AN: Hello there!
This is my first story that I've ever wrote to do with Young Justice, so I figured I'd do it on my favorite bird and even throw some Daddy!Bats in c;
Sorry if there are any silly mistakes or it's generally really bad, I wrote this when I had an idea at about 3am in the morning and I'm not that great of a writer at the best of times.
I do not own any characters in this story and apologise if any of them are really OOC.
Richard Grayson was uncharacteristically silent as he sat in the medical bay of Mount Justice, Black Canary had insisted that they all be checked over to ensure that they were okay after their "trip" to Haly's circus. All of them were less than pleased, but obliged none the less.
So now they were all gathered, talking and joking about their time at the circus; all but Dick, of course. He simply stared down at the floor, not even cracking a smile at the use of the word aster somewhere in the conversation. He, Connor, M'gann, Artemis and Roy had not long returned from their mission and Dick was … struggling to say the least.
Wally was sat next to him and he could almost feel the sideward glances that were being sent his way, he chose to ignore them; he wasn't exactly in the mood for one of his best friend's pep talks. He was grateful to have somebody who cared enough to worry about him, but he knew it'd lead to the red head constantly checking up on him and trying to help and at the moment Richard needed space.
He was about to make up a lame excuse to leave, but he never got the chance as the Dark Knight himself swept into the room. The young acrobat didn't even look up.
He knew that Bruce would be worried about him, he also knew that Bruce would never show that concern in front of the team; if Robin got any special attention after this mission then there was the possibility that the team would be able to put two and two together and eventually work out who he was.
He was brought out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder, out of the corner of his eye he saw that the hand belonged to M'gann. He had to seriously resist the urge to shrug it off.
"Are you feeling okay, Robin?" Her words were laced with concern, all at once everybody in the room turned to look at him. Luckily, growing up with the Batman as your guardian meant that lying under pressure was nothing new; even if the lies weren't that great.
"Yeah, I'm just feeling a bit lousy at the moment" He threw in a smile for good measure, before adding "I think I may have come down with a real virus, but I'll manage"
"You should get some rest" She smiled sympathetically, before removing her hand from his shoulder.
"I will as soon as the meetings over"
M'gann nodded, before walking back over to stand back at Connor's side. Everybody went back to their respective conversations, paying no heed to the Boy Wonder.
Just then, Batman cleared his throat and Dick lifted his head to face the Dark Knight.
Batman's expression softened slightly when the boy looked up at him. Are you okay?
Dick looked down again for a few moments, his shoulders drooping slightly. I'm not sure.
Batman shifted his weight onto his left leg. Would you like to leave?
Dick tilted his head to the side. Wouldn't leaving in the middle of a meeting look suspicious?
By now, all verbal conversation had stopped and all heads in the room turned to watch the Dynamic Duo's silent exchange. Wally had to bite down on his bottom lip to prevent himself from letting out a laugh. He —being Robin's best friend— had been put in many an awkward position when the two began to have one of their silent conversations, but he had eventually grown used to them over time; a small part of him found it sweet that the two knew one another so well that no words were needed, not that he'd ever say that out loud.
After a few minutes of silence, the duo had apparently seemed to come to an agreement as Robin nodded up at the Bat. Finally, Batman brought a hand up to his ear and stared into space as if he were listening intently to whoever was at the other side.
"Robin" his gravelly voice cut through the silence "we're needed in Gotham"
The Boy Wonder could easily see through the lie, however he just nodded and jumped up onto his feet, waving a quick goodbye and following after Batman who had already exited the room.
"What exactly was that?" M'gann questioned out loud as soon as she was sure the duo were out of ear shot. Wally smiled and —much to Connor's annoyance— draped his arm over the Martian's shoulders.
"That, my dear, was Bat talk"
The duo didn't speak again until they were both seated in the Batmobile and were on the road leading away from Mount Justice.
"I nearly fell" Robin blurted out, all of his resolve rapidly deteriorating and for once, Robin didn't mind breaking down in front of his mentor "I was ill and I was on the trapeze, I missed M'gann's hands and I was so scared, I-"
"Dick, it's okay" Bruce cut him off, pulling the Batmobile over. He placed a black clad hand on his ward's shaking shoulders.
"I thought I'd be able to handle it Bruce" he paused to let out a shaky breath "I thought I was ready, but then I saw Jack and all of the memories came flooding back, the memories of the fall…"
They sat like that for a long time, Richard curled up and trembling as violent sobs racked his body whilst Bruce sat in silence, rubbing his adoptive son's back. Bruce found that in situations like this, it was best to let Richard get it all out before he tried to talk to him.
When the crying has eventually subsided, Bruce placed both hands on his shoulders.
"Richard, listen to me" he said, removing Dick's domino mask to reveal two red rimmed sapphire eyes "It must have taken so much courage to go back there, not only that, but you completed your mission with no casualties"
Bruce hesitated for a moment, opening and closing his mouth a few times before speaking. Dick bit back the urge to giggle at his guardian's lack of words.
"What I'm trying to say" Bruce continued "Is that, I'm proud of you, son"
For the first time that day, a genuine smile tugged at Richard's lips.
"Thank you, dad"
If you actually made it this far, thank you c;
Also, I apologise for how short it is but I'm just not very good at continuing stories as I get bored extremely fast.
G'dbye :^)