Touch

Robin is poisoned by a very special plant… Slade finds out turns the situation to his advantage. Slash? Yes, it is…

All right. This is my first ever fan fiction AND English isn't my native language (Swedish is). No! Please don't stop reading!

I never expected to write a fan fiction, but I have READ a few, and since I need a break from working on my original novel I thought this would be a great exercise. I never expected to write slash either… I didn't even KNOW what slash meant when I started reading stories on this site. To me, "slash" means a extremely violent and gory movie. Boy, was I surprised. But I grew to like it. Especially Robin-Slade. Just LOVE that pairing, both with slash and without.

What else? Oh, I never read the comics (don't even know if they are available in Sweden) so everything is based on the cartoon… loosely…

And at last:

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen titans. I just like to screw around with the characters for fun.

On to the story:

Chapter one: Sting

Robin raced through the suburbs of Jump City on his R-cycle. Home. He was going home. It had been a looong weekend. His right arm throbbed and his mood hadn't picked up any since he left Gotham. Why did his visit have to end this way?

It all started when Bruce asked him over to Gotham for the weekend. They actually had a great time! Talking, sparring, just hanging out… and Alfred's cooking didn't make matters worse. Then, just as Robin were about to leave the bat signal lit up. Eager to help he had tagged along on his bike and after that… well, after that he had mostly messed up. And against whom? Robin felt his cheeks turning slightly red with embarrassment. He messed up against Poison Ivy! Lord! The Joker, Two-Face, those were real opponents, and he fell, literally fell, against a freaky flower-lover! Well, he didn't fell against her to be exact ("that would have been rather nice, wouldn't it?" a snide voice whispered in his head) he fell into a group of big pots. Big pots with nasty-looking plants. With thorns. He winced and flexed his arm lightly.

It was by the end of the fight, when everything seemed to work out perfectly that he tripped over a vine. It wasn't even moving. Batgirl had to cover for him while he picked himself up and removed a big thorn from his arm. Luckily only one had pierced him, he could have been looking like a pin-cushion right now.

Well. All's well that ends well. Ivy had been caught and it seemed that Batman had missed his little plant-adventure. Batgirl would tell him, though. He just knew she would. When the police came to take Ivy away they passed right in front of him and she had seen him pull the thorn out of his arm. Robin's brow furrowed. That had been weird. The sight had her cracking up with laughter and she had said something to him.. what was it? Yeah: "hope you meet someone nice, kid". What the heck did she mean by that? First she had been worried that the plants were poisonous, what wasn't around Ivy?

Then his communicator had burst into life. Trouble in Jump! Big trouble. Slade trouble. He just jumped on his bike, asked Batman to check the plant for poison and sped of. Stupid. Stupid-stupid-stupid! He could drop dead any minute. Or become unconscious, which, at this speed, would probably mean the same thing. He actually slowed down a bit at the thought.

He had passed the suburbs by now and was entering a different area of run down industrial buildings. The fight with Slade had been over for a while; Cy had already reported that the man got away and that they all were all right. Robin wanted to be home as soon as possible anyway, to get a more complete report. He hated that he missed Slade's appearance! It was weird… no, it was absolute bonkers, but he kind of felt that he had an exclusive right to Slade. If he had been there, maybe he could have spotted something, a clue to the enigma his archenemy had created around his person. He knew that he would force his team to go over every little detail with him again and again until they screamed with frustration. Just to make sure he didn't miss anything. Robin smiled sarcastically to himself. He bet they would all pretend to be asleep when he got home.

Suddenly the communicator woke to life, almost making him jump. He pulled off to the side of the road and answered the call. Batman! A worried-looking Batman. Not good.

"What did you find out?" Robin asked a bit anxiously.

"Are you home yet?"
"No, I'm about twenty minutes away, maybe, why?"

"Are there people close by?"

Robin really started to freak now and looked around wildly. There were a few people about but no one was very close or seemed to take a particular interest in him. He told Batman this and got new orders.

"Get onto a roof and don't let anybody touch you!"

Robin quickly climbed one of the abandoned buildings wishing Bruce would tell him what the hell was going on already! Safely on the roof he told his mentor just that and got a slightly uncomfortable look in return.

Oh. This is NOT good.

"What is it?!" Robin asked again. "what was it in that plant?".

"Ivy's plant wasn't poisonous. As such."

Robin sighed with relief.

"You scared me half to death there for a moment! Telling me not to let people touch me, I thought I had the plague!"

"It is still serious, Robin!" Batman barked. "You can't let anyone near you for at least 24 hours."

"Why? What happens if I do?"

"If anyone touches you… skin to skin… you… they…" Batman's voice trailed off and Robin almost thought he could see the man blush. Blush! Batman!

"What?" Robin's voice were part annoyed part amused… with a small sliver of worry baked in.

"Well… you know about Ivy's special dust and powders, right?"

Did he ever…

"Yeah?" the worry-part had taken a slightly stronger position in his voice now and was gaining ground.

Batman seemed to take a deep breath.

"If you touch anyone this poison will have the same effect. It will affect you the most but it is possible that the other person also will feel it."

"You mean...? I? They? God…"

"Just don't go shaking hands with anyone, OK!" Robin thought he heard a bit of amusement in Batman's voice now, and he definitely heard a giggle in the background! Batgirl! She was loving this, he knew it!

"Belive me, I don't intend to!" Robin snapped.

"You can head home, I have informed your team, and-"

"You WHAT!?"

" I only told them that you been exposed to a poison which meant you should not be touched for 24 hours. I didn't explain why."

Thank god for that at least.

"Good. I'll head home straight away. I call you when I get there, OK?"

"OK. I'll expect your call in half an hour or so, then:"

"Yeah, bye!"
"Bye."

Robin flicked the communicator closed and were about to climb down to his bike when he were suddenly frozen to the spot by a very familiar voice behind him.

"I think you might be a bit longer…"