Long-ish chapter ahead, featuring some Robin-Hyacinth bonding…ness…Yeah…Going away now, leaving you to read…
I should have known that given how things were going, I would not get the opportunity to be alone. Before I could make it fifteen steps away from the Mount, a very familiar voice called out to me, albeit one I didn't really want to hear right now.
"Hy!" Robin yelled. He jogged over to match my pace. "What, do you plan on walking home?"
"Pretty much."
"With all that in your hands?"
"Pretty much."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"You suck at lying."
"Okay."
"No, seriously, what's wrong?"
"I…just need some time to think about everything that's been going down."
"About this afternoon, you mean."
"That constitutes most of it, yes."
"Talk to me."
"Didn't The Bat want to see you?"
"He said when I get the chance. I've got something to do in the meantime."
"You don't have to walk me home, Rob. I could use the time alone, anyway."
"And if you die because you were walking with all this stuff in your hands, that suit would have been for nothing." I exhaled. He was dancing on the wrong nerves at the wrong time. "Your mom asked something of me, remember?"
"Again, I don't think she meant meeting me at school or making sure I get home. She just meant—"
"And how are you so sure about that?"
"Robin. I think I'm going to drop what's in my hands and punch you in a minute."
"Our rematch will only go down after you're healed."
"Me punching you will have nothing to do with our rematch."
"Do really want to be alone that badly?" I stopped walking, closed my eyes and took two deep breaths.
"Probably, probably not. I don't know. I just feel like I have some internal kind of vertigo. There are a few things I have yet to understand, yet to grasp and yet to grow comfortable with. I kind of want to scream. And all this frustration is making me a combination of depressed, angry and upset. You being around makes you a likely target for my frustration."
"You think I wouldn't understand but I do. How do you think I felt the first time Batman took me out with him on a mission? The adjustment process is hard but you can do it. You've just got to be a little patient with yourself. You're going to make mistakes, big ones, and you're going to get hurt. You're going to mess up. But then you're going to learn from them and do better next time. You just have to try and try and try until you find the right fit for your life, the right balance."
We walked in complete silence for an entire minute and after a long while, Robin looked over at me to see the expression on my face.
"Sorry," I said. He looked confused for a long moment at my apology. "For snapping at you."
"It's alright. Let me help you with something." I handed him the box and silence walked between us for another long moment. I wondered if I imagined the double meaning in his words.
"Can…can I ask why you're being so nice to me? It's not that I don't appreciate all this that both you and Batman are doing for me, it's just that I don't understand why you're doing it. What benefit does this have to both of you?" He seemed to think about it for a long moment, eyes to the grass, and then he looked back to me to give his answer.
"You're…like me in a lot of ways. You're just trying to help and you're willing to do what it takes to make sure that you can help to the best of your ability. I guess that's what makes it so easy for me to want to help you, because I've wanted to become the best superhero I could be. Don't get me wrong, I haven't arrived yet. I've still got lots of work to do. Anyway, it's just really easy for me to relate to you in so many ways. It's easy for me to hang out with you, to talk to you. I guess without me even realising it, I came to think of you like a really good friend. And friends help each other. As for Batman, well, you'll have to ask him. That one's lost on me."
I could not have just heard all that right. I think my mind auto-tuned some of that.
"Wait, what did you just say?"
"I said, that you have to ask Batman to find out why he's helping you."
"No, before that."
"That friends help each other."
"Before that."
"I…kinda think of you as a really close friend." I could see the slight blush spreading over his cheeks even though his eyebrows were furrowed in questioning. I nodded twice slightly.
"Huh. I thought that's what you said." I exhaled. "I guess that makes me not the only crazy one."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means, genius Boy Wonder, that I seem to feel the same way."
"Oh. Well you could have just said that instead of making it sound like you thought I was crazy for feeling that way."
"One, it is a crazy feeling. We met like four days. And two, I said we were both crazy. So if you end up in a sanatorium, you'll have company…probably." He chuckled.
"Wow, does anything you say come out right?" I elbowed him.
"Yes. My brain just chooses the most insulting way to say things when it knows I'm talking to you."
"Sure. Likely excuse."
"It sure is." A comfortable silence floated for a long moment. "Hey, Robin."
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for stalking me out the door and ignoring my barbs at you." He laughed a little.
"You're welcome. That's what friends are for."
"I hope you know I'm here for you if you need me. You know, despite all your crazy secrecy stuff."
"Rolls eyes. Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. Anyway, so I heard you're sleeping over at HQ with Megan."
"Yeah. It would be more fun if I could get all of you guys there but I know that it's stupid to ask for a unicorn if I can only get a horse." He laughed again.
"Interesting choice of words." I half-smiled at him for a short moment.
"Do you know you laugh a lot?"
"I do?"
"Yeah. It's not a bad thing, it's just…weird for someone with your job description."
"Well, I'm in civvies right now, so technically, I'm just a normal teenager right now."
"It is said that for some superheroes, the person they are when they don't wear the mask is really the façade." He shrugged.
"Sounds pretty true, if you ask me. Well, when I think about Batman, I guess that's true. Maybe for me, too. Wally actually told me once that he feels naked in civvies so I guess we could say the same for him, too."
"Do you ever take those sunglasses off?"
"Yes. I don't sleep with them on." I gave him a dry look and he just snickered. "Yeah, I do."
"Your eyesight is going to suck soon if you wear them so much."
We reached the end of the forest and I hailed a taxi as I saw it approaching. We got in and I told the driver where to go. As he pulled off, I took my phone out of my pocket and called my mom to tell her I was on my way.
"Does she wait up for you every night?" he asked.
"She tries, but most nights she's just so tired from her shift at the hospital that she falls asleep on the armchair facing the door. I've told her to stop doing that and to just try to get a good night's sleep but she's as stubborn as I am sometimes." I longed to ask him about his parents, if he knew them, what happened to them, what they were like. I resisted the urge. It might have been sensitive territory and he probably would have opted not to say anything about it in general. "So, from when does the man get pissed about you making him wait?"
"He doesn't get pissed. He usually knows where I am. Besides, I know better than to keep the man waiting unnecessarily. I do have manners, you know."
"Poor as they might be."
"Hey!" I laughed.
"Relax, I'm just yanking your chain."
"And who's manners are poor, you say?"
"My manners are only poor towards you, Robby."
"And Wally."
"The only reason I said that to Wally is because I knew that wouldn't affect him in the least. But it's true, I guess. He isn't my type."
"Then what is your type?"
"I don't know if I have one. It's just not him. I think he's a little too self-obsessed and flirtatious. Then again, I have realised that you're a little sweet on Meg, too."
"Who, me? Nah. Conner's got a thing for her and she has one right back for him."
"I knew I didn't imagine seeing her smile when Kal put them together for the mission. But it's kind of obvious how you flirt with her. There are only certain things that these eyes miss."
"Like people who are right in front of you, or stairs."
"Exactly. I notice that stuff when they're really important but otherwise, they're lost on me. But stop trying to change the subject. I was talking about you and Megan."
"There's nothing there to talk about."
"Have you ever considered making a move, like an actual move?"
"Didn't you just hear anything I just said about Conner?"
"Yeah, but Conner's not doing anything about it, is he?"
"And why aren't you on Wally's case about his flirting with Megan?"
"Because he and I aren't in a taxi cab right now."
"She's cute, but she and Conner have something concrete. I think I'll just step back from that."
"You know that means not flirting with her anymore, right?"
"Yeah."
"It helps to constantly remind yourself about Conner and to focus your attention on a new target. There aren't any girls in your school that you like?"
"Me? No. Enough about me. Is there anyone you seem to be sweet on? Batman, maybe?" I gave him a wide-eyed look.
"Um, first of all, ew, he's a little old for me," I began, laughing. "And second, I feel nothing but utmost admiration towards him. I can't believe you would even insinuate—"
"Hey, he's done an awful lot help you. Maybe that would have made you, oh, I don't know, see another side to him and fall—"
"Don't even say it." I shuddered and he just laughed at me. "I might prefer them older than me but that's taking it a little far."
"Then, I guess older is your type, just not really old."
"Well, it's not an absolute must."
"You'd date younger guys?"
"Hard to believe? Provided they're not too much younger and they're not annoyingly immature, then, yeah, I'd date them." I hoped that didn't sound too much like a hint.
"Was your last boyfriend older or younger?"
"None of the above."
"He was your age?"
"No."
"I don't get it."
"I've never had a boyfriend, genius."
"Oh."
"And what about you? Older, for sure, right?"
"Nah. I've just never really had the time to have a girlfriend. It's not that Batman pushes me so much that I can't have a life, but I spend a lot of time trying to get better at what I do. What's your excuse?"
"Most of the guys going my school are complete idiots so I ignore them. Plus, they're most, if not all of them, afraid of me."
"Why's that?"
"Well, that same best friend of mine I was talking about earlier, she's a magnet for trouble. There was one particularly sleazy guy that was trying to get her to go out with him. She actually fell for it and he ended up just embarrassing her; apparently it had been some kind of joke. I flipped out and beat him up after school the next day when he had the gall to walk around the school taunting her about it."
"Nice."
"My mom got called in but would you believe, when she got there, the VP congratulated me? She used to see everything he would do but she wasn't in any position to deal with it. I got barely a slap on the wrist and was let go. Of course, my mom was more than a little upset that she'd had to be called away for getting in a fight but she didn't think I'd really done anything wrong. She was a little worried about my record. But after that, I never got in a fight again, not that I had to after that. I used that fear that had accumulated to stop fights on many occasions though."
"How big was this guy?"
"Um, about Conner's height and build."
"Whoa. Must be rough playing security guard."
"It must be done. It's kind of fun actually. And, of course, I pick up some useful skills. Like lock picking."
The cab pulled up to my building and I paid the guy and started getting out when I noticed Robin wasn't getting out.
"You're not coming?"
"Nah. I've got to head back to HQ and then to the head honcho." He handed me the box and I nodded.
"Thanks for coming with me as always."
"See ya tomorrow."
"Yeah, later." I shut the door, the taxi sped off and I started up to the apartment.
My mom was awake when I walked through the door and she smiled when she saw the things in my hands.
"I hope you know you've got to play model for me. I'm excited to see your new outfit," she said. I rolled my eyes, pressed a kiss to her forehead and headed to my room to go do a quick costume change. I really couldn't say no to my mom.
