They dropped into the warehouse silently and scooted along the rafters. Batman waved his partner over to one side of the boat slip cut into the floor below, then took up a position opposite him. The boy, he was glad to see, melted into the shadows despite his outrageously bright costume. He gets better and better at that every time we go out, he mused as he directed his attention to the floor. Damn it. There are more than my source said there would be, fifteen at least. His eyes narrowed behind the cowl. In fact, there are more men down there than I've ever seen at a simple drug transfer. Something else is going on. He glanced back up to the black corner that he knew held Robin. He shouldn't be here. Neither him nor Kid Flash. This is too much for their first big melee.

"Flash," he muttered into his radio.

"Here," came back.

"Are the doors guarded?"

"No. Why?"

That makes no sense. So many extra bodies, but no one on the exterior? "There are over a dozen men in here."

"…That's odd. No one being outside is even weirder."

"Yeah."

"…What do you want to do? This is starting to sound not very kid-friendly."

He didn't answer for a moment. I can't call off the mission entirely, not when there's obviously something bigger than I thought going on. We need to find out what it is that they're all here to guard, and the best way to do that is to stop the shipment right when it gets off of the boat. But those men are heavily armed, and there are bound to be at least a few more arriving with the drugs. Despite his confidence in Robin's skills, he couldn't bring himself to let the boy drop into such a fray; the time for that would come, and soon considering how quickly his abilities were developing, but it wasn't tonight. "Robin," he voiced, "Kid Flash. You will retreat. Go back to the car and wait for us there."

"But-"

"Now, Robin."

"…Okay." He sounded a little hurt, and Batman determined to find something that he and the boy could do tomorrow evening to make up for the loss of tonight. It's not that I don't think you can handle it; I just don't want to run the risk until I've seen you handle multiple armed assailants in a slightly less uncontrollable setting. Taking out one preoccupied man in a deserted back lot is much different than fighting several with guns on their own turf.

"Okay," Kid Flash's voice, disappointed but slightly relieved, echoed. Batman couldn't actually see his protégé exiting back onto the roof, but he sensed when he had departed. Next time, partner, he swore. You can stay next time. This, though, was just a little bit more than I'm ready to expose you to. The sound of a low motor rose on the water outside, and a few seconds after Robin had gone two of the guards below began to roll back the doors to the slip, allowing a decent-sized boat into the building. Just in time, Batman sighed in relief. "Cargo has arrived," he informed Flash.

"Copy. Ready here."

On the roof of the next warehouse over, Robin paused and looked back. From his angle, he had a sliver's view of a boat slowly pulling into the building he'd just left. There weren't that many, he thought. Not for four of us. Still, though, he supposed he understood Batman's reserve; this was his and Kid Flash's first real mission, and the man didn't want anything going wrong. He can't control all of the elements all the time, though, the boy mused as he swung his way back to where the car waited. It's just not possible. Sooner or later I'll be involved in something outside of his comfort level, and there won't be anything he can do to stop it.

"Hey," KF said with a weak smile as Robin dropped beside the car a minute later. "Sucks, huh?"

"Yeah," the younger boy sighed. "The shipment arrived right after we left, too."

"Lame." He shifted. "…Do you think they'll be all right in there? That's a lot of guys for two people."

"Batman can take on that many by himself. With Flash to help him, they'll probably be done in no time. And now that they don't have to worry about us…" he trailed off.

"…Maybe they'll save us a couple? For, I dunno, punching practice?"

"I doubt it. Batman's all about quick incapacitation."

"Damn."

"…Does Flash let you swear? I wish Batman would let me swear. Even just on patrol, you know?"

"Well, I'm not supposed to, but…they're making us wait out here. I think we deserve a couple swear words."

"I like that logic." Looking up, he could see no stars. Stupid city lights, he griped, missing the view of space he had at the manor.

"I hate waiting," KF moaned. "It's so boring."

"…You could run in place?"

"Booooring," he droned, his voice rising in volume as he drew out the word.

"Shh! Hey, dude, c'mon, keep it quiet! We're still technically on a mission." We probably shouldn't even be talking, he realized.

Oh, crap, I did it again, Kid Flash groaned to himself. "I…I'm sorry," he apologized, immediately dropping his voice. "I didn't mean to screw things up again."

"…Again?" Robin wrinkled his nose and gave him a curious look, tucking his hands under his arms as he did. Brr. It's cold even with my gloves on. Of course, they aren't really lined to be warm or anything, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

"You know…I made noise in the air duct last weekend, and got us caught, and then just now…" He looked away. "I'm kind of bad at this, Rob."

"What? Dude, KF, no way. You're awesome. You just have to remember to slow down a little, that's all."

"…Do you mean that?"

"About you slowing down? Yeah. Not to be mean or anything, I know it's probably hard with your powers and all, but…"

"I…I meant when you said I was awesome," he all but whispered.

"Oh." He blushed. "Sorry. But I totally meant that, too. You are awesome. You're the coolest kid I've ever met."

"Yeah, right," he scoffed at the last part.

Robin's eye narrowed behind his mask. "You can run like a billion miles an hour. You hang out and train with Flash. And…and you're not a jerk about it. You're less of a jerk than ninety-nine percent of the 'normal' people – adults included – that I've met since coming to Gotham. That…that counts for a lot, KF. At least, it does to me." They were quiet for a moment. "I'm really glad I met you. I was starting to think…well." I was starting to think I was never going to have a friend. "Anyway. You're really cool, Kid Flash. At least in my book."

"…Hey, Rob?"

"Yeah?"

"…You're pretty damn cool yourself."

"…Really?"

"Yup."

"…I don't feel cool most of the time. Especially not lately," he added under his breath.

"What, seriously? I might run around with Flash, but you work with frickin' Batman. And all the stuff you can do…I mean yeah, I can run fast, and that's great, but I could never do all those sweet moves you can. I figured you would feel cool all the time."

Robin shrugged. "We're not Batman and Robin all the time. We've got regular lives, just like you and Flash do, and right now…right now my regular life pretty much sucks." He sniffed a little, but swallowed his tears. "Remembering that I'm Robin doesn't make the mean things everyone says go away, it doesn't make it easier to do normal things to make Br-Batman proud of me, and it doesn't bring my parents back to life." He stared at the icy ground, arms wrapped around himself, so distraught that he didn't even realize he'd just given the other boy a big piece of information. "It's easier to forget when I'm in costume, but…when the mask comes off, all of those things are still there, KF. And I can't do anything about them."

"…Your parents?" Kid Flash asked, his eyes wide. "They're…?"

"Yeah. I-" His head jerked up. "Oh, no, I wasn't supposed to tell you that! Oh…hell," he cursed, shaking his head. "He's going to be so mad at me, I promised…"

"Whoa, dude. It's not like you took your mask off and showed me your birth certificate. Chill. He doesn't have to know that you mentioned them. I won't tell. Honest."

"You…you won't?"

"No way. Bros don't rat on each other. Besides, you didn't tell on me when he asked who made the noise last weekend; I owe you one. And…" he looked away, shuffling his feet. "I'm sorry about your parents. That…that must really suck. My parents aren't very nice, but…"

"But they're still breathing."

"Yeah."

Sniffling one more time, Robin pulled off a glove and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. "Stupid cold air screws with my sinuses," he muttered.

"Nice try, mini-Bat." Closing the distance between them, Kid Flash slung an arm around the smaller boy's shoulders. "It's okay, Rob. I mean, it sounds like you have plenty of good reasons to cry. I'm sure not going to hold it against you."

A broad smile unfurled across his face, relaying his happiness at those words so completely that it didn't matter that his eyes were hidden from view. "…Thanks, KF."

"Hey, that's what friends are for," the redhead brushed off. "Or so I've heard. You're kind of the first real friend I've ever had."

"Yeah. I know what you mean. Adults think that just because you play with other kids, that automatically makes you friends, but…there's more to it than that. I mean, just because they work with other adults doesn't mean that they're all friends, right? So why should it be the same for us?"

"Exactly! We are actually friends, though, right? We're not just," he waved his free hand in the air, "playing together?"

"…I don't spend a whole lot of time almost crying in front of people I consider to be just acquaintances," Robin smirked. "Do you?"

"Nope," Kid Flash grinned back lopsidedly. "Me, neither."

"Sooo…"

"Sooo…You okay now?"

"…Yeah. I feel a lot better. About a few things, actually."

"Sweet." He unwrapped his arm from around the younger child and held out his hand. "Bro fist?"

Robin laughed delightedly, balling his fingers up and touching the resultant fist to the one KF was offering. "Totally."

"Awesome."

They were content with that for several minutes, exchanging smiles as they soaked in the glow of finally having someone they could call a friend. "…Should it be taking this long?" Kid Flash asked finally.

"I don't know. We haven't heard any gunfire, and we're only a couple blocks away. Batman wanted to wait until they were halfway done unloading the stuff, so maybe they haven't even attacked yet."

The redhead sighed. "Crap."

"Yeah…" As he trailed off, a series of sharp pops sounded from the direction of the warehouse they'd left their mentors in. "There they go." Unconsciously he crossed his fingers, hopping up and down as more guns joined in. Wow, that's a lot of bullets, he couldn't help but think. …I'd be glad we aren't in there if I knew they were safe. This is awful, I don't like standing here listening to Batman get shot at by drug dealers. What if he needs me? I mean I know Flash is there, but…it's not the same.

Slowly, though, the sounds faded. Just as they were beginning to relax, certain that the heroes must have gotten the upper hand, a large truck sped by their alleyway. Both boys' eyes widened as they saw that the bed of the vehicle was bristling with armed men. A few seconds after it vanished from sight, there was a squealing of brakes as the truck came to a stop. "Reinforcements," Robin whispered. "There's no way they're expecting that!"

"We've got to help," KF insisted. He was clearly ready to run, but seemed to be waiting for the younger boy to agree. "I can carry you, it'll be faster!"

In a split second, he made his decision. The new guards won't be expecting us to show up, and especially not from outside, so we stand a pretty good chance of getting at least a couple of them before they even notice. Batman's going to be really mad if we go back, but if we don't, they could get hurt. He flinched as a bloody vision popped up in his head. Or worse. That was all the impetus he needed to leap onto the other child's back. "Let's go!"

I don't care how mad he gets at me, he thought as Kid Flash took off and the world blurred, at least if he's angry it means he's not dead.