AN:

I'm backkkkkk! So sorry for not updating anything, I'm just busy :/

This is a continuation of one of the prompts from the 30-day prompt challenge, restless. It's Artemis and Robin, and though I ship Traught with all my shipping-heart, I intended this to be friendship only.

This is set shortly after Performance, so Robin's still saddened by being back at the circus and he is now 14.

This is really OOC and the ending made me cringe :p

~Zara


This wasn't the first time she'd found him like this. Sitting alone in the recreation room long after everyone else had gone to bed. Refusing to sleep, for whatever his reasons were.

She had a fair idea as to why. She didn't know anything of his personal life, true, but to become a sidekick at the age of nine? There must have been an ugly side to his story.

And he lived in Gotham. Just like her. And living in a city like theirs doesn't tend to give one- peaceful dreams.

Artemis walks over to Robin. He was curled up in the corner of the sofa. He didn't seem to notice her. She sits next to him and realizes with a jolt that his eyes are uncovered. Orbs bluer than the ocean stare at the blank television.

He doesn't look over as she clears her throat. She shifts uneasily, says, "Nightmares?"

He moves his gaze onto her and she sees that his eyes are tear-filled, beads of sorrow waiting to escape.

"S'okay," she murmurs, throwing caution to the streets and wrapping him in a hug. She isn't a touchy-feely person, but she knows all too well what it feels like to wake in the night, terrified and shaking and alone. "I get them too."

He still doesn't say anything, doesn't look at her. Just closes his eyes, leans into her and cries.


They stay like that for a while, until she hears his shuddering breathing slow to gasps. She pulls away, feeling awkward for the first time since she seated herself on the couch. She averts her eyes until she thinks he's composed himself.

She looks up; his tears have slowed but his face looks just as pained as when she had found him.

"Thanks," he mumbles out, rubbing harshly under his eyes. She manages a semblance of a smile.

"No problem," she replies. She waits a bit, shifts again. "Are you- I mean, um, are you-?"

"Okay?" he finishes for her. He laughs, short and mirthless. "No, I'm not."

There's another silence she chooses not to fill.

"We could- go for a walk…on the beach?" she suggests finally, lifting a shoulder. Robin gives her an incredulous look.

"Never took you as the romantic type," he jokes. She doesn't smile; the feeble attempt at normalcy is so transparent, it's almost painful. She waits for him to speak again and when he doesn't, she takes initiative. Stands up, smoothes the weathered gray hoodie she'd slipped on as she left her room. Extends a hand to pull the younger teen to his feet.

"I'm being nice," she says, pulling him up. "Savor it." He gives the tiniest of smirks.

"Alright," he says, and they set off outside.


They end up walking for all of two minutes before they decide to collapse into the soft sand. The gentle roll of the waves sounds soothing, and the moon overhead shines soft light over the whole setting. The cool summer night weather is ideal.

She's on her back, one hand toying with her long golden ponytail; she'd tied it quickly on their way out. He's mimicking her position, arms crossed behind his head as he gazes at the moon.

"Prob'ly seems weird to you, huh?" Robin says, blue eyes reflecting the moon. "Me crying?"

Artemis sighs, moving her ponytail so that it doesn't dig into the back of her head. "No- not really. I mean, nightmares- I- I know what they're like."

"I'm sure you do, Miss Crock," he murmurs, eyes closing for a moment. She almost chokes on air, propping up on one elbow to look at him, openmouthed.

"How- what-?"

"Hey, I'm a detective," he says, opening his eyes. A smirk toys his lips as she slowly lowers back down, huffing a tiny bit.

"You know everything about my life," she mutters, eyebrows pinching together. "And you're a complete enigma to me."

"Hey, hey," he says. "I'm a pretty fair guy. I'll tell you some of my secrets." She looks over, raising a brow. He elaborates.

"You kind of just held me for half an hour while bawled like a baby. I think I can trust you."

She doesn't like where this is going. "Trust-?"

"With my identity." His unnerving eyes are fixed on her.

Artemis swallows. She's no good at this, all this heart-to-heart, trust stuff. She's never been good at it. But she's not one to admit that. So she stays silent, waiting for him to go on.

"I mean, no glasses," he says, waving his hands dramatically. "Might as well go all the way through with it." He takes a breath.

"See, when I was nine, my family died." Short and blunt.

Artemis swallows, and no, her eyes are not watering as she watches her companion close his eyes again, biting his lip.

"That mission we were just on. That- that wasn't official. Batman didn't assign it. I did. Because," he pauses again to take another breath, "that circus- Haly's- was where I grew up."

As he speaks, something nudges Artemis's mind. A story. A family of six, acrobats. The best of their kind, daring aerialists. It's seldom to come across a Gothamite who hasn't heard of them.

Them. The Flying Graysons. The perfect little family torn apart by crime and tragedy.

She jerks back to the presence when he speaks again. "I- we were acrobats, the only ones who did shows without nets." He smiles, eyes opening and holding a faraway look. "Me, my parents, aunt and uncle, and cousin."

"We traveled everywhere. April four years ago was our first time in Gotham. It was supposed to be one of our biggest audiences. God, I don't think I've ever practiced as hard as we did then. For our finale, I mean. I was part of most of it. Except- except the end. Dad always said I was too young."

My cousin- J-John- he was fourteen, so he performed too. He- he used to ruffle my hair and say it'd be my turn soon." Another short laugh escapes, before he stops and clenches his eyes shut, teeth biting his lip again. Hard, this time.

Artemis watches him with a heavy heart and some part of her conscience tells her to reach out and hug him again but she can't steel herself enough. Ends up reaching out, slow and gentle, and placing a hand over his- he's long since uncrossed his arms. She smiles a tiny bit when she feels his fingers curl into the spaces between hers and tries not to pay too much attention to how his hands are so much smaller than hers.

"Everything went great that night. Our best show, even. Then it was time for the finish and I swung back to the platform." His breath hitches a bit but he's quickly composed again.

"I'd seen this big burly guy earlier that day. Not one of the workers, I knew them all. He was dressed in some Italian suit, like a mobster. I saw him talking to Pop- Jack, I mean. Sounded like they were arguing. Didn't think anything of it." He shakes his head, raven bangs flopping into his eyes. "I'd always been taught to keep my head down, stay out of trouble. That's what my aunt and ma used to say to me and John."

He heaves a sigh and there's so much emotion in it that it pains the blonde. She curls her hand tighter around his.

"Well, I found later that that the mobster'd pestered Pop for protection money. Said- said something bad would happen if Pop didn't agree. But Pop wasn't like that- he kept his business honest. So he refused."

"Turns out, the guy- Tony Zucco-" he spits out the name with so much venom, Artemis almost flinches, "had sabotaged the wires when Jack didn't agree. Loosened the bolts."

"So when ma, dad, Uncle Rick, Auntie Kara, and John swing back out for the final segment, the wires snap. And they fall. And I see every bit. Best seat in the house."

His voice cracks audibly and this time Artemis doesn't hesitate in sliding over and pressing his face into her collar bone area. She can feel the unsteady huffs of his breath.

"I- I'm sorry," she whispers, putting a hand to the back of his head and squeezing him tighter. "I'm really sorry."

He doesn't speak but she's hardly expected a response. Instead she keeps holding him again and some part of her is numb with the fact that she's just learned the identity and backstory of the Boy Wonder.

She honestly never would have guessed his story was this tragic; it's impossible to look at Robin and think of that word. He's always smirking, laughing, joking. Living life.

She shuts her eyes as Robin's breath hitches again, the hand on his hair stroking it soothingly. The words it's okay linger on her tongue but she quickly bites them back because that would be the absolute worst thing she could say right now.

"I'm here," she says instead, and hopes that that's enough.


Ughhh the ending is so dumb. Ah well.

Hope you enjoyed!

~Zara