Wayne a month after." Beast-boy looked proud of himself.
"You watched a documentary?" asked Raven skeptically.
"Yea, so?" asked BB.
"Guys, stick to the point!" cried Cyborg.
Robin was still turned away when Beast-boy had started talking and Starfire walked over to him putting her hand on his shoulder.
"Robin, what is it?" she asked.
"Th-that is, was," Robin was stuttering trying to explain.
"That's who you are—err, were, are—whichever!"Cyborg tried to explain as well.
Beast-boys eyes became bigger than the face of the full moon. "You're Richard Grayson?"
Robin turned back to them and sighed "yes. My name was Richard Grayson. That isn't who I am any more, but," he sighed again. "That is who I was. The video you just saw I don't know how to explain it other than that was like a past life to me. I don't take of the mask and that way I can hide from the world… I," he stopped and looked away from his team again hating himself for telling them.
All of them did not say the obvious, that Batman must be…
"So why don't you contact anyone from your, um, old life" said Raven.
"I left under, not-so pleasant circumstances. I just don't want to re-open old wounds," said Robin.
Raven nodded, knowing what he meant.
"Robin please do tell, if you do not wish to ever be this Richard Grayson again may I—I mean," Starfire was stuttering now, "may I see your eyes?"
Robin was taken a-back. "I—I guess Star, but why?"
She blushed, "because they are beautiful," she mumbled.
Robin's blush was even deeper than Starfire's. Instead of saying anything he reached his hand up and pulled off the mask. He didn't look up for a moment, everyone holding their breath.
When he did look up it was all they could do not to gasp. His eyes were even more pure blue then they had been in the video. The whites of his eyes were like the snow, the pupil even darker than the mentor he had kept, but it was the irises the astonished his team. In the video they were a deep sea/sky blue, but now only a few years later they were like ice. The cold hard expression in them tugged on the others hearts even if they did not know why.
"What did happen to your eyes friend Robin?" asked Starfire.
Robin brought a hand to his cheek. "What's wrong with them." His tone held no emotion, and his expression was guarded.
"Dude, they're a different color," said Beast-boy.
Robin turned his face to the counter in which he could see the ice blue color of his eyes. Must have been the lack of light." he monotone.
"What do you mean?" asked raven.
"The fabric I use for my mask lets me see out but no light get in. My eyes haven't been witness to light in over two years. All that time must have bleached the irises."
Starfire touched Robin's cheek. "I still think they are beautiful," she whispered.
Robin smiled slightly. He removed her hand from his face and re-applied the mask.
"Do you know the reason I put on the mask?" he asked his team but mostly Starfire.
They shook their heads.
"Because I wanted to hide from everything I remembered. Beast-boy told the truth about how my p-… how my parents died. I wanted to hide how sad I was from the whole world. But then the mask became a part of me and I didn't want to take it off. I became better at hiding how I felt behind the mask. But I became a mini batman. And I hated it. So I changed my tactics."
He took a deep breath. "I let all of my emotions out all the time. I was uncontrollable. There was an… accident where I didn't do something right and then I knew that the emotions of a small kid were uncontrollable. So I shut them off. I stopped feeling. I dint hide them I just stopped. I became a robot. Something beyond Batman's comprehension. But then I couldn't take off the mask I was afraid if I did then maybe…" he stopped again and everyone was shocked to hear a choked tone in their leader's voice.
He shook his head, "it doesn't matter. That who I was. I am Robin. And for right now that is the only person I want to be."
Ending was a bit long and sad but I hope you enjoyed it
(1) A/n if you want to make these it says ten minutes but i needed the time
(2)a/n I know Romani isn't a written language get over it
i know some of the info might be wrong but all my knowlage comes from the batman animated series where everyone calls richard Dick... anyway please review i want to know how i did :D
Robin: this is her longest story she is proud
Me: no im not... well sorta *hits robin on the head*
Robin: hey!