Monday, 14 December ~* Both *~

After Sunday dinner, Alfred, of all people, had suggested that they'd watch a movie together, while Bruce patrolled the city. As it was a rarity that the old man asked for something like this, Robin immediately agreed. Slade had agreed too, and they had let Alfred pick. The choice had been an Italian movie, a rather melancholic thing involving the aftermath of the second world war in a small Italian village. It wasn't something Robin would have chosen himself, but that made it, somehow, better. It was long, however, and as they had dinner late, it was midnight when the movie ended.

"Master Bruce is on his way home," Alfred announced after a beep from his phone. "Things must have been quiet tonight."

"Well, that's good at least," Robin smiled. "It's way past my bedtime. Night!"

"Good night, Master Richard," the old man smiled at him.

Slade followed Robin up the stairs, and when the teen passed his room, the man spoke up.

"Didn't you want to talk?"

Robin stopped.

"Oh. Yeah. I kinda forgot, and now I'm a bit tired."

"Change, get ready for bed and then come over," Slade suggested. "We don't have to talk tonight, just sleep. I think it would be good for us, don't you?"

Robin swallowed, but nodded.

Ten minutes later he was curled up under the covers with Slade next to him. The man pulled him close, but nothing more than that for now.

"Is it still… difficult?" he asked.

"No. I've had a nightmare or two and woken up hating your guts again, but my brain has finally aligned with reality, I think," Robin said, softly.

"Well, finally," Slade chuckled.

"Hey!" Robin objected. "But… yes. It took a while."

"And it might take even longer for it to be completely fine. You were traumatized. I find myself wishing that this never happened, not for my sake, but for yours."

"But you were tortured! Almost to death!" Robin objected.

"In a way… so were you," Slade told him firmly. "Maybe not to death, but tortured. And maybe something inside you did die. I hope it didn't, but at first I wasn't sure."

Robin snaked an arm around the man and pulled himself closer, hugging him.

"What I wanted to talk about," he then said, hesitantly, "was… well…. things have changed. You know, since… you've been gone?"

"Yes?" the man urged him on, clearly not seeing where the teen was going with this.

"I'm a student now… for now, at least. So… the next couple of years…"

"Oh. I see." Slade's voice was dull and he pulled away a little sending Robin into a bit of a panic.

"No, wait, I don't think you do!" he said.

"You don't want to focus on your studies?" the man asked.

"Yes, but-"

"It's understandable," Slade interrupted. "Maybe, right now, it's best if-UMF!"

Robin had sat up and slapped a hand over the man's mouth.

"No, shut up! Listen, what I'm saying is that, I'm a student now, not a hero. And I will be here, in Gotham, not in Jump. So… I mean… do we… AAARGH! Do we have a chance here, Slade? Do you even want me like this?"

"Mmpf."

"Oh. Sorry."

As soon as Robin removed his hand, the man pulled him down and kissed him. Slade rolled them over, and continued to kiss him passionately until the teen was completely out of breath.

"Is… that a yes?" he half panted, half laughed.

"Possibly, I can't remember the question;" the man admitted with a chuckle of his own.

"I'm not too boring for you?"

"I doubt you ever could be. Even if you became an accountant and took up knitting as a main hobby."

"I'd make sure you paid your taxes and knit you a new uniform, you'd look amazing," Robin snickered.

"Full of threats, aren't you?" the man growled playfully.

"Well, but seriously, though… I mean… Back then, in Jump, we… well, we didn't really talk about… us. And that's ok, because we weren't… you know… there. We were just starting out, maybe just… having some fun?" he asked, unsure of his own words. He looked up at Slade's face, but the man's expression was so damn neutral that he had to be hiding something. "But… I'm not sure I… that I'm ready to just have… fun." Robin tried. "And I'm sure as hell not making any sense, am I?"

"Just a little bit," the mercenary replied, and rolled off him so they ended up on their sides, facing and embracing each other again.

"I'm not trying to be unfair to you here, I'm not trying to make you promise anything, but…" Robin continued. "Just… ok. Short term. What are your plans after we take down those monsters?"

"I have absolutely no plans after that at all," the man admitted.

"But… your… um… work? You don't have any… assignments… lined up?"

"I dropped off the face of the earth for months and we're in the middle of a pandemic. So no. I doubt it."

Robin hesitated. He didn't want to trap Slade into anything, or force him to make any promises, because he had a feeling that that wouldn't sit well with the man, Slade was fiercely independent, after all, and so was Robin. Normally. But when it came to this kind of closeness… if he would dare let anyone ever be that close to him again, it couldn't be a one-night stand. It had to mean something.

"So could you stay? At least a week or two?"

"I was hoping to be invited to stay for the holidays, at least," Slade told him.

That made Robin smile widely. "Yes! Of course you can stay! Please do?"

"Of course," the man chuckled and kissed him again. The kiss was broken up early by Robin yawning, though. "That was the worst feedback I've ever gotten on my kissing technique," Slade said, pretending to be affronted. Then he chuckled. "I think it's time we slept. You need to be up bright and early tomorrow, after all."

"Mhmm…" Robin mumbled and buried his face against the man's chest.

"Good morning, Master Richard."

"Mhm? Moring, Al…" Robin said, not even opening his eyes. It felt like he had just fallen asleep, there was no way it was already morning.

"I figured you had decided to sleep in, but your morning class is starting soon. I brought you some hot water for your tea."

"Thanks…" the teen mumbled.

"I think you'll find, though, that your tea calendar is in your bedroom."

That woke Robin up. He sat up straight, looked around like he was suddenly on another planet, and saw Slade smirking at him over Alfred's shoulder.

"I… we… we talked! I fell asleep!" Robin said.

"In my day we normally didn't hold conversations in each other's beds, we preferred to stand while conversing," the old man let him know. "Now go get your tea. It's chamomile tea with apples and cinnamon today. You seem to need to be… calmed down."

To be Continued…