Chapter 2: Not a bad Start!
Someday everyone in young Justice, Cassie, Tim, Cissie, even Bart, would be grown up and have a family. And I would be left alone in Neverland, destined to be sixteen forever.
The next day started off a lot more sunny and a lot less wet than the day before. Clark was there when I came downstairs for breakfast, bu he left soon soon after, so I spent the rest of the morning in my room, going through some stuff Superman wanted me to learn. He had been thinking it was a better idea to homeschool me, instead of sending me to a public high school. What he didn't consider back then was, that he was too busy saving the world to teach me much – most of the time at least. So I had to study by myself. Which I did – most of the time at least.
At any rate it killed some time, until I'd meet up with the others at the HQ. Today, Maths, Geography and Politics where on the schedule.
Lately, I found myself more and more frequently wishing, I could go to school with Robin; we could write notes during class, have lunch together, change in the same locker room before PE...
Now I was scaring myself.
The time passed unbelievably slow. I couldn't focus on the maths problem I was trying to comprehend for very long. Instead I decided that it wouldn't hurt to be the first at the HQ and I could as well fly there, since the sky was perfectly clear and it did not look like that would change anytime soon.
When Rob and Bart arrived at the HQ later, they seemed rather surprised to see me. "Did anything bad happen or is this just the first sign of the apocalypse?", Robin asked, smiling. Haha. Very funny.
"No.", I responded irritatedly. "I was just bored and decided to shop-up earlier. That's all. You look good today."
Ooops...
Robin froze in the middle of the room, hand in mid-air, jaw dropped slightly. "What?", he emphasized. Well, there was no turning back now, was there? "Oh, I was just saying... you look good today?", I repeated, trying to sound the least girly as possible. However, I was complimenting Robin, the Boy Wonder, so I highly doubt it worked very well.
Said Boy Wonder raised his eyebrows above his mask and looked at me questioningly.
"Kon... I don't look any different from how I look every day."
"Oh, right... I mean of course!", I laughed nervously and rubbed my neck. "I mean, your hair. It looks slightly different... did you cut it?"
I could read it in his face; that he wasn't quite satisfied with this answer, but he probably felt like it was none of his business, so he didn't question me any further.
I sighed in relief and grinned at Bart, hoping he didn't understand what was going on. But the speedster's face told me otherwise. When Rob was busy checking e-mails on the PC, he walked up to me and whispered: "Where you trying to flirt with Robin?"
I felt my cheeks heating up. "Me? Nooo. No, no.", I lied, waving my hands defensively.
"You totally tried to.", said Bart's eyes while his lips were pressed firmly together. "Okay, maybe a bit." I hissed and turned a bit redder. The conversation was over - for me, at least, since I couldn't think of anything else about me trying to flirt with Robin that could be interesting for him. But Bart still looked at me as if he expected me to say something else. I simply stared back at him, pretty much as if I expected him to say something else. Luckily, Bart wasn't famous for his unbelievable amount of patience. "Kon!", he snapped finally, "Why?
Oh, that could of course be of interest for him.
I grabbed his arm an dragged him out of the room. "Bart.", I said, trying to keep my voice as low as possible. Still, it was shaking a little.
"Why would I possibly try to flirt with him?"
"Probably to get into his pants. Or panties. And leggings."
"Exac- What? No!", I snapped, "Well, probably a bit. It would be a nice side effect. But actually I'm trying to make him like me." I admit, the whole liking-Robin-thing was getting on my nerves since it made me feel like a complete idiot. The shorter boy seemed to find it somewhat amusing though. He looked liked he was biting back a smart remark, that would either make me angry, or die from embarrassment.
"Superboy? Impulse?" Rob's voice echoed from the main hall. At this very moment I loved him even more than before.
"Well, go ahead and make him cheap compliments. They won't get you anywhere, because first,", he tipped his index finger, "you're a boy. Just like him. Second,", he tipped his middle finger, "he's not even interested in girls, because third,", he tipped his ring finger, "he's trying to become the next Batman!" With that he stuck out his tongue and rushed into the room again. I groaned and followed him.
"What a day...", Cassie sighed and let herself drop onto one of the big office chairs in the HQ. We had been chasing stupid villains all day. They hadn't been very strong in particular, but they'd sure been good at playing hide and seek. Suzie rushed around the room, bringing band aids and bottles of water.
I dared to glance at Rob, who was still a little exhausted from our previous adventure. Being the only one at the team who had no actual superpowers, he sometimes had a hard time keeping up with us. Physically at least. When it came to research, coming up with all those crazy plans of his, none of us seemed fit to hold a candle to him.
He had a hurtful looking bruise under his left eye and a few cuts on his arms and knees.
"Kon, you're bleeding.", Cassie mentioned and pointed at my forehead. I barely felt the scratch, from which blood ran over my temple and cheek. I shrugged absentmindedly. Cassie sighed, annoyed because she's always hated how I pretend to be alright when I'm not. Truth is, I was okay most of the time and her worrying annoyed me. So I just ignored her.
"Well, I'll be heading home then.", Cassie said and waved, "Bye."
I barely lifted my hand in response.
Bart was already gone, Suzie always stayed here, so Rob and me were the last to leave.
I could have decided that I already embarrassed myself enough this morning, but my loose lips seemed to have different plans.
"Hey, Rob, how about I fly you home?", I asked bluntly. The Boy Wonder looked at me confused. At least I supposed it was confusion. He opened his mouth to probably reject the offer, but I cut him off. "I know I'm not supposed to know your identity, let alone where you live. I can let you down a few blocks away."
I could only hope my eyes didn't look too pleading. Robin's face remained emotionless as he over-thought my offering. Please, please let him say yes. Even Secret seemed to hold her breath and waited for his answer.
"Oh, whatever", he finally replied and shut down the PC.
I couldn't help but to grin widely.
It wasn't the first time Robin flew with me. I'd took him with me on various missions. He hadn't been afraid for one second, or if he had been, he didn't let it show. I was a bit disappointed.
Whenever I took some girl for a flight, they got all clingy, screaming about how I shouldn't let them fall down. But to be honest, that wasn't quite Robin's style.
When we stood outside the HQ he took off his gloves, stuck them into his belt and raised his arms above his head, so I could take them and lift him up, carefully steadying him with my TTK.
"It feels weird.", he suddenly said, looking up at me and grinning a bit. "Your telekinesis." "I could take it away.", I replied and smiled back at him. But the masked boy shook his head. "Don't!" His voice was low, but I could have sworn it sounded a little bit alarmed. At least I wished it did. My grip around his wrists tightened, barely noticeable. "Don't worry, I won't."
"It's not like I was scared you'd drop me!", he explained sheepishly. I chuckled.
"Really, I wasn't!", he affirmed, "I don't think you would drop me."
I felt my face heating up. Although I was more or less sure he trusted me, it was nice to hear him say it, and he'd never admitted it this openly before.
"I know.", I assured him. "Good.", he said quietly, as if it was of actual importance that I was aware of his trust. Subconsciously, I stroked my thumb over his wrist and smiled.
There was a brief silence between us, until Robin spoke again.
"It's the house over there." He gestured his foot, as his arms were constricted at the moment, at a tall building a few blocks away from our current location. "Second floor, left window at the southern side.", he added quickly.
I looked at him in surprise. "It's your house?"
"Apartment.", he corrected. I nodded in some sort of appreciation. It was probably his way of apologizing for making me question his trust in me – although I hadn't even been offended at all.
However, it seemed as if he didn't want to make a big deal of it.
As we approached the building, I lowered us to the level of the second floor, and curiously looked into the window he had described.
It was painted in a bright, blue-ish gray. The furniture consisted of a simple, white bed, a matching white cupboard, shelf, filled with books and old news paper articles, and a desk with a chair. Beside the bed there was a pile of books, and a pile of clothes was draped over the rest of the chair.
Even though it was unusually tidy, it was a typical teenager room. Tim's room. The window was left ajar, so he carefully kicked it open and climbed into the room, while I steadied him with my TTK.
As soon as he stood on the floor, he turned around and flashed me bright grin. "Thanks for the ride, Superboy."
My stomach flipped and I was certain my cheeks were coloured brightly red. At least I managed to grin back, instead of just gaping at him.
"Anytime.", I replied and saluted and turned to head home, when Robin called me back.
"Hey, Kon, wait a second."
I once again turned around and flew closer to the window, resting my hand on the frame.
The Boy Wonder seemed a bit uncomfortable, as he avoided my gaze. "About this...", he murmured, "Please don't tell Batman. Or anyone else on the team. You see, I do trust you, but-""My lips will be sealed.", I promised, interrupting him gently. "I also won't look for your name at the door."
His head snapped upwards and he stared at me, mouth slightly open, obviously taken aback. Now I felt slightly offended. It seemed he didn't expect such noble behaviour from me. For a second he looked troubled, as if he was debating with himself whether he should encourage me to find out his name - or even better: just tell me his name – or not.
"It's okay, Rob." I smiled and moved my hand from the window frame to his shoulder. "I'm okay with not knowing your identity. After all, it's for your safety."
He still wasn't looking at me, but I saw a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Thanks, Kon."
