This is for all my devoted fans! Especially Leah.

Robin had changed; and everyone noticed. After Terra left, Robin walked into the study and asked Bruce how his day was. Bruce eyed him suspiciously, but he saw nothing wrong. Robin then sat down next to him and started to read. When Bruce asked him what nonsense he was reading now, Robin replied that it was a study guide the Terra had left for him; and he was reading it! Bruce stared for a full two minutes. What was this boy up to? Robin was reading the pages so intently, nodding to a blind audience. He was reading and turning pages, and turning back pages and rereading.

Robin, on the other hand, could not be more impressed. She had literally covered everything. Every teacher and every loophole. For example; Robin's English teacher was under F for Franco. There he found all his stats and information. He was a Capricorn, had 2 daughters and used to be a marine. One should never mention eminent domain in front of him or he would never forget it. His personal life is off limits to the public, but questions about his high school days are a must. He can get on hour long tangents about his days in high school.

Robin was ecstatic. He read the whole thing straight right before dinner. He memorized every fat. People always said that was his strong suit. He was good at remembering facts. That's why when he paid attention in class he always aced every test. Rbn closed the pamphlet. He looked up and saw Alfred giving him an odd look as he announced that dinner was ready. Robin usually hated dinner. He loved the food, of ocurse. Alfred was the best cook ever. But he hated having to be with Bruce in the same room for long periods of time. Tonight, however, was different. Tonight Robin sat at the table with his best manners. He knew what he had to do. Terra was right; it was like Bruce expected harsh punishment for Robin. Robin knew it, and so did everyone around him. That's why people were so afraid to be his friends; they thought Bruce wanted people to only be harsh with him.

Maybe, Robin thought, if Bruce saw that he was behaving and being good, he would let Terra stay, maybe he would even let Robin say Terra was his friend, and not just his tutor. Maybe…even more? Robin dared to hope, and so he sat, he sat calmly and quietly. He asked Bruce how work was, and answered questions about his first day at school. Alfred made an awesome dinner of beef ravioli and mashed potatoes. Robin ate everything. Even though robin loved Alfred's cooking, he usually picked at the food at the table and then asked Alfred t bring some up to his room later when he was really hungry. After the meal Bruce suggested a game of chess casually, and Robin, to the shock of Bruce, Alfred, and himself, agreed. They set up a game in the study and robi beat Bruce with an amazing trap. He and Bruce had laughed and even joked a little bit, before saying their goodnights when Robin started to yawn too frequently for Alfred's liking.

School the next day was amazing. He met Terra in the morning and shared a quick smile with her before casting a fake sneer just in case anyone was watching. She had to hold in her laughter. Robin walked away and went to all his classes. He skipped the ones he could get away with skipping, sometimes meeting Terra at a prearranged destination. His first three classes of each day were English with Franco, Social Studies with a batty old hag named Petunia, and Science, physics, with a small little man named Chang. Then it was lunch. Robin had a school map but Terra had given him a map of where everyone sat in the dining hall. He knew he table where she sat was with the school preps a.k.a. the suck-ups. He was assumed to sit at the new kids table until he made a label for himself. But he had obviously sent his reputation ahead of him, because as soon as he had gotten his lunch, a group of guys he'd seen around the halls called him over. He walked towards them, recognizing the table they sat at as "rocker boys" from Terra's map. He gladly sat with them. He looked over to the table where Terra had pointed out that she would be sitting, the preps, and gave her a look before sitting down. He had a nice lunch, the guys discussed punk-rock subgenres and he stuck his two cents in but mainly kept quiet. He was accepted.

After school Robin went to the corner of the block to wait for Terra as he had planned. A whole group of her friends passed Robin and looked disdainfully at him. Terra was with them. She went until the next corner when she stopped and turned back to him shouting to her friends.

"I'm sure I just left it by my locker, I'll catch up with you guys later." Her friends moved on and she stayed with Robin. When they were completely out of sight, Robin called his car.

"We should probably come up with a new excuse, or your friends might wonder why you keep leaving your stuff at school." Robin smirked at Terra. She hit him lightly on the arm. They pulled up to the house and went through the same routine with Bruce as the previous day. They went straight up to Robin's room and eased up. Robin went to his chair and Terra lay on the floor next to him.

Robin tried to make conversation. It was really easy with terra. He felt like he was talking to one of the boys he used to hang out with at school. At the same time she had so many random quirks that he could only assume went with the fact that she was a girl. She smiled when she talked and when he spoke she showed signs of listening. She'd nod and say "yeah" at the right parts. She kind of reminded him of his mom. Bruce just stared at Robin when he spoke as though he was analyzing him. Even when they had fun he could never shake the feeling that Bruce was always judging him. Alfred was great to vent to but he could never tell him about trivial things.

They started talking about school and about Robin's view on all the teachers. They both thought that Mr. Barrett, their chemistry teacher, kind of looked like an owl with a hairpiece. They also both thought he was on something. Then they moved onto what bands they both liked. She was more Emo and he was more Rock. They talked about everything. Finally when they had discussed all their likes and dislikes (she hated tuna and he loved it when it rained) they both stopped and Robin decided to ask the question that had been bothering him.

"What are your brother and mother like?" Terra shifted uncomfortably. "You don't have to tell me…" he said, but he was disappointed that he couldn't know. Terra looked up at him and then gazed at her hands.

"My family isn't the same anymore. All this moving has made a huge split in my family. Plus, I sometimes…" she stopped and sighed. "We get into fights a lot. Basically my mother and brother don't live here. They support me but we couldn't be in the same place as each other. My brother is in Boston at some boarding school or another. My mom supports us both but we haven't known where she was for a while. That's why I never bring people home. I live alone." She turned to see what Robin would look like. She was afraid he would think she was weird or call the police on her. In stead he had a huge grin spread out on his face.

"That is so cool! You get to live by yourself, with no one telling you what to do? You are so lucky." He stared at her in awe.

"It's not all fun and games; sometimes I wish I had my brother with me. I hate being alone all the time." She sounded morose. Robin wanted to say that he would crash any time but he figured it wasn't the right time.

They in stead continued discussing the pros and cons of living on your own, until Terra said she had to head off.

From then on nothing was off topic. They spoke about everything under the sun. They even started to have "tutor sessions" at the "library." Or they started going to burger bars to hang out at. Robin wasn't even worried about Bruce sending someone to tail him because he trusted Terra so well.

A couple months later Terra was sitting on Robin's bed laughing about some joke robin had told her. She was clutching her sides and laughing really hard. Robin was leaning against his headboard and was watching her. Her hair was strewn across the bed and his legs; she was resting her head on his thigh. She was making a tinkling when she laughed. Robin thought it sounded like wind chimes on a perfect spring day.

He had been having a lot of thoughts lately. He had noticed a week before that her lips were the perfect shade of pink. She also pursed them whenever he made a crack at her taste in books. She was a fantasy lover all the way. The way she described the mythical lands and beasts that she visited in her books, it made Robin almost forget that he had sworn off Fantasy.

This did not mean that Terra wasn't thinking her own lovely thoughts. When Robin would talk about Bruce, his eyes got a fire in them that scared her. At the same time she secretly wished he talked about her the same way. She loved when he got passionate about something; he would get so serious that it made her laugh. She hated to admit it, and she ever would openly, but she was falling for him.

"Why do you think Batman and Robin wear those weird get-ups?" Terra asked when there was a lull in the conversation.

"What do you mean?" Robin said shifting a little.

"I mean the tights, the capes and the masks. I will never get it. If they go around saving the world and I mean, everyone loves them, why hide who you are?" She was staring right at Robin when she said this and he got really nervous. Did she know something? Did she finally pick up on his nickname being the same as the Boy Wonder's? "Why not get the credit they deserve, what's there to hide?

"Maybe they're protecting themselves from the bad guys. You know, protecting their identities so their loved ones aren't targeted." Robin suddenly had a horrible image of the Joker peering into his bedroom taking aim at Terra with a gun and…

"You really think they have loved ones? If I knew my boyfriend went around parading in tights all night?"

"Maybe they don't tell they're girlfriends who they are."

"But that's more secrets, and more lies. No guy would do that to a girl. I mean no straight guy would ever do that. Hey! You think they're gay?"

"WHAT? No! No, Robin and Batman aren't gay. Robin's probably the straightest guy ever." Robin said with conviction.

"How would you know? Besides, it's really the mask that catches me. I mean it annoys me that they can just walk around with masks and everyone's fine with it. However, we normal people have to show or true colours all the time. We have no mask to hide behind. People are always saying "be true to yourself," but what about our town heroes? They have "secret identities" to hide behind all the time. They never have to face reality."

"Everyone has to face reality eventually." Terra picked herself up and looked at Robin.

"Yeah, well if I ever met Batman or Robin I would look them in the eyes." She was staring straight at Robin now. "And I would say, 'that's it, no more secrets' and I would rip off their mask." Robin touched his eyes were his mask usually lay, that would probably hurt. Then he looked up and saw that Terra was right in front of him and every other thought left his mind. "They must be gay," she said as she leaned towards him "because it's probably really hard to kiss with a mask." At the word kiss she leaned in and waited. Robin couldn't take it; he met her lips and kissed her. All the fears he had a moment ago about his identity being in jeopardy were gone. His mind was filled with only Terra. All her thoughts on masks and identities were gone and she was left with the one reality that was Robin.

Bruce decided to check up on Robin, just this once, to make sure they were both okay.

Oooooh! CLIFFHANGER!!

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