Notes: Lately my stories have been really short, but I get the feeling in the back of my head that this is only to prevent myself from writing some long epic that I could never finish. This little snippet is taken from one of those epic ideas. Matt being Robin always makes me hurt, a lot. So of course I have to write it all the time.
He seems like the one most likely to escape the legacy, but it also seems that in the show they were sort of setting him up to be, well, Robin-ish. Maybe I'm only thinking this because I spent a lot of my time today re-watching the eps I own featuring Matt. Especially the early ones. Or maybe I've been looking into too much fannon. Whatever the case is, this is the result.
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Left Unsaid
Terry watches from the shadows as Matt learns to move with the flow of lasers. The concentration of the act lights up his eyes with a fierce need to prove himself. It is one that Terry recognizes from his own face, years ago, and countless others decades ago. But he's still young, and as he ducks to avoid the obvious he is struck from behind.
He falls to the ground, and the air is knocked from his lungs with a soft exclamation of surprise. The lights of the training course shut down, and Terry steps out from the shadows. The frustration on Matt's face only hardens when he sees him, and it takes all of Terry's resolve not to offer any praise.
He wants to console him, and tell him that in a few months this will be cake, and he'll be onto bigger and better things, but he can't. He can't go easy on him, and it doesn't make it better to know no one else would either if he let him out on the streets before he was ready.
"Slag this, Terry!" Matt pushes himself onto his knees. "This is the fifth time, and I still can't get it right!"
Terry doesn't say anything. He waits for Matt to fully stand up, and stomp over to where's he's set out a bottle of water and sandwiches.
"I should've known I'd suck at this." The words are mumbled so low Terry wouldn't have been able to hear without the amplification the high ceiling of the cave provides.
He looks away from his brother, and takes a deep breath. "You're focusing too much on what's in front of your face, and neglecting everything else. If something is right in front of you it's easy to dodge. Let muscle memory take care of that, and focus on the less obvious stuff."
Matt opens his mouth to say something; the anger still on his face, but then he hesitates, and just nods.
The next time he goes through the course he lasts another full minute and a half. He's still almost tagged twice before that, and he goes out with a rookie mistake Terry can think of at least five ways to avoid, but the smile on his face makes up for it.
A few months is all it will take, and Terry doesn't have to say it, because Matt is learning to understand that even as it comes to pass.