November 11, 3:35pm
Dixie placed the box carefully in the paper bag, grabbing the stapler before grabbing the yellow and red tissue paper and placing it inside, making sure the gift inside was still safe. Fixing it, she nodded in approval.
"Is that your boyfriend's gift?" Jason asked, leaning on her door frame.
"No, it's a gift for myself," Dixie rolled her eyes. "Of course, it's Wally's gift."
"Sheesh, don't need to be feisty about it," Jason chuckled before turning to look out the balcony window. "Quite a hell of a snowstorm, even for November."
Dixie turned to look out the window with a frown. "Yeah," she purses her lips. "Can't imagine anyone leaving their homes through a weather like this."
"Wanna bet that it's someone's doing?" Jason asks.
"Please don't say that," she complains. "I don't want to go out in weather like this, much less fight."
"Well, either way, even if it's just the weather, you have patrol tonight with Bruce," Jason retorted, earning another groan from his little sister.
"Can't you cover for me?" she asks, a pout on her face.
Jason stares at her, looking like he was going to turn her down but in the end huffed, crossing his arms. "Fine, but you owe me."
"No, you owe me after not helping back in Roanoke Island," she smirked, grabbing her signature black jacket. "Anyways, are you or Roy going to Wally's birthday celebration?"
"The one he obviously expects?" Jason asks before shaking his head. "No, Bruce wants Drake and me to monitor over Gotham because of the weather, the Demon Spawn is even out on patrol right now."
"He is?" she frowned, wearing her jacket and grabbing the paper bag. The both of them leave her room, walking towards the nearest entrance to the Batcave. "Why?"
"As I said, Bruce suspects that there's someone behind this freak of a snowstorm," Jason tells her. "So just in case, bring your snowsuit to the Mountain."
"Will do," she says as they entered the Batcave, where they see Tim already working away on the computers. She's about to leave the paper bag alone on the ground before deciding against it, knowing Jason, he would go through the paper bag and ruin the packaging. She brings it with her to the locker room where she grabs her snow uniform as he told her to do.
She grabs a pair of sunglasses, wearing them already since her hands were full. She carries her uniform under her arm while carrying the paper bag. She walked over to Tim, Jason beside him, watching whatever he's doing.
"Any updates from Bruce?" she asks.
"None so far, it's a bit hard to contact anyone from the League really because of the weather disturbances," Tim purses his lips. "But I'm sure once he has a stable line, he'll contact us."
"And Dami?" she asks.
"Perfectly fine," Tim answers. "He's taking watch in one of the clocktowers. "No criminal activity so far."
"You're saying it like you're expecting any criminals to go out in a weather like this," Dixie smiles, earning a shrug from her brother. "Well, I'm gonna go now, see you guys later."
Tim hums in acknowledgment and Jason waves his hand nonchalantly. She rolls her eyes with a smile and goes through the Zeta-Tube and teleports to the Mountain.
"Recognized: Robin B-01"
"Robin!" Miss Martian greeted, flying over, her arms filled with birthday streamers to hang around. "Just in time! We're setting up the kitchen and living room right now!"
"I'll just place my gift down and help," Robin smiled. "Does anyone know when he'll arrive?"
"We were actually going to ask you to message him," the Martian said, the both of them heading to the kitchen.
"Oh wow," Robin couldn't help but gawk at the huge birthday banner floating in the air, tied up but huge balloons. "Yeah, he's definitely going to love this."
"Good to know scouring through spellbooks for a spell to make helium was worth it," Zatar smiled, he and Artemis walking over.
"Wow, that's one big paper bag," Artemis commented, noticing the size of the gift the Girl Wonder was carrying. "What'd you give him?"
"Secret," Robin smiled. "I'll be back, just going to place my gift for him in my room."
"You aren't going to place it with the rest of the gifts?" Zatar asks.
"Nope, going to give him his gift before the day ends because if I give it to him now… yeah, he'll only pay attention if it's food if I give him his gift early," Robin sweatdropped. She doesn't wait for their reply and heads off to her room, placing the gift on the table before leaving to go back.
When she arrives, she sees Flash and Red Tornado arrived already, Aqualad and Superboy also in the room now. "Oh, is everyone here already?"
"Everyone besides the birthday boy," Flash smiled. "Why don't you call him already?"
"Sure thing," Robin says, bringing out her phone and messages her best friend before pocketing her phone once more. "He should be here in five minutes but I'm pretty sure he can connect the dots."
"What'd you tell him?" Flash asks.
"That I brought Agent A's cookies," she tells him.
"Smart," the speedster chuckles and low-and-behold, they hear the Zeta-Beam go off in the distance, saying the arrival of Wally. Miss Martian quickly turns off the lights but Robin frowns, hearing that the Zeta-Beams just went down because of the weather.
"SUPRISE!" they all yell when Wally enters the room.
"What?! Oh, you guys! You shouldn't have!" he says, feigning shock.
"Right," Robin smiles. "Not like you've been for days or anything."
"C'mon!" M'gann yells, grabbing Wally's arm, dragging him to the living room where two cakes were at. "We made two cakes."
"Awesome! What will you guys eat?" he asks, as the Martian made him sit on the ground, Artemis placing a birthday hat on him.
"We'll split the cupcake!" Miss Martian smiled. "Make a wish!"
"Way ahead of you," Wally smiles before blowing all the candles, everyone smiling. The speedster glances at the Martian to his left, a coy smile on his face. "You know, if I tell you my wish it won't come true, but if you guess…"
"Cake?" she says, cutting out a slice and places it onto the plate, completely oblivious to the speedster's flirts.
"Nope, guess again," he says but his eyes go to the cake. "But would love that too."
Looking away from the speedster and Martian, Robin sees a deep frown on Artemis's face as she turns away.
M'gann kiss Wally on the forehead. "Happy Birthday," she smiles, handing him the cake. The speedster looks a bit taken back, thinking that his actions were more obvious and that he wanted a real kiss, not one on the forehead. Robin sees Artemis smirk in amusement, obviously pleased that the speedster didn't get what he wanted.
Robin quietly sighs before feeling someone elbow her. She turns to see Flash, looking at her in amusement, his head nudging to his nephew. She rolls her eyes, shaking her head in amusement.
The hero shrugs before moving to Aqualad, the both of them indulging in a conversation that Superboy was also interested in because he soon joined them as well. The Girl Wonder looks back to her best friend, seeing him still trying to flirt with the oblivious Martian. Her eyes trail over to someone in the corner of the room, looking a bit lost and unsure.
Grabbing two pieces of cake, she makes way to Zatar, "You settling in her okay?" she asks, handing the magician the plate of cakes.
"Oh yeah, just like home," Zatar sighs, accepting the cake.
Robin purses her lips at this, "I know this is all very new and intimidating, but I promise you someday-" she winces, a smile on her face as the both of them watch Wally eat a slice of cake in one huge bite. "You'll get used to watching Wally eat."
The both of them chuckle as Artemis walks over, a deep frown on her face. "Think we should tell him?"
The both of them turn to look at where the archer was looking, to see Wally try flirting once more with M'gann.
"It's his birthday, let him live life," Robin smiles but when the Artemis simply walks past her, a devilish smirk on her face, the smile disappears.
"I swear, I can't catch a break with those two," she huffs out, watching as Artemis sat down on the couch where Wally was rested, Artemis starting the conversation.
"Have they always been like that?" Zatar asks her.
"Ever since they first saw each other, they didn't even know each other's name and they already started fighting!" Robin complains, she turns to face Zatar. "You're a boy."
The magician looks a bit taken aback at this, raising an eyebrow. "Last time I checked."
"Is it true that if boys complain a lot about girls means he likes her?" Robin huffs. "My brothers say yes but Kid Idiot says no."
Zatar thinks about this before answering, "Well, I think it would be true for some cases, but definitely not all. I haven't known Wally for that long so I can't say for sure. Has he talked to you about his crushes?"
Robin hums, "Wally and I don't go talking about love life so no… Artemis on the other hand, we haven't talked about it but I'm sure-"
Before she could finish what she was going to say, she hears the buzz of the intercom, all conversations in the room stops in order to hear. "Attention team, suit up. Polar stealth, mission briefing in five."
Robin mentally groans at this, guess Jason was indeed right with the weather. Everyone quickly goes to their rooms to change and Robin is grateful that her brother reminded her to bring her polar suit. She quickly changes into her white alternate costume and replaces her sunglasses with her mask, and leaves her room, fastening the clip holding her cape over her shoulders.
She enters the briefing room to see Kid Flash, Aqualad, Superboy, and Miss Martian already there, all of them already changed. She ties her hair in a ponytail just as Zatar enters the room. When her hair is all tied up, she lifts the hood over her head, concealing her hair underneath.
"I swear, I hate wearing this suit, such a hassle to make sure my hair is hidden," she complains, tugging on her hood.
"Really? Though it's nice seeing your hair tied up, don't have to worry about it wiping around your face," Wally comments but before she could answer Artemis arrives and Batman starts with his briefing.
During the briefing, Robin couldn't help but wince, looking at her best friend in concern when he starts questioning his task but it's only when she and Aqualad were about to leave when she manages to catch him, watching them all prepare to fight.
She glances at their leader before walking over to her best friend, a small smile on her face. "Why so down?"
Wally makes a noise at the back of his throat, looking troubled. "I- I want to join you guys! I signed up to be a hero to save lives! Not to deliver packages."
Robin smiles calmly at her best friend, placing a hand on his shoulder. "And you're saving a little girl's life right now, are you not?"
Wally opens his mouth but Robin just cuts him off before he could even start. "And I'm sure after she finds out that the Kid Flash delivered her new heart, she would praise you! She won't stop talking about you and brag to all her friends how it was you who saved her life! And you said so yourself! You're the man!"
Kid Flash looks a bit skeptical at this before a small smile envelopes his face. "You're right, thanks, Rob."
"No problem," she smiles, hearing Aqualad call her name. "Well, I gotta go, still up for our traditions?"
"Of course, you better be done with your mission by that time," Kid Flash smiles.
November 13; 12:32pm
Dixie rushes through the Zeta-Tube even before it could finish announcing her arrival. She heads to the souvenir room to see her best friend standing in front of his collection.
"Dude! I just heard you saved an entire country!" she smiles, walking into the room.
"What can I say? I'm the man," Wally smirks, repeating what she said to him on his birthday. "The man who finally figured out that the sweetest birthday present a lucky stiff like me could ever get was seeing that little girl smile."
Robin stares at her best friend in amazement, a proud smile on her face. "Well, seeing that your birthday celebration was cut short and you just got released from the hospital today, we weren't able to do our tradition but better late than never."
The Girl Wonder hands him the paper bag, the speedster looking excited, already removing the tissue paper.
"You got me the limited edition game I wanted?!" Wally says, taking the box out of the bag. "They only made 100 of these! How'd you get one?!"
"Being the youngest child has its perks, especially with four older brothers who can't say no to you," she smiles. "Glad you like it."
She purses her lips, thinking about something as Wally continued to gawk at her gift. She huffs in defeat, a smile plastered onto her face, making up her mind. She walks over to her best friend, who continues to stare at her in shock for her gift.
"I may not be the person you had in mind and not the kiss you wanted but-" she kisses his cheeks and smiles when she sees Wally's jaw dropping, his eyes wide as he stared at her in even more shock. "Belated Happy birthday, Wally."
She chuckles as her best friend continues to flounder. The Girl Wonder turns around, walking out the room. "C'mon, hero. Let's play that game, want to see what the hype was all about."