Kinda sorta based on YJ headcanon 363
It surprised every member of the team that Robin never did any pranks for April Fools Day. Every team member except for Wally.
Ok so, in Young Justice his parents died on April 1st and for this story only Roy and Wally know who Robin is, also this is based in the 1st season, before Zatanna. Get it? Got it? Good.
Richard John Grayson-Wayne, or Dick as he preferred, hated April 1st, no, he loathed it. Bruce knew this, Alfred knew this, Roy and Wally knew this, hell most of the League knew this, but of course this is only because they knew him, not as Robin, but as Dick Grayson.
Today had been a disaster so far, heavy on the 'dis' and Dick knew he was far from being whelmed. He woke up late, couldn't touch his breakfast due his stomach threatening to protest even at just the smell of food, the bullies that teased him daily were being particularly active today, and to top it all off he could not, for the life of him, push all the bittersweet memories of his parents out of his head causing his heart to ache painfully. He could tell that both Bruce and Alfred had noticed, but neither chose to comment, his teachers as well had been rather lenient toward him today as none had pointed out his lack of concentration throughout the day. He had spent every class so far staring emotionlessly out the window as circus music and the memories of the last April Fools Day he had celebrated floated through his head.
"Mami! Mami! Sitka a evadat!" A young Dick Grayson yelled as he busted through his family's trailer door (Mommy! Mommy! Sitka has escaped!)
"Ce!? Cum!?" A beautiful blonde-haired woman yelped as panic was evident on her simple, but lovely features (What!? How!?)
"Haha, Aprilie Proști, Mami!" giggled the tiny black-haired, blue-eyed child (Haha, April Fools, Mommy!)
"Haha, Mea o prostie mică pasăre" the woman sighed in obvious relief as she hugged her giggling son kissing his cheek affectionately (Haha, my silly little bird)
"Unul bun, Dickie" Chuckled a smiling man as he lifted his tiny 8 year-old son, tossing him up into the air gently before catching him again (Good one, Dickie)
"Tati!" the boy squealed in delight at being tossed up into the air (Daddy!)
"RIIIIINNNNNGGGGG"
Dick jumped, cursing himself as he was startled out of his memories by the loud ringing of the bell signaling the students to go to their next class. He groaned as he quickly packed up his bag and made his way to his Math class, ignoring the taunting of his fellow students as he passed.
"Charity case!"
"Circus freak!"
"Gypsy trash!"
Artemis scowled as she slid into her seat for Math class, she hated Math plus the fact that the little twerp, Grayson, who sat next to her was a freakin' troll and it was April Fools Day. Artemis let out a long sigh as the bell rang signaling the start of class, wishing herself a silent good luck as she steeled herself to ignore any pranks or jokes the little brat would throw at her. It wasn't until halfway through the class the she finally realized that he hadn't done anything to her yet, or even speak at that. She would never in a million years admit it, but rich boys silence had her just a tiny bit worried, but when she looked over at him, what she saw, actually scared her. He was slumped just a bit in his chair and he was staring blankly past her and out the window, but what had frightened her was the fact that his deep cerulean eyes that usually held a glint of mischievousness as well as a spark of childhood innocence were completely devoid of all emotion as though they were the eyes of the dead. Artemis herself usually found the brat to be an annoying pain but they did sit together at lunch with their mutual friend, Barbara Gordon, but she had to admit that he had proved himself to be different than most rich kids and had revealed that he actually was extremely kind and a genius rather than buying his way up the grades as most Gotham Academy students so often accused him of.
Barbara frowned worriedly as she walked up to her usual lunch table with a tray full of cafeteria food, Dick had his head buried in his arms and Artemis actually looked worried despite her repeated announcements that she hated the 13 year-old. Sliding into her seat making sure to be mindful of her skirt Barbara's frown deepened as Artemis looked up at her before shooting another worried glance at the unusually silent acrobat, returning her gaze to the redhead she shoved a single sheet of notebook toward her.
"What's wrong with shorty over there?" The paper had written across the top
Rolling her eyes Barbara before replying, "Long story"
"I have time." The blonde wrote shooting the redhead a pointed look
"Not my story to tell though" the redhead wrote giving the other girl a serious look
Suddenly the paper was yanked from the two girl's hands only to be returned seconds later with a single sentence neatly scrawled across the bottom of the page, "Just tell her Babs, I really don't care if she knows or not."
Glancing worriedly up at the young boy, Barbara found that he had returned to his previous position of hiding his face in his arms.
Barbara let out a soft sigh before speaking, "It's the anniversary of his parent's death"
"Oh…" the blonde spoke carefully, "Um… uh… what happened?"
Shooting the silent gypsy another look noting his lack of reaction, Barbara continued to explain the boy's mood to the attentive blonde, "Dick grew up in the circus, Haly's Circus, he and his family were the most famous Trapeze performers in the world, the only people who could perform the quadruple somersault, The Flying Graysons. When he was 8 I believe, the circus came to Gotham and a local mob boss, Tony Zucco, tried to get Mr. Haly to pay protection money, when Haly refused, Zucco put acid on the trapeze ropes and during the finale, the wires snapped. His whole family fell. Only his Uncle survived the fall, but he is in a coma, and if he does ever wake up they say he'll be a paraplegic."
Glancing up at Artemis she could see the tears welling up in the blonde's eyes before she hastily brushed them away giving the quiet boy a sad look. Barbara gave her fellow student a sad smile, she understood the urge to cry upon hearing Dick's story for the first time. Giving the boy a short wave goodbye as the bell rang signaling the end of lunch, Barbara and Artemis shared worried glances as Dick silently scooped his belongings up and trudged off to his next class without acknowledging the presence of his two friends of their short waves.
When the bell finally rang signaling the end of the day Artemis wasted no time running out the doors of the school building, though she didn't fail to see Wayne's butler shooting Grayson a worried look as the small boy climbed into the back of a limo. Arriving to the cave nearly an hour later via zeta beam Artemis was instantly met with a yellow blur that morphed into the shape of Kid Flash
"Oh, it's only you Arty" The speedster frowned
"What do you want, Baywatch?" the archer scowled
"We we're waiting for Rob" the speedster replied dismissively
"You two better not pull any pranks today, or so help me…" the archer warned
"Nah, I only do that stuff at home and school" the speedster assured
"Oh… Wait… We?" the archer asked, raising her brow questioningly
"Yes. We." A new voice interjected
Looking over, Artemis sneered, "what are you doing here, Red Arrow."
Rolling his eyes the older archer responded "Waiting for Robin to get here"
"You're late Artemis" Black Canary's voice interrupted the two archers as she walked over, "training started half an hour ago."
"Sorry, Black Canary, some idiots prank left a nice wad of gum in my hair, it took me forever to get it all out." Artemis apologized as she joined the rest of her team, save for Robin, in the training room, "Where is Robin anyways?" the blonde questioned at his absence.
"He will be here shortly, Batman has already explained his tardiness" Black Canary spoke
Artemis raised her eyebrow curiously as Wally and Roy shared a knowing look, they obviously knew why he was running late.
"Recognize: Robin B-0-1" the zeta beam announced
"Finally!" Wally shouted as he and Roy ran off to greet the dark haired boy
Artemis watched as the Gingers returned shortly with the Ebony in tow, and instantly she and the rest of the team could tell something was wrong with their little bird as Black Canary shot Robin a sad look. Looking around and meeting the teams eyes save for the two Gingers and the Ebony, they all silently agreed to observe but not comment on Robin's strange demeanor. Artemis sat watching the bird for the next 45 minutes only stopping when it was her turn to spar, ignoring the fact that the bird seemed oddly oblivious to his team's worried looks.
"Robin, feel up to sparring today?" Black Canary's question tore the young gypsy from his depressing thoughts. Nodding quietly the young bird stepped into the ring as Superboy took his place on the opposite side of the glowing circle.
"Begin." Black Canary spoke
Robin flipped over the taller boy as he came charging forward twisting and flipping as he continued to evade the kryptonians hits, wincing as a punch clipped his shoulder the bird cursed quietly in Romani, he was distracted and in was making him sloppy. Pulling out his grappling hook and shooting it upward before allowing it to pull him up into the rafters, the young bird hid as he watched the clone close his eyes listening closely for the bird's heartbeat. Looking around for a better hiding spot a loud roar caught the boy off guard as the sound of snapping wires continued to ring in the birds ears, turning back quickly to face forward, he suddenly found the clones face only inches from his own, instinct caused the bird to fling himself back away from his teammate dropping the grappling hook, only to realize to late that there was nothing but air behind him, and suddenly he was falling, falling just like them, and all he could hear was screaming and circus music and the faint sound of snapping wires.
The scream that tore from their little brother's mouth as he fell was probably the single most devastatingly terrifying thing either of the two gingers had ever heard in their life, the only thing worse than the scream had to be the dull thud as his body hit the ground instantly silencing the horrible scream. Wally and Roy were on either side of the young Ebony haired boy almost instantly, praying that they had not just lost their little brother the same way he had lost his biological family. Looking up at the rest of the team the two gingers were not surprised to find them all frozen in shock at what they had just seen, even Canary seem frozen in place.
Pressing his finger to his ear Wally spoke hurriedly, panic clear in his voice, "KidFlashtoFlash!Pickup!Robshurt!PleaseUncleBarryi tsimportant!"
Almost immediately Flash's worried voice floated from Wally's comm "Kid? What happened? What's wrong?"
Snatching the comm from the panicking speedster, Roy explained to the scarlet speedster what had happened, "Rob was sparring with Superboy, he hid himself up in the rafters but he was distracted and got caught off guard the next thing we know, he's screaming a-and falling…" Roy's voice cracked, swallowing the lump in his throat he continued, "He… he hit the ground… hard… he's not conscious right now, we need somebody to come check him to… to make sure he's ok… please…"
"Be there in a Flash" and with that the team slowly started to come back to reality
The team stared in shock at the emotion in the older redhead's voice as they came back to reality, the fear in the archer's voice scared them, was their little bird ok? Flash was in front of the fallen bird seconds later, quickly but efficiently checking over the boy for injuries, letting out a quiet relieved sigh, the older speedster turned back toward the teens and fellow league member.
"Canary, call Bats, let him know what's happened." The usually happy-go-lucky speedster said seriously to the other league member present before turning back to the teens, "Robin is going to fine, a little bruised and probably a concussion but no major injuries"
Soft mumbling brought the team's attention back to the fallen bird as foreign words began to tumble from his mouth quickly evolving into panicked yelling as tears began to spill from beneath his mask to stream down his face.
"Mami! Tati! Nu! Sa nu cazi! Te rog! Nu mă lăsa!" (Mommy! Daddy! No! Don't fall! Please! Don't leave me!)
The two gingers wasted no time in scooping the small bird in their arms holding him between them as he continued to cry and shout out to his family as he twisted and turned in their arms as though trying to fight off the nightmare he was currently locked in.
The tiny bird was still fighting and yelling in the gingers arms while the team stood by in fear when Batman arrived ten minutes later. Kaldur's face held a look of pain, as his hand rested on Artemis's shoulder. Artemis had her right hand clenched tightly around her bow as her head hung with her eyes squeezed firmly shut as her left hand clasped tightly with M'gann's. M'gann had her face buried in Conner's chest as Robin's emotions slammed into the young Martian repeatedly while Conner glared angrily at the floor wincing at each pained cry that left the smaller Ebony's mouth. Kneeling on the floor above his bird's head Batman fought to keep his emotions in check as Flash and the two gingers fought to keep the young bird from hurting himself. Then Batman did something nobody expected, he pulled the nightmare trapped birds mask off and pushed his cowl back revealing to the team a broken bird named Dick Grayson and a worried Father named Bruce Wayne. Tapping his son's cheek lightly the billionaire called out softly to the boy in his native tongue, "Haide, Dickie-pasăre, trebuie să te trezești acum" (Come on, Dickie- bird, you gotta wake up now)
At the sound of his dad's voice the small bird's eyes shot open as he tried to fight off the gingers grips on him, eyes glazed and still locked in his nightmare, "Nu! Te rog! Sa nu cazi!" (No! Please! Don't fall!)
Bruce quickly pulled the tiny broken bird into his arms rubbing his back and whispering to him in Romani "Shhh Sunt aici pasăre mica" (Shhh I'm here little bird)
After a few minutes the small boy began to calm down to speak, "T-tati?" looking down at the pain filled blue eyes of his son he was rewarded with a flash of recognition in those brilliant blues before thin arms were flung around his neck clutching his cape tightly, while the bird buried his face into the crook of the Bats neck, he looked up at the team who worked with the light of his life every day, and did something not even he, The Batman, expected, he nodded to the teens and tilted his head toward the trembling gypsy. For a split second he was afraid that they didn't understand what he meant, and then, suddenly he and his little bird were surrounded by the teens in what could best be described as a rag-tag group hug, but for once, he really didn't care, it's what his baby bird needed.
"Acestea pot fi plecat, dar ele sunt întotdeauna cu tine, și așa sunt toate de noi, pentru că familia nu este întotdeauna despre sânge. Noi te iubim, copilul pasăre. Te iubesc ... fiul meu." (They may be gone, but they are always with you, and so are all of us, because family isn't always about blood. We love you, baby bird. I love you... my son.)
Ok so… I like it… :D
Oh and I know Arty, Dick, and Babs aren't really friends but oh well!
And Sitka is the name of the elephant at Haly's Circus the Dick grew up with in Batman: The Animated Series
Oh and yea they speak Romani, but I had to use Romanian… sorry?