A/N: This chapter is a bit longer than usual, actually… rejoice! –lol-
Black Sheep 2: Most Wanted
Chapter Ten (easy to spell!): Practice and Passion
At breakfast the next morning Robin noticed two things. One: his ass didn't sting when he stood up, and two: it stung like hell when he sat down. Robin almost yelped and shot to his feet again, before easing himself down once more.
He was alone so far, as he had been awoken early by Slade, or rather a part of Slade, since the rest of the man had also been asleep at the time. Apparently he had nice dreams, though, or was just generally horny, because when Robin woke, something hard was nestled between his thighs. He could have ignored it, but would a devoted Apprentice do that? Robin thought not! Besides, he was having some 'morning-trouble' of his own.
Morning adventures like these might not have been the best idea, after being spanked the night before, but, well… what was a poor, dutiful Apprentice to do? Some 'sacrifices' were more like perks, really… After the confrontation last nigh, Robin had some hopes for the man. Okay, he had only said that he would think about it, but when you are grasping at straws, anything will do… so Robin had woken up in a pretty good mood and made sure that it, quite literally, rubbed off on Slade.
Now, Robin thought to himself, if Flame and the others would show up soon, things would be perfe-
"Heard you got spanked last night, Apprentice. Looks like your poor bottom still hurts, right, guys?" someone next to him snickered.
Robin stood up, trying to look menacing and not wince. It was clear from the way the teen had said it, that it wasn't a rumor he had heard, but rather the real thing. Robin hoped he was too angry to blush.
"Good morning Kim. Yes… so you got the better deal yesterday, only getting your head kicked… lord knows I use my ass more than you use your brain…"
At Kim's greeting only Nova had laughed, rather shrilly, but now Shift suddenly had a small coughing-fit. Kim glared daggers at Robin who smiled pleasantly back.
"If I got spanked like a little kid, I would be too ashamed to show my face around here again!" he sneered.
"My Master punished me and had the right to do so." Robin shrugged. "He has forgiven me now. How long do you think it will take Headmaster Blood to forgive you?" The last sentence dripped with poison.
"What… what are you talking about?" the boy paled somewhat.
"Well… since my Master never 'spanks and tells', I can only deduct that we missed a listening device in our room. Thank you so much for telling me, Kim! And here I thought you didn't like me! I must tell my Master as soon as breakfast is over," Robin said in an overly-gleeful voice.
"You… you… I… No! It was Shift! He was in the room!" Kim tried, his performance one of the worst Robin had ever seen.
"No, because… and now I'm gonna tell you a little secret of our own; we have an energy reader that can detect shape-shifters," Robin said smugly. He might as well let them know, so they didn't try anything.
Kim looked speechless and started to back away.
"Oh, to make you feel better, I'll probably get another spanking for missing the bug…" Robin shrugged wistfully. "I wonder what you'll get…?" he added with a grin which was more than a little bit evil.
"He spanked you?" Flame, who had conveniently shown up to witness the last part of the conversation, hissed, before Kim fled, followed by the others. Shift stayed behind for a moment and gave Robin a little, lofty smile. He was in one of the tall but slightly delicate and feminine male-forms he seemed to favor, his hair a spectacularly wavy red, and eyes much greener than any normal human could hope for.
"Thanks for the show…" he said, in a sultry tone that made it sound that Robin had just stripped for him.
"You're welcome… Now, one of your biggest fans is walking this way, so you should go before you give him a heart attack..." Robin smirked.
Shift followed Robin's gaze, catching Shield and Anne coming towards them, Magpie was trailing behind them, yawning.
Shift looked back at Robin and raised a questioning eyebrow. Robin just smiled a little wider.
"Well… I have many fans…" the shape-shifter, and shrugged one shoulder slightly.
"Of course. He's not something special. Just another horny teen," Robin said flatly. "You should leave him alone…" he suggested, with just a hint of a smile.
Shift's eyes turned somewhat hard.
"It's very easy to fall for a pretty face… it means nothing…" he said very quietly.
Robin shrugged helplessly. Shift was right, of course. Robin didn't know how deep Shields feeling went, they were probably only shallow, based on looks, but, at the same time, Shield struck Robin as a very nice guy, who might actually want to get to know the shifter.
"Well, as long as that is all you offer, what else could he fall for?" Robin asked pointedly. He got a calculating look from Shift before the teen turned around and walked off.
Robin looked over at Flame and saw that the teen was quite upset.
"What?" Robin asked.
"He spanked you?" Flame asked again.
"I was disrespectful, he had the right." Robin told him sternly, with a look that growled 'drop it'. Flame looked unhappy, and his hair was a light blue but he sat down silently with the others.
"Deathstroke's pretty tough on you, isn't he?" Shield asked, after having torn his eyes from the doorway through which Shift had disappeared.
"Yeah, but it's worth it." Robin shrugged. "And call him Slade, 'Deathstroke' is a mouthful…"
"I bet he is…" Shield grinned. The boy's grin than widened even more and he pointed to Robin in triumph. "Look! I can make Robin blush too! Am I good or what?!"
"You are just rude…" Flame muttered.
"You need a brain-to-mouth filter installed…" Anne said.
"Yeah, way to represent the H.I.V.E…" Magpie said, sounding a bit miffed. "Slade is a big-shot and you're making fun of his apprentice…"
"Come on, guys, it was funny, I didn't mind!" Robin objected as Shield looked rather put down. "And no special treatment! I'm a student here, just like you…" he gave Flame a meaningful glance and grinned. "It's not like I tell my Master everything…" Robin remembered, then, that he had, in the emotional turmoil last night, actually told Slade about the kiss… he hoped Flame wouldn't get in trouble for that.
"Oh, I forgot! I got called into the Headmaster's office late last night!" Flame told them.
Yeah, that hope was crushed pretty fast… Robin thought miserably to himself.
"Why? You… you're not in trouble, are you?" he asked, but Flame didn't look the part, his hair was actually a happy yellow now.
"No, he changed my schedule! I'm in all of your classes from now on!"
"What? That's… that's great!" Robin exclaimed.
What the hell is going on here? flew through his mind.
"Yeah, isn't it?" Flame grinned, obliviously happy. "It wasn't like I had to drop any important classes, he pretty much just moved stuff around."
"So that means you have math after breakfast?" Anne asked. "Me too!"
"Me three…" Magpie told them.
"I have free-style fighting…" Shield said. "Guess I'm just gonna stand around letting people try to hit me for two hours."
"Good luck…" Robin smiled. "Listen, I gotta go find Master Slade before class, so… err… where is the classroom?"
"3-18, that means third floor, and then room 18… it's easy to find." Anne explained, pointing to the numbers on the schedule.
"I can meet you here if you want?" Flame offered.
"No, that's okay, go ahead. I might be late." Robin smiled and got up. "See you!"
As he returned the tray, Robin already had his communicator in his hand, hoping the building didn't have anything that would disturb the signal. Thankfully Slade soon answered.
"Master Slade, I need to see you urgently before class, where are you?" Robin asked.
"Still in our room" Slade told him, and Robin grabbed a few sandwiches before heading for the elevator.
As he entered the room Slade was already there, checking the 'bug detector'.
"Yes, Apprentice?" Slade said, gesturing to the microphone in the ceiling to remind Robin it was there.
"I brought you some breakfast, Master," Robin said and handed Slade the sandwiches. The man looked surprised but pleased in a way that made Robin smile warmly before remembering why he was really here. "I also have rather disturbing news. I met Kim, the teen I fought yesterday, at breakfast. He told me that he had heard me being punished last night. I am sorry, Master, but it seems I missed a bug." While telling the man this, Robin gestured towards the bedroom, indicating he needed to speak to Slade privately.
"I see. I'm disappointed in your carelessness, Apprentice, but also, I must say, In Brother Blood… letting students listen to surveillance-tapes? Very unprofessional. Go to the bedroom, I'll give you ten strikes for your mistake."
"Yes. Thank you, Master." Robin said and hurriedly obeyed, soon followed by Slade.
"Sorry about losing our little bug out there," Robin started to explain, "but the idiot made it very clear what he had heard, and he couldn't even find a good explanation for it, so I just had to confront him…"
"They might place another one, we'll see… by the way, the trust issue has been severely compromised by Blood now… I'm going to demand an explanation or threaten to leave and take my funds with me."
"Give him hell…" Robin grinned. "Oh, another thing…" Robin hesitated, not sure how Slade would react to this. "He changed Flame's schedule… he's in all my classes now…"
Slade's face darkened.
"The clever bastard." he muttered.
"What?" Robin asked, a bit confused.
"Blood has seen your potential… he wants you to stay here, probably to be a member of his group…"
"But… Flame isn't in that group?"
"No, but to make you stay, he needs to do two things… make sure you are happy here and drive a wedge between us. I am sure he has realized that you and Flame have… chemistry… and, as he has heard me tell you on the surveillance, I want you to stay away from him… So by pushing you two together, he hopes that you will end up joining the H.I.V.E…" Slade thought about it for a moment. "It was very good you didn't mention this in the living-room. Let's pretend you are keeping this from me… I want you to stay faithful, but don't play too hard to get…"
"With Flame?" Robin blinked.
"No! In his case-" Slade stopped himself. "Damn… you need to spend time with him, so Blood thinks his plan is working… But I'm going to look into male chastity belts… or neutering."
Robin grinned weakly, really hoping Slade was kidding.
"Err… yeah… great…" he stuttered. "I… I gotta go to class."
"About Flame… remember that he might very well be Blood's spy…" Slade warned him. "Be careful what you say around him."
Robin nodded solemnly.
"I will… but I really got to go, or I'll be late."
"What about your spanking?" Slade leered.
"No, no, no…" Robin huffed. "I found the bug and I left it by your orders. You can't punish me for that!"
Slade sighed.
"I guess you are right, spoilsport… just act like your ass is tender."
"I don't have to act…" Robin muttered.
"What do you guys do on the weekends?" Robin asked. All of them, except Shield, who had had fun in the dojo, had just lived through forty-five minutes of math, and were dragging themselves out into the hallway.
"Train, mostly. We don't have lessons, but there's always the gym or assignments…" Anne shrugged. She was currently walking around with a rat on her shoulder, and Robin thought it looked suspiciously like a sewer-rat.
"Damn… I was hoping for some fun, once my Master leaves… this 'day's off'-concept is something he has never grasped…" Robin sighed.
"We'll have fun!" Flame promised eagerly. "We can hit the town or something!"
"With what?" Robin laughed. "Sorry. Shield is a bad influence… that sounds cool." He smiled. "Let's see, oh, I have PAT next… what am I supposed to do then?"
"Work on your kick-ass skills, I guess…" Flame grinned.
"Hey, you have PAT too, right? So let's train together!" Robin suggested. He was eager to get the teen to himself, although only to innocently interrogate him.
"You have a death-wish, don't you?" Magpie laughed.
"Oh, go steal some balls…" Robin smirked.
"Well… I… uhh… I guess we could…" Flame hesitated, clearly tempted.
"Great! And give me back my communicator, Magpie." Robin sighed and reached out for it.
"I swear I have no idea how that happened!" Magpie grinned.
"Is there an acting-class at this place? Because I've met a lot of people here who could really use one…" the hero smirked, and snatched his com back. "Oh, hi, Shift!" he said to a rather plain girl in passing.
"You must be a meta-human!" a mountain of a man rumbled menacingly a split second later, scaring Magpie half to death.
"No, you just have too perfect skin…" Robin laughed at the shape-shifter. Batman had taught him long ago to try to see what was really there, instead of what he thought, or expected to be there… the difference was quite big. Details were a detective's best friend.
"What about now?" Shift said, having changed yet again. He was clad all in black today, with only the H.I.V.E logo in yellow, so he had probably been rather sure not to stand out.
Robin took a look at the now young man's face and sighed.
"Shift… you got a mole… a perfect mole… on your cheekbone! Real people have big pores and zits and warts and scars and stuff… ever tried to be normal?"
"That's just not me!" Shift snorted and pouted, which looked odd as he was now a thirty-something stern-looking man. He probably realized this and switched back to the plain girl, just before Shield walked around the corner.
"Hi guys!" the teen said. "Never thought that would be over! Hi, who are you?" he added to Shift.
"Transparent, apparently…" Shift glared at Robin, but stayed in the same shape for once.
"Cool name." Shield grinned, still in the dark. "So, you new here or what?"
"Changed schedule…" Shift shrugged.
"That's the weird thing about this place, you can run into people who has been here for months, just not on your shift…" Anne tried, but Shield didn't get the hint, and Robin nudged her and winked.
"Well, it's PAT time!" Shield grinned. "I'm gonna try to have several shields up at once today…" he told the group proudly.
"Ever used them as a weapon?" Shift spoke up.
Shield blinked and shook his head.
"No, what do you mean?"
"Well, they are a force, aren't they? And what about making ricochets go where you want them to go? That would be safer for everyone else too…"
"Hey, that's pretty smart… I'm gonna try that! Wanna help?"
"What, me?" Shift looked stunned, like he was a plague-victim asked to play Twister. Robin suspected that, in this form, Shift really considered himself completely undesirable. He thought for sure that the shape-shifter would change, but instead he looked almost bashful.
"You… really want me to? I mean… it was only an idea…"
"Yeah, sure! We gotta come up with a better name for you though, because 'Trans' for short just doesn't work… why are you all laughing?" Shift stared at the others who were nearly doubled over.
"No-no reason…" Robin gasped.
"So, why are you called Transparent anyway? Can you turn to glass, or what?"
"Well… people just don't seem to notice me…" Shift shrugged, making the others try to stop another laughing-fit. Robin saw, however, that Shift seemed very serious, and maybe he was… because, people didn't see him, after all…
"Well, they are clearly idiots!" Shield declared. "Sooo… how about 'See-Through'? 'Clear'? No, 'Crystal'!"
"I like 'Crystal'…" Shift laughed, almost giggled, and blushed, making him look surprisingly pretty.
"Well, then, Crystal it is! All hail the God of Name-giving!" Shield thumped his chest, while the other's snorted. When he noticed he put his nose in the air and held out his arm. "Come, Crystal, let's leave these poor, jealous souls to their pitiful existence…" he sniffed.
Shift giggled, really giggled this time, and took the offered arm.
"It will be my pleasure…" he said.
As they walked away, Shift turned around and smiled at Robin. Robin grinned back and nodded, hoping Shield wouldn't blow it too bad.
Flame led Robin to a small Dojo which seemed very well isolated and fireproof. A few, badly battered, targets were set up.
"This is quite a place…" Robin said, almost like he was talking to himself. Flame gave him a disbelieving look. "I mean the whole school." Robin explained… "Brother Blood is quite a genius, isn't he?"
"Yeah, I guess…" Flame shrugged with a small smile and then went to stand in front of a big target, collecting himself.
Robin expected an explosion, but the multi-coloured spiky energy-ball coming from Flame's palm only just reached the target and disappeared with a sad little pop.
"See? Useless…" Flame muttered. "If it wasn't for this hair and the accidents I could just forget everything and pretend to be normal…" he sighed.
"Don't say that!" Robin scolded him. "All you need is some focus… come… we are just going to sit and talk for a bit, while you close your eyes and try to relax, okay?" Robin said, sitting down cross-legged on a mat, and dragging down Flame to sit across from him.
"Talk about what?" Flame mumbled, clearly embarrassed about his 'performance' if his hair was anything to go by.
"That doesn't matter. It should just be light, easy, conversation… I have a million questions about you and this place, let's start there…" Robin grinned, a little barb of guilt digging into his heart. "My Master taught me this exercise, just trust me." He added, the barb digging deeper.
"Ok… " the other teen smiled a bit.
"Sooo… " Robin pretended to think a bit. "What's it like being surrounded with all these special powers all day? I mean, take Shift… how do you know that it's really your friend you're talking to and not some shape-shifter?"
"Oh, the school have very strict rules against impersonating another person."
"Really? That's… surprisingly ethical of them…" Robin said.
"Nah, it's just to keep people from doing other peoples tests… besides, not even the best shape-shifters here can duplicate the other people's power, and even the best, Shift, is not that good at look-alikes… he usually ends up much more perfect then the original…" Flame smirked.
"So he has done it?" Robin asked.
"We had a seminar were we were supposed to look for clues to a person's real identity… so we had a few shape-shifters and people in makeup, and we were supposed to tell the fake from the original… it was really fun!"
"Still, Shield didn't seem like he had a clue…" Robin grinned, wondering what exactly was happening with the teen and 'Crystal' at the moment.
"I don't think any one of us would have noticed Shift in that form, except you… I mean, we almost never see him without the others and he's always beautiful, so…" Flame shrugged. Robin shrugged as well, thinking about where he wanted the next couple of questions to lead. Interrogating the very open teen wasn't exactly hard, the hard part was to make it look innocent.
"Tell me about the other students… where do they all come from?" Robin continued.
"Mostly the US, but there's people from all over the world, really… the Headmaster has scouts who keep their eyes out for potential students."
"It must be quite cool to be recruited, huh?" Robin smiled.
"Yeah… I guess… some doesn't seem too happy at first, but they usually settle in… just home-sickness I guess."
Sure it is… Robin thought darkly. He knew how Blood's mind-games worked. Sure, he hadn't seen any 'drones' here, but these were kids, they were quite easy to 'influence' if you had Blood's power and charisma.
"How long have you been here?"
"A year. Since a bit after my sixteenth birthday."
"Oh? The school has been here that long? I thought this was a new thing?" Robin was very surprised; Batman had only been working on this case for a few months as far as he knew.
"Yeah, but it was pretty new when I got here… there were students transferred here from other schools though, so it kinda felt like it had been here longer. But everything was very low-key back then, no missions or anything… Now it seems like the Headmaster doesn't care if people find out that we're here…"
Robin nodded but changed the subject.
"Were you recruited?"
"Yeah, well… kind of… One of the scouts is a friend of my mum's, and he brought me here."
"What about your parents? What do they think?"
"It's only me and my mum, really…" Flame said. "She was a bit shocked at first, but she had heard about other kids this kind of thing had happened to, so…"
"Really?"
"Yeah… Uncle Mark, that's the scout, told us about it…"
Robin had a bad feeling about all of this.
"Did Uncle Mark seemed surprised when you changed?" he asked, carefully.
Flame's eyes opened and he scowled a bit at Robin.
"What do you mean? I guess he took it pretty well, but…"
"No matter…" Robin said quickly. "Your mum must be lonely now, all on her own?"
"Yeah… but uncle Mark is there a lot… he looks after her…" Flame smiled.
I bet he does… Robin wondered how naïve Flame really was.
"That's good." he smiled.
Somehow this Mark person had something to do with Flame's powers… Robin wanted to go as far as to draw the conclusion that he had induced them, and then conveniently shipped off the teen here, so he could get his mother to himself. If he had, Robin wanted to find out how, but he couldn't very well do that right now, and any more questions on the subject would probably make Flame suspicious.
"So… what about the kids here, then… most seem ok?"
"Yeah… I mean… well…"
"What?"
"Well, most are really not that nice, I mean, we are supposed to be bad, right, so… sheesh, even some kids I've seen…"
"Magpie is pretty young, isn't he?" Robin nodded.
"Yeah, he's around thirteen… we kinda look out for him. Anne is fifteen, I'm seventeen, Shield is eighteen I think… but there is a few kids here as young as eleven, and some older students to… I think some are around thirty."
"Really?" Robin asked.
"Yeah, but they usually only do fight-classes and goes on missions…"
"But… even though he's so much younger, Magpie still goes to some of the same classes you do?"
"Yeah, when you first come here, you get to take all sorts of tests, from IQ-tests to all kinds of different subjects and general knowledge. Your classes are picked based on those results… and your power, naturally…"
"Wow, that sounds complicated…" Robin said, secretly wanting to do those tests himself.
"Nah, I think they ripped most of them from Facebook…" Flame grinned.
Robin laughed and tried to think of another question.
"What happens when you graduate? You get a diploma?" he smiled.
"I… I don't know… I guess you can do missions or leave and work on your own… some of your earnings go back to the school though, for at least five years, more if your missions come from the school."
"Ahhh… that's one way to make a bit of extra cash…" Robin muttered. "Why don't we blow a few things up to make sure they are put to good use?"
Flame grinned and stood up.
"Ok, let's try it…"
This time it worked. A little too well. Robin picked himself up from the floor with the help of a very worried energy-user.
"I'm sorry! I just wanted to show you that I could… and then…"
"It was great…" Robin said, shaking his head to get the ringing to stop. "This just proves that your powers are very deeply connected to your emotions… you need to learn how to use them… come, stand here."
Robin had the other teen face what was left of the target, and stood behind him, hands on the other's hips. Flame's hair immediately turned a vibrant pink.
"I'm just keeping you steady, if you get embarrassed, maybe you'll kill me…" Robin chuckled. Flame's hair flashed gray, but then turned back to pink again.
"Okay, let's do it like this… we are going to pretend a bit…" Robin smiled and went to stand in front of the teen instead, his back against the other this time. Robin brought one of Flame's arms around his own waist and pointed to the target in the middle.
"Okay, this is the situation. That target is someone who wants to hurt me… you can even pretend it's Master Slade if you want, BUT-" Robin added as he heard the energy starting to bristle, "the targets on either side is Shield and Anne. So, you want to protect me, but not harm them, right? And Magpie could be hiding just behind Slade, and there's a big group of people standing around… So focus… Close your eyes… breathe… deeper, I want to be able to feel it… good… open your eyes again… keep breathing… Now!"
It was a perfect hit.
Robin felt Flame's arm around him tighten as the teen whooped.
"Hey-hey-hey! Good work, but no celebrating!" Robin chastened him. "If that was the real Slade we both would have been dead by now… in real life you won't have time to centre yourself like that, you need to find it quicker. So, again!"
"Hard-ass…" Flame muttered but grinned, getting back in position.
"Well, you should know by now…" Robin smirked and pressed back a little, making Flame accidently shoot off an energy ball which hit the wall with a bang.
"Don't do that!" Flame exclaimed.
"Do what?" Robin asked very innocently. "Now, get back to work mister, or I'll mention that in the real world you don't have me to hug while fighting either…"
"Blackmail…" Flame mumbled now.
"Well, I've learned from the best…" Robin chuckled. "Now, take out the right one."
After an hour of rather good results they called it quits. The energy bursts had changed from a mix of colours to be almost completely yellow, green or blue, depending on Flame's mood and focus. The green were usually the most accurate, but the blue, always coming after a miss, were more powerful.
"Next time I want you to try to protect the targets by making sure my knives doesn't hit them." Robin told his temporary student.
"That sounds difficult… but fun!" Flame added quickly after a glare from Robin.
On their way to lunch they ran into Slade and Brother Blood, and the teens froze.
"What is this? What did I tell you last night, Apprentice?" Slade growled.
Robin tried to look like he and Flame hadn't been walking together at all.
"We… we just had class together, Master, and… it's lunch now…" Robin said, gesturing vaguely down the hall.
"There, there Slade, this is the only route from their class to the cafeteria…" Blood lied smoothly. The man looked a bit edgy, and Robin wondered if Slade had been giving him hell all morning. "I'm afraid I simply can't change a student's schedule just because you might not like him." Blood was looking at Robin now and smiling.
Flame was on the verge of saying something, but Robin quickly but cautiously elbowed him in the ribs.
"You are right, of course, Headmaster," Slade said with a shrug. "Hurry along, Apprentice."
"Yes, Master." Robin nodded and pushed Flame in front of him. As he passed the men he turned back slightly, and, noticing that Blood was still watching him, Robin gave him a small, shaky, smile of thanks.
Well, I don't need any acting-lessons, that's for sure… he grinned to himself afterwards. Slade didn't either… Robin was pretty sure they had convinced Blood that there was really a gap between them now. Robin frowned a little. Well… another form of gap then there actually was…
The biology class after lunch was very interesting for most of the boys. Not because of the subject, per se, but because of the teacher.
"This is, of course, a woman's field. No man could have the insight it takes to completely comprehend the sublime sensual concept of- Yes, new boy?"
"Excuse me, Miss Ivy, but what does Nightshade actually do?"
The beautiful woman in the green, clingy outfit sighed.
"See? This is what I mean! I'm sure the ladies here can appreciate the beauty of the plant, the gift it is willing to give those who ask for it… men! It's all about results with you, isn't it?"
"Umm… Sorry miss." Robin mumbled, "I thought this class on poisons was so we would learn to actually kill people with them… I'd rather leave the pretty flower arrangements for the funeral-firm."
"Very funny, little man… Maybe I should give you a kiss as a reward?" Poison Ivy smiled.
"No thank you, Miss, I'm gay," Robin smiled back. "I'd really like to know about the most potent part of the Belladonna, though?"
"Damn, she's hot…" Magpie grinned as they were heading for the next class; economics.
"Down, boy! You're just a kid. Play with your Transformers for a few more years, will you?" Shield grinned. He had been in a very good mood after his PAT-time with 'Crystal'.
"They are not my Transformers!" Magpie snorted. "I just can't remember where I picked them up…" the little kleptomaniac whined.
As they reached the classroom they were met by a note on the door and some grinning classmates.
"Class's cancelled!" Robin heard someone exclaim happily.
"Yes! There is a God!" Shield whooped. "Oh, damn, if I'd known this maybe I could have asked Crystal to meet up with me…"
"Bummer…" Robin grinned. "So… what do we do now?" Robin asked.
"Let's go to our room!" Shield proposed. "That will be fun, right, Flame?"
"Sure!" Flame nodded happily, smiling at Robin.
"I'm… I'm not so sure I should…" Robin hesitated.
"Come on! Your Master won't find you in our room, and you two get a chance to hang out without having to look over your shoulders all the time!" Shield said, starting to drag Robin away.
Robin felt Flame's puppy-dog eyes on him as well, and caved.
The room Flame and Shield were apparently sharing was small and simple, with two beds on either side of a window. The yellow and black theme had been somewhat disguised by posters, clutter and a general mess. Flame made a small, panicky sound and started to gather stuff up at an incredible speed, kicking half of the things under the bed.
"Err… it's okay, I have seen underwear before…" Robin chuckled.
"Umm... sorry, it's usually not this messy…" Flame blushed, and was answered by a snort from Shield who had plopped down on his bed.
Robin had to admit that Flame's side was a bit neater. His eyes caught one of the posters, though, and he nearly choked.
"You have a poster of Titans East!?"
Flame looked like he had been caught with his hands in a naughty place.
"I… uuhhh… it's not what you think… I … err…"
"He thinks the guys are hot." Shield helped.
"Those two small kids?" Robin squinted at the poster and smirked.
"Nah, the one in the red tights and the dark haired one in blue…" Shield laughed.
"That one's a dude?" Robin asked, feeling lucky Aqualad wasn't there to hear him.
"I… I… I don't… I…" Flame was so red all over that Robin thought he might actually be bleeding.
"I'm kidding, they are hot!" Robin grinned.
"They are Speedy and Aqualad…" Flame mumbled. "I… it's more of a joke, you know? "A poster of heroes? In a school for villains? Ha-ha…" he finished lamely.
"Yes." Robin said, deadpanned. "Very funny. You should have a 'hello Kitty' one too…"
"He has a 'Hello Kitty'-pyjamas…" Shield gladly let Robin know.
"No I don't! Shut up, Shield!" poor Flame hissed.
"Aw, don't be mad…" Shield ginned.
"I'm. Not. Mad."
"Yes, you are, your hair is blue."
Flame sank down on his bed and put his head in his hands, muttering about the unfairness of the world and roommates from hell.
Robin, finding nowhere else to sit, plopped down on Flame's bed as well, chuckling.
"About your hair… have you ever tried to control it? It must be weird never being able to hide your emotions…"
"Yeah… it is… especially in the beginning, but now I don't think about it as much… sometimes it's actually easier… I mean, If I walk around with a grudge people see it, and if they care-" Flame glared over at Shield, "-they apologize."
"I'm awfully, terribly sorry, I am not fit to kiss the ground you walk on. I throw myself at your mercy and beg for forgiveness," Shield droned on in a dry voice.
"I'm not amused!" Flame claimed.
"Yup. You are…" Shield grinned, pointing to his hair again.
"Damn…" Flame mumbled.
"Well, you can learn to manage your power, so why not your hair?" Robin shrugged. "Let's try it!"
"It's all work with you, isn't it?" Flame muttered.
"Yeah, Flame wants to play." Shield smirked. "Just let me know when to turn my face against the wall and hum, will you? Don't want my straightness compromised…"
"Oh, we would never do that! What would Crystal say?" Robin grinned evilly, and Flame snickered.
"What do you have against that girl?!" Shield growled.
"Nothing! It's funny, that's all!" Flame grinned. "I mean you have been drooling over Shift for so long and then you go crush all over a girl who's… well… she's cute I guess, but…"
"She's no Shift." Robin filled in, ignoring that that was a complete lie.
"Well, I bet you would have loved a tumble in the sheets with your hero-guys up there, but you have as much chance of getting a hero in your bed as I have of even talking to Shift, right?" the dark teen told Flame.
"Riiiight…" A certain hero in a certain bed smiled, glancing at Flame who grinned, even though he didn't know all the facts like Robin did. "Anyway, back to hair!"
"Damn, you really are gay, all hair-obsessed…" Shield snorted.
"Watch it, or we're gonna dress you up in pink shirts!" Flame warned him, good-naturedly.
"Oh, I'm scaaaared!" Shield cried mockingly.
"You should be. It would look awful with your colouring!" Robin told him, looking aghast at the thought.
"Hair? Please go back to hair?" the poor teen begged, making the other two laugh.
"Okay, cry-baby." Robin snorted and turned towards Flame. "So… try to hold on to one colour… your hair is light yellow now, so you are feeling ok, right?"
"Yep…" Flame smiled and his hair immediately turned a bit darker yellow with pink tips.
"Errr… nooooo…." Robin grinned. "Close your eyes, just focus on holding on to yellow, okay?"
"Okay." Flame said, closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. After a while the hair was so light yellow it bordered on white.
"Good. I'm going to say things now, to try to make you embarrassed, okay?" Robin said softly.
"Oh, can I play?" Shield asked eagerly.
Flames hair flared a bit but didn't change.
"Yes, but we are starting with easy stuff … " Robin warned him.
"Sure, let's go." Shield shrugged.
"I hate you guys…" Flame whimpered.
"No you don't." they both answered at the same time, laughing. Robin thought about what to say for a moment.
"I think you have great potential," he started. He got the tiniest flicker of peach, but no more.
"You are my best friend." Shield let their test subject know, and the reaction was quickly subdued this time as well.
"You are cute," Robin grinned. There was a bit more pink this time, but Flame concentrating really helped.
"Robin looks like he wants to kiss you," the helpful roommate supplied.
Flame's eyes flew open, and even though there was a blush on his cheeks, there was less colour in his hair than normal.
"Good!" Robin exclaimed.
They continued this for a while, and, even though he couldn't hide his emotions completely, Robin thought he might be able to some day.
Thinking about one last question, Robin chuckled nastily before leaning forward a bit.
"Sooo… something I've wanted to know… that flaming hair of yours… have you got that anywhere else?"
Shield exploded in laughter and poor Flame's hair exploded in pink.
At the boy's desperate glare Robin just laughed and shrugged.
"What? I just wanted to know if the carpet matched the drapes…? Shield?" he said, turning to the roommate for the answer.
"It's only on his head, mate. Flame's a natural blond." said roommate gleefully told him.
"Shield!" Flame shrieked, flustered as hell. "I'm so gonna kill you!" The teen tried to throw himself at his obviously stronger roommate, but Robin stopped him, pouncing on him and playfully pushing him back onto the bed. It had only been meant as some innocent roughhousing, but as they ended up almost on top of each other, their eyes met and the atmosphere became somewhat denser.
"Is it now I should look away?" Shield asked, but the other two didn't hear him.
I shouldn't… Robin thought desperately. I'm with Slade. Sure he's a bit of a brick right now, but he said he'd THINK… I… Suddenly it wasn't his decision anymore, because hot lips pressed against his. Surprised, Robin didn't object as Flame rolled them over. The kiss deepened at this angle and Robin's head buzzed with the strange, new experience. Kissing someone else than Slade felt exotic, like kissing an alien… weeeell… not Starfire… and not in a bad way. Robin's hand found its way into that lovely strange hair, which could just barely be felt against his skin. His other hand rested on Flame's hip, squeezing it lightly.
Tentative hands slowly started to explore his body, and as they parted for air, the look in Flame's eyes made Robin gasp even deeper. There was lust there, yes, but there was so much more… warmth, admiration, a little bit of fear, maybe even worship or love. No one had looked at him like that before. No one. He had never expected that look from Slade, didn't know if he wanted that exact look from the man, but the warmth was enough. Warmth without smugness. If Slade couldn't give him even that…
Flame apparently decided he had had enough air, because his lips covered Robin's again. Their bodies started to grind together slowly, and Robin arched slightly as he felt a hand hesitantly slide up his abs towards his chest. It turned downwards again and then returned, under Robin's top this time. Robin made a sound as fingertips brushed one of his hard nipples, and that was his wakeup-call.
He should only be making that sound for Slade.
Robin sat up abruptly, almost making Flame fall to the floor.
"I gotta go!" he blurted out and almost flew from the bed.
"Robin! What..? Wait!" he heard Flame cry out behind him, but he was already running down the hall.
Not bothering with the elevator, Robin took the stairs instead, and found himself on a classroom-floor. He heard footsteps behind him and didn't want to stop, but he was forced to, as a door opened and students flowed out. Robin, running out of options, ducked into the room and slammed the door shut.
"So eager to get to class, Apprentice?" an amused voice said behind him. Robin spun around and spotted Slade.
"You- you've been teaching?"
"Yes. As agreed. And what exactly have you been doing?"
"We've… we had a free period…"
"Is that what they call it now?" Slade asked icily.
"Slade, don't-"
The door behind them opened and Robin turned around, expecting Flame. It wasn't though, it was Rose.
"Slade, they told you were here, I-" Rose stopped as she spotted Robin. "Oh… I just wondered if maybe we could spend some time- ow!" Rose suddenly touched the side of her head and screwed her eyes shut. As she opened them again she stared at Slade, her face turning pale, then blushing.
"You… you two are…?"
"Rose, what's wrong?" Slade sounded genuinely concerned, and even Robin had to admit he was worried. Well… he wondered if he should take a step back, in case the woman threw up…
"I… I had a flash… I saw… you two… together!"
"Yeah, so?" Robin spoke up, folding his arms.
"He's a kid, dad, what the hell are you thinking?!" Rose exclaimed.
"I'm not a kid!" Robin growled, clenching his fists.
"It's… complicated…" Slade said, trying to calm his daughter down.
"Oh come on! I grew up in a brothel, I know complicated! This is just wrong!"
"You grew up in a brothel?" Robin asked, not believing his ears.
Damn, her mum probably never won 'mother of the year'… well… not in the traditional way at least…
"Long story." Rose shrugged.
"But interesting?" Robin fished. He was intrigued despite his better judgement.
"Later. First I have to take care of my child-molesting daddy," Rose hissed.
"I'm not a bloody child!" Robin objected again. "Look, we're together, what's the big deal? It's not like I'll be your second daddy or something…" he added, turning a bit white at the notion. So did Rose. With the mask on, Robin couldn't tell, but he thought Slade looked pretty aghast as well.
Then someone ran passed the door, came to a screeching halt, turned, and tumbled inside. Flame had entered the mix. He seemed completely oblivious about the other people in the room and ran straight up to Robin.
"What's wrong!?" the look on his face was worried, his hair and eyes a very deep, almost black, purple.
Robin backed away some, and tried to explain.
"It's not you, there's nothing wrong, I just… I can't, Flame, I'm sorry."
"Because of him?" Blue flames streaked the hair now, making it look like it was flickering agitatedly.
"No! Yes… Because…" Robin sighed and slumped against a desk. "I'm his. He is the one I want, even though…"
"Even though he hurts you?" Flame cried, filling in words Robin wasn't going to say. "I would never hurt you, Robin… Never!"
"And that's why he would tire of you within a week," Slade's voice growled from beside them. "My Robin needs a bit of pain now and then, don't you, Princess?"
The explosion shook the whole building.
To be continued…
A/N: The credit for the hair-question Robin asked (the embarrassing one) goes to kitsunechibiko… -lol- I hadn't even thought about it myself, but spent a day laughing about it when she brought it up…
The credit for the cliffie… err… wait… I'll think of someone to blame that on, just give me a moment…