So I just wanted to do a warmup but this happened instead and I decided to post it?

I dunno, man, I dunno.

Either way, I hope you enjoy some Dick and Roy fluff!

This is set sometime early in the first season, like the first few episodes or so.

...

Roy was three seconds away from screaming and five away from killing someone, and possibly six seconds from doing both at the same time.

Today…. had not been a good day for him.

He had had to deal with several incredibly stupid and arrogant customers- all with crying, whining children- at his job at McDonalds. (And the fact that his job was McDonalds of all things in the first place was enough to make him angry even on a normal day.) Then he had snapped at one of said customers and gotten fired, and he was going to have to get a new job tomorrow. (At least it wouldn't be McDonald's.) His trip to the grocery store- for he had been out of food, again- resulted in long, endless lines and an argument with the cash register, because the pickles were on sale and were not that expensive, thank you very much. And then, of course, his car had broken down on his trip home, in the middle of the road, resulting in a multitude of cars honking in absolutely wonderful background music as he tried to get it start back up again. And then he had gotten a fricken ticket from the fricken police.

And now his stupid keys wouldn't work to open his apartment, the apartment where his rent was passed due and the plumbing wasn't working and he still had trash to take out from three weeks ago.

Roy Harper hated his life, and he was 300% sure that it hated him back.

Of course, just as Roy gave in and dropped his bags to the floor so he could properly jingle around the keyhole, he came to the realization that his apartment wasn't as empty as he had thought, and that someone was moving around inside of it.

Roy tensed, slowly scooting the bags out of the way and gently working his key into the lock, silencing his muttered curses.

The key clicked, and Roy slammed the door open with a yell as he leaped into the room.

Then, he promptly froze.

For he had been expecting many things. A thief, Ollie, hell, maybe even Chesire. He was prepared for those options.

He was not prepared for one thirteen year old Robin.

And he was definitely not prepared for said thirteen year old Robin to yelp loudly and drop the plate he was holding to the ground, where it promptly shattered into pieces. What he was not expecting was for Robin to literally jump into the air at the shattering sound and leap backwards onto the window sill.

Roy may have not been incredibly smart, but he wasn't an idiot.

Something was wrong.

Slowly, Roy lowered himself out of his fighting position.

"Robin?"

The younger boy blinked, slinking himself out of his defensive position on the window sill and onto the ground. Roy noted that the brightly clad teen had yet to relax, instead staying tense near the window.

Near to the closest escape route.

Something was horribly, horridly wrong.

"R-Roy?"

Roy, unsure as to what he should do in this situation, nodded.

"Yeah, that's me. You okay?"

He most definitely was not okay, but Roy didn't want to make the other boy feel trapped. Didn't want to make him run away.

Robin nodded, slow and shaky, and cautiously edged his way towards him. The kid, Roy realized, was still dressed in his Robin costume, except he didn't have his shoes or his gloves, or- Roy was concerned to notice- his belt. The costume itself was tattered and dirty, and smeared in blood in several places, blood which Roy desperately hoped wasn't the boy's own.

"Y-Yeah. 'M fine. I- uh- Here. Let…. Let me help with… 'm sorrry 'bout the plate. Didn' mean to."

Roy's frown tugged at his lips upon the realization on how slurred the other boy's words were, but he resisted the urge to make the face. Any movement of mal intent might set the boy off, and if Dick was facing what Roy thought he was…. Then that would be really, really bad.

Dick had knelt by the broken glass, slowly picking up the larger pieces and seemingly unaware of the other pieces that were probably cutting into his bare feet. Roy noted the bright red rope burns that slithered their way up the Boy Wonder's arms and the small puncture wound on his neck, which looked suspiciously like it came from the use of a needle.

Robin, oblivious to Roy's observations, continued picking up glass. His hands were shaking.

It was only after Dick cut his own finger on the sharp edge of a piece of glass, small welts of blood dripping from the tiny slash of skin, that Roy realized he was just standing there when he should have been helping. Dick had paused in his cleaning, eyes blown wide behind the mask and staring at his finger, frozen, as if it was some incredibly gory wound.

"Alright. Come on, Rob, let's go clean that up."

He knelt down to help the younger boy up, except at the slightest movement Robin jerked back, as if he had been shocked. Roy froze.

"Rob? Rob, it's just me. It's just Roy. We're at my apartment, and you got yourself a nasty little cut on your finger, and I just wanna go to the bathroom sink and clean it up, kay?

Dick blinked behind his mask, letting out a shuddering breath, and nodded.

"K-Kay."

Roy smiled- even though he felt like frowning and/or going out to beat into a bloody pulp whoever did this to his pseudo little brother- and slowly, slowly stood up, offering a hand to the former.

After a slight hesitation, Robin took it.

They went to the bathroom and Roy ignored how Robin seemed to jump at every little movement, every little shadow. How the boy stared in horror at the rushing water for several moments when Roy turned on the tap, until he could finally convince him that it was just water, Dick, really.

The younger boy stayed unnaturally silent throughout the entire procedure of washing the cut and smearing antiseptic cream and plastering a silly Monster's Inc bandage on it, the whites of his mask unnaturally wide, and mind unnaturally unfocused.

"Hey, Dick?"

The kid looked up at him, blinked several times and shook his head.

"Y-yeah?"

"I think you should get out of those clothes. They're kinda…" Ripped. Ruined. Covered in blood and gore. "They're kinda dirty."

Dick swallowed, hugging his tattered cape around himself, nodded.

Roy looked on, feeling highly inadequate to deal with the situation and more than a little at lost as to what he should do.

They eventually managed- with a lot of flinches and hesitance on Robin's part and a lot of suppressed frowns and anger towards whoever did this on Roy's- to peel off Robin's tunic, revealing a myriad of bruisings and shallow cuts. Roy bit back a curse and tended to them, carefully cleaning the area with a warm washcloth before using his meager healing supplies to slather the blotches of tender purple with cream and bandage the slashes of skin where they were shallow, stitching up the deeper ones and trying to ignore how Robin just looked paler and paler as time went on, flinching with every tiny piece of contact.

He didn't bother to ask Robin to take off his pants, didn't want to have to deal with the small whimpers of pain and heavy flinches again. Instead, he took out his scissors- made especially to cut open kelver and such for situations like this- and sheared most of the material off, leaving the boy's legs bare.

Robin physically jerked away from him at the revealment of the scissors, and Roy had to spend a few minutes explaining that, no, he wasn't going to cut him open, he just needed to see his legs in order to help him.

He was going to kill whoever did this.

But eventually he managed to calm Robin down and tend to the bruises and cuts that splattered across the boy's legs, which was a relief. By the time that Roy finished wrapping and slathering wounds and washing the younger's hair in the sink, Robin looked more mummy than boy, but at least nothing risked getting infected and he was clean.

"I'm gunna take your mask off, now. That okay?"

Again, the hesitation. Again, a nod. Again, a surge of protective anger that made Roy want to tear the horrible, sick people who did this limb by limb.

Slowly, Roy reached out and gripped the edge of the boy's mask, ignoring the heavy flinch that occurred when he first made contact with skin. He gently tugged at the black material until it pulled away from Robin's face, leaving Dick Grayson behind.

He crouched a little to get a better look at the boy's eyes, both dreading and expecting what he saw.

Dick's usually blue orbs were blown wide, pupils heavily diluted and dull. Every few seconds the eyes would flicker around the room before focusing back on Roy, seeing sights and images that were not truly there. What caused him the most concern was the swirling grey mixing with blue, a sure sign of fear gas. The fact that it wasn't simply flecks in the irises and was instead swirls of grey meant that some sort of antidote had been administered, which was good, but the fact that he'd been gassed at all...

He didn't say anything, though. Didn't ask how Robin got affected or how he lost his shoes and gloves and belt. Didn't even ask how the younger boy got into his apartment. There was time for that later.

Instead, he started to lightly nudge the boy out of the bathroom and into his bedroom.

"Here, c'mon, let's get you something to change into."

His concern only grew when Dick offered no resistance, simply following his gentle nudges without complaint. Roy dug through his dresser, bypassing the many layers of dirty clothes before locating a relatively clean grey shirt and pair of dark coloured sweats, along with a clean pair of boxers. Upon this success, he placed the articles of clothing in Dick's limp hands with instructions to get dressed, and quietly edged out of the room.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, Roy reached into his pocket and pulled out his battered phone, typing in a well memorized phone number and jamming it against his ear.

Batman's gruff voice answered.

"What."

Roy swallowed as the snarled growl, even though Batman was probably miles away.

"Batman, it's Red Arrow. Robin's at my place."

Immediately, all bite left the older man's tone.

"You have him? Is he okay? How-"

Roy interrupted the interrogation before it could truly begin, knowing that he would otherwise not get a word in.

"I dunno on how he got here, but he's really bruised up and has several cuts all over. He also has an injection mark on his neck and is really, really jumpy. I think he's been gassed."

He heard the dark vigilante growl and suppressed a shiver, glancing at the closed door behind him before lowering his voice.

"Bruce… what happened?"

"..."

"Bruce?"

A sigh came from across the line.

"Robin got kidnapped by Scarecrow just over twenty four hours ago, and has been missing ever since. I tracked them down to Star City, so he must have escaped and then went to the closest safe spot."

Roy nodded, suspicions confirmed, before realizing that Batman could not see him and stating his affirmative. Then there was silence for several moments.

"They're still at large?"

Batman did not grace him with a reply for another few moments, and Roy almost thought that the man had hanged up on him, but then came a soft, "Yes."

Roy hesitated, eyes flickering to the closed door once more, and then to the closet across the hall, where he kept his weapons and costume..

His fingers twitched.

He looked back to the door.

He sighed.

"I'll take care of him. Go get those bastards."

"... Thank you."

The line clicked shut.

Roy sighed, swiping his hand across his face, and then headed to the kitchen to make some coffee; something told him it was going to be a long, long night.

He didn't even make it down the hallway before a high pitched, slightly terrified voice echoed from his bedroom.

"R-Roy!? Roy!"

He had never moved so fast in his entire life, racing down the hall and slamming into the room without a second thought.

His eyes scanned the room for intruders and threats, but all he found was one very small Robin cured into a ball in the corner of the room, eyes wide with delayed panic and hands on his own throat.

Panicked blue orbs met brown.

"R-Roy. Roy I can't- I can't breathe. I can't-"

Some distant part of Roy's brain was acknowledging that his current charge was hyperventilating and that hyperventilation was a common occurrence among fear gas victims, but everything else was focused on Dick, and he was crouching down next to the boy with a hand on his back, his other carefully prying slim fingers away from Dick's pale neck, before most people could even blink.

"Dick, you're fine. You can breathe just fine, it's just the gas making you think you can't. C'mon, bud, breathe with me here. In and out, just like that, just like that. And again, in and out, in and out. You're going to be fine, okay, you're going to be just fine. There's no more monsters, you're safe, you're safe."

Eventually, Dick's hitching breaths slowed down into something more manageable and Roy was left with an armful of shaking, exhausted Boy Wonder.

"'m sorry."

Roy sighed at the mumbled words.

"It's fine. Let's just… let's go get something to eat, kay? I think it'll be good for the both of us."

"Kay."

The redhead stood and helped Dick up, noticing for the first time just how ridiculously large his clothing was on the smaller boy. The sweatpants hung low on the other's hips despite the fact that the drawstrings were knotted as far as they could go, and the pant legs were rolled up several times. The shirt was severely baggy, slipping down one pale, slim shoulder and revealing the crisp white bandages underneath.

Roy would have called the other adorable if not for the heavy bags under the too wide eyes and the overall pale, sickly demeanor.

Instead he gently maneuvered the bird to his tiny kitchen counter table and plopped him down on the stool there, leaving the younger to sweep up the glass that still lay scattered across his kitchen floor and rush outside to retrieve his abandoned groceries, which were luckily unstolen.

After depositing the freezibles in the freezer and the fridgibles in the fridge, he quickly set to work in making a pair of cheese toasties, as well as some coffee for himself. Once done with that, he plopped down on the stool next to Robin and slightly nudged the boy's shoulder from where he was lying on the counter, head cradled in his arms.

"Rob? You awake? Wanna toastie? I even got some ketchup for you, even though it's utterly disgusting."

Dick slowly tilted his head up, flinching upon seeing Roy sitting next to him before quickly shaking his head and blinking rapidly, silently reaching out and accepting the plate of food. They sat together in silence, then, Roy consuming his food and gulping down his coffee and continuously shooting concerned looks at the other boy as he nibbled on his sandwich, which Robin was either steadfastly ignoring or steadfastly unaware of; Roy could never tell.

By the time Roy finished, Dick had taken roughly four tiny bites and was simply staring morosely at his food, as if it had suddenly transformed to a severed pile of worms.

Roy sighed, nudging the other's shoulder.

"Wanna watch a movie?"

Dick blinked up at him, shrugged, and Roy ignored the voice in his head that was constantly commenting about how quiet and wrong the boy was acting, because he knew, he knew…

He also worked on shushing the side of him that was calling for blood, but with far less success.

Dick slipped off the stool and wavered for a second before wandering off to the couch. The archer felt mild concern on how unsteady the boy seemed to be on his feet, but was happy to see that the other was still capable of being independent.

Leaving Dick on the couch, Roy went and gathered all the blankets and pillows from his bed. He considered dumping them on top of the other boy, but with his fragile state… he decided against it. Instead, he placed them next to the other and turned to the battered TV, biting his lip and flipping his way through his movies, searching for the least violent and dark one he could find.

As he worked with the stubborn electronics, he heard Robin shift.

"Roy?"

The voice was rather strained.

"Roy… Roy you don't- you don't have any dead bodies in your apartment, r-right?"

Roy blinked and whirled around, staring at the younger boy, whose gaze was locked on a dark corner of his apartment where a bunch of Roy's gym bags were kept, pale as a sheet and sweating ever so slightly.

The archer stood and sat next to the younger, tapping his chin so that his head faced away from the apparent bodies. He hate dto think what was going on in Dick's head at that very moment.

"Nope. No bodies. There's just you and me here. And what you're seeing is a bunch of my gym bags."

Robin blinked, eyes wavering to the corner once more before Roy tapped his chin again to keep his focus away from it. The younger boy looked unconvinced and perhaps a little green, but he nodded nonetheless. Roy tried for a smile and went back to choosing a movie.

He ended up choosing the complete set of the My Little Pony series- it had been a gag gift from Wally, he did not buy it for himself, thank you very much- and slipped the first tape into the old VHS player. (Yes, laugh it up. A VHS player. Call him old fashioned, whatever.)

"Scoot."

Dick did, curling away from him and into the center of the couch, so covered in blankets and pillows that he looked more like a Robin burrito than human, and Roy plopped himself down next to him, wrapping an arm around his narrow shoulders with obvious, slow movements.

The first three episodes passed in tense silence, and only when Dick spoke up did Roy realize that the younger's eyes had strayed from the TV screen and was instead focused on the wall above it.

"Roy? There's no… Your house isn't infested with bugs, is it?"

Roy blinked at the odd statement, double checked the wall to make sure that there were, in fact, no bugs, and said, "No, I don't think so."

"...Kay."

Roy did not comment as Robin tucked the blankets surrounding him a little bit closer, shutting out all the cracks, and there was more silence for another couple of episodes, before another question interrupted it.

"R-Roy?"

"Hmmm?"

"I… Who- What's that, by- by the doorway?"

A pale bandaged arm was poking out of the cocoon of blankets and toward the doorway, where a second hand coat rack stood, long fingers shaking ever so slightly.

"It's a coat rack. Why?"

Dick blinked up at him, face flushed and pale all at once.

"I- I thought it was the Joker."

They slipped back into silence, but Roy tucked his arm a little tighter on Dick's shoulders, tugging him the smallest bit closer.

And so it went, every few episodes Dick would speak up, asking for reassurances that the nightmares he was seeing were not reality, until at last he fell silent.

Roy, hardly daring to move, peeked downwards.

Robin wasn't asleep, but he was close. Sky blue orbs- which, he was happy to see, were lacking in such heavy swirls of grey- were glazed over as they watched unseeing the brightly lit colours on the screen. The mess of black hair had, at some point, thunked down on Roy's shoulder, leaving the bird curled up as a small ball of blankets and limbs. With every blink the head rested just a little bit more heavily on him, and with every blink blue eyes were hidden from the world for just a little longer.

Finally, with a quiet murmur on some unintelligible subject, Dick curled into Roy just a little farther and closed his eyes properly, at last falling into the realms of dreams.

Roy sighed, smiled, shifted into a slightly more comfortable position, and turned his eyes back to the screen.

It had been a long day, and it was going to be a long night, and the smell of healing creams was getting in his nose, and he'd probably have a crick in his arm tomorrow… but he was okay with that.

And in the wee hours of the morning, his door clicked open and a black figure silently entered his apartment.

Roy didn't even flinch, waving his free arm and keeping his eyes on the screen.

Batman walked without a sound until he reached them, where he knelt down and carefully picked Robin up, somehow avoiding getting caught in the tangle of blankets. The boy murmured, brows furrowing, but a few soft words- in a tone that no one else received or heard except for the bird- from his mentor had him calming, curling towards the other's larger frame and relaxing against the infamous emblem, face hidden in the crook between Batman's neck and shoulder.

Roy tiredly swiped at his eyes and went to grab Robin's torn and ruined uniform, which he dropped in Batman's outstretched hand.

"He was missing his belt and shoes and gauntlets."

"I have them."

Hushed voices; whispers. Don't wake the bird.

"Kay… see you later then."

"Red Arrow."

Roy tensed slightly.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

Relaxing, he nodded.

"No problem. G'night."

"Goodnight."

(They both ignored how it was technically morning.)

And then Batman left, the soft purring of the Batmobile roaring down the street just barely reaching his ears as the official signal that he was all alone.

And if, days later, he came home to the sight of his freshly pressed clothes sitting on his couch along with an envelope filled with cash to 'reimburse' him for the costs- even though the amount of money was far too much to be equivalent to what he had actually spent- and he came to the realization that all his crappy appliances had been replaced and were actually working very well….

Well, he didn't complain, simply sat down on his old, comfy couch and slipped in a VHS tape.

He had a My Little Pony episode to finish, after all.

...

So, what did ya think!? :)

I've been writing for this fandom a lot, playing with the characters and such, but this is the first time I've actually posted anything for it, so I'd love to hear your feedback! Any advice you can give would be lovely. :3

To all you who do say something or favorite or follow, you have my sincerest gratitude, especially for you guests who I can't respond to!

I am thinking of possibly writing everything from Robin's point of view, explaining how everything happened and what exactly he was seeing, but I guess it depends on the response this gets. We'll see...

Thanks for reading! :D

Until next time,

The Mashpotatoe Queen