A/N: Hey again! Since the last one was a bit on the dark side, this is gonna be a lighter drabble. There's really no reason to make this longer than it has to be, so without further adieu, onward to Chapter Two!
Chapter 2: Mistlefoe
Dedicated to Anthezar
It was Christmas Eve, but this year instead of spending it with his friends, Robin was unfortunately alone with a man he really didn't want to spend Christmas with. It was true that he and Slade were on much better terms than 11 months ago when he was first placed in this hellhole, but that didn't necessarily make him feel any better about his predicament. He frowned in the darkness as cold, frigid fingers grasped the loose ends of a comforter, hastily tugging it closer to his chin to trap the warmth in. Despite the newfound heat he had gained, his frame remained shivering underneath the covers. The boy swore his frost-bitten teeth were chattering so loudly that Slade could hear it from down the corrider.
For the 40th time this winter, he mentally questioned why X'hal had decided to curse him with cruel weather. Not to mention the fact that Slade's haunt (he would literally rather die than call this place a home) was mostly metal. It either felt like a sauna in the summer, or a frozen wasteland in the winter. There was virtually no in-between. He checked the clock beside him, staring at the bright neon orange numbers in his face. It was almost 3:30 AM. It was time. He flipped the covers off soundlessly and tiptoed out the doorway. Rounding the corner silently, he stood and waited in the heart of the haunt. Robin didn't have to wait long.
A flash of red and black materialized before him, holding a massive box. The figure teetered under the heavy weight. Robin soundlessly helped him stablize the box, setting down the load gently on the floor with a soft thump. Robin grinned at the thief who smirked back at him with mirth in his masked eyes, "You came." he whispered.
Red-X saluted the former hero gracefully, "Of course I did." The two shared a look as they opened the box together, grinning at the contents inside.
Red-X rubbed his hands together gleefully, "This is gonna be the best prank we've ever pulled."
Robin couldn't help but agree, "We are going to get in so much trouble." he mused, shaking his head ruefully with a sinister smile.
"Yeah, but it'll be worth it." Red-X reminded him, nudging the teen's shoulder playfully, letting out a chuckle as Robin forcefully swatted his elbow away with a glare that held no real heat behind it.
Slade's apprentice peered down at the box filled to the brim with mistletoe. Red-X stood next to him, humming a tune as he tossed one of his sharp, crimson X-shaped blades to the ceiling before catching it with his foot. Robin rolled his eyes at the criminal, "Show off." he muttered shooting a look, "Those are my weapons, you know." he reminded quietly. Red-X just shrugged and went back to tossing his weapons that Robin had indeed created long ago. Silenced remined between the two for a moment, but was soon broken by a question.
"You think he's actually gonna kill us?" Red-X inquired, reaching to pull out an armful of mistletoe.
Robin thought about it for a moment, "Probably not me, but if you die tonight, I'll make sure to attend your funeral."
"Aww, I didn't know you cared."
"...Shut up."
Red-X snickered, "I bet you $25 that you're blushing right now."
If Robin wasn't blushing before, his face was certainly flushed red now, "Shut it!" he hissed.
The thief crossed his arms victoriously, "Heh. Knew it." he smugly retorted.
Robin's frown morphed into a devious smirk as something occured to him. "Hey X," he breathed.
"Hm?"
"You owe me 25 bucks if we survive this."
The criminal's previous words dawned on him in a flash, "Shit, you're right." Robin snorted at the anti-hero's priceless expression that was faintly visible in the dark and recieved the evil eye in return. The two suddenly grinned, mischief lighting their masked eyes as Red-X hung the stand of mistletoe on the ceiling. Robin snatched a handful and followed suit, stringing mistletoe in every corner of the haunt. After two hours of diligent work, the entire haunt was covered in dangling mistletoe, excluding Slade's room.
Now came the hard part.
Red-X and Robin snuck around the haunt until they arrived outside the man's door. Robin ushered with his hand whispering, "You open it."
"Hell no, kid! You do the honors."
"I insist."
"I'm not the one at risk of dying!"
"This was your brilliant idea."
Red-X went silent for a moment, hating the fact that Robin was right. This was his idiotic idea after all. Nonetheless, he threw Robin under the bus anyway, "He wouldn't kill you though. Me, however? I'd be wasted in under five seconds with a knife skewered theough my heart."
"That's not my problem."
Red-X frowned, faking an expression of hurt betrayal. "How could you, Rob? I thought I meant something to you."
"Nope."
"Heartless jackass." The criminal murmured lightheartedly under his breath, knowing the teen was joking. Robin had his hand on the doorknob and was twisting it slowly, cautiously, careful to avoid making noise. Red-X tiptoed to stand beside him and crouched down, mistletoe ready. Darkness greeted them as the two slowly snuck in, footsteps barely audible. Slade was sound asleep at the far middle end of the room, unaware of the two troublemakers snooping around.
"Hey look," Robin had to strain his ears to hear him. "There's a photograph of a woman on this end table." Red-X was crouched down, looking at a framed picture. Robin put a finger to his mouth in warning. The thief continued to stare at the picture, wondering who the person was. Maybe it was a relative? A black gloved hand slowly reached out tentatively to touch the frame. Robin's eyes widened and he strode forward to grasp the hand before it could make contact. Red-X turned and read the warning clearly in the former hero's gaze. 'Don't. Not a good idea.'
Slade mumbled something incoherent in his sleep and shifted a little, causing the two teenagers to freeze in their tracks. Robin kept his hand latched on Red-X's wrist as the two fearfully looked toward the mercanary in unison, neither daring to move a muscle or breathe. Slade remained in a restful sleep, much to the duo's relief, muttering one word as he relaxed, sinking deeper into the mattress, "Adeline..."
Robin inwardly wondered who this 'Adeline' person was, but he had more important things to do, like finishing this prank he started. He filed the snippet of information away for later and slowly released his hold on Red-X, who uncharacteristically latched his wrist in a terrified vice grip. Robin didn't question it, nor did he protest when the thief slowly backed away from Slade silently, dragging Robin with him. Almost stumbling over the box, Red-X halted and spun around to grab mistletoe gesturing to the dozing mercanary while softly whispering to Robin, "Make sure he doesn't wake up."
Robin nodded and watched without a word as the criminal hastily completed his decorating, leaving a vacant line leading out of the room. Once he was finished, he gave Robin a thumbs up and grinned. Robin gave a small smile in return and the two of them booked it out of Slade's room as fast as humanly possible to the heart of the haunt, glancing up at their handiwork. Red-X gave a silent high-five, inwardly cheering at their luck and success. "We didn't die tonight!" he whispered victoriously.
"Doesn't mean we won't die in the morning." Robin mumbled as he flicked on the lights and watched the room illuminate with a merry glow.
-_-_-_-_-_
Slade woke up feeling refreshed from his pleasant dream. He had dreamt of Addie and the kids having a picnic in the meadows, complete with Grant and Rose arguing lightheartedly and recieving a playful scolding from Adeline, while Joey was artistically drawing the serene landscape around him in a sketchpad with a content hum. He smiled to himself, stretching the tiredness away. Today was the first Christmas he would spend with Robin and he had been looking forward to it for quite some time. He had nothing planned for his apprentice; no missions, heists, or objectives to complete. Slade hummed a familiar tune to himself as he flipped the light switch, quickly adjusting to the blinding brightness that assaulted his eye. What he saw pleasantly surprised him.
Up on the ceiling, there was mistletoe covering every inch of the tiles, except for a vacant line that led out to the open door. Slade's good mood shriveled as he stared at the open doorway for a long, hard second.
Open doorway...?
He had never opened his door...
Wait a minute-
This could only mean...
"No," Slade breathed as he connected the missing pieces. "He didn't..."
His eye twitched in a vehement rage as he stared at the open doorway, wishing it would burn to a crisp. He was absolutely livid. Robin had been in his room, without his permission. That insolent brat had barged in, uninvited, and had most like gone snooping though his personal belongings. His curled fists shook furiously at his sides as he strode through the door with the intent to teach his apprentice a lesson on personal boundaries.
-_-_-_-_-_
The two troublemakers were currently sitting down staring up at the twinkling lights in a trance. "I never knew glowing mistletoe existed."
Red-X shrugged and spoke up, "I stole it from someone. Didn't really know what to expect."
"Figures."
"Hey kid, did you know that you can make mistletoe shoot laser beams?"
"Really?"
"Yeah. We should try it next year."
"Sounds like a recipe for disaster."
Red-X hummed his agreement, "Yeah, but it still sounds awesome."
"Mhm."
Red-X had a genius idea, "What if people fought under the mistletoe instead of kissing?"
Robin snickered quietly, "Mistlefoe."
The thief shot him a grin, "Wanna spar?" he inquired, dropping into a fighting stance.
Robin smirked, fists ready. "I thought you'd never ask."
It was silent for a moment before Robin's voice rang out again, "You know we're going to die, right?"
Red-X sighed, dropping his fists. "Probably. I bet Slade's gonna start screaming bloody murder any second now."
As if on cue, the mercanary's booming voice sounded through the walls, ignited by a furious wrath.
"ROBIN!"
Said teenager stared like a deer in the headlights as Slade stormed through the hallway marching towards him, nostrils flaring in pure unbridled rage. He was peeved.
Red-X cast Robin a worried glance as the mercanary towered over the former hero like an unaviodable mountain, shooting daggers at the kid who met his eye with an uncertain trepidation.
"Care to explain?" Slade hissed with a seething glower, crossing his arms menacingly as Robin flinched back from his tone, refusing to break eye contact. Slade did deserve an explaination.
The boy sighed, shame washing over him as he began his atonement, not willing to risk crossing more lines than he already had. "Well, me and Red-X wanted to decorate for Christmas, so he brought a box of mistletoe and um we-" He paused at the glare X gave him, quickly correcting himself, "-I had the idea to hang mistletoe in your room since we finished decorating the whole haunt."
Slade remained silent as Robin continued on nervously, "We snooped through some of your stuff, but we didn't touch or misplace anything." Slade wasn't surprised by this. Robin had a bad habit of spying in general, something he would have to permanently correct as soon as possible. Slade didn't sense any deceit from his apprentice, which he appreciated; Robin would've been in a lot more trouble if he had lied straight to his face.
The mercanary nodded once, satisfied with his explaination, "I appreciate your honesty, Robin." The mastermind fixed the teenager with a stern, authoritative gaze. "However, I am still displeased with your actions. I thought you knew better than this." Robin ducked his head, both shame and guilt weighing him down. He hated being chastised like a child, but he knew he deserved it this time around, so he didn't complain.
"Sorry, sir." Robin mumbled quietly, raising his head to look Slade in the eye remorsefully. "It won't happen again."
"See that it doesn't." Slade replied, his rough exterior softening. He knew he couldn't stay mad at Robin forever; it was virtually impossible. In a rare gesture of affection, Slade reached his hand out and ruffled the kid's spikey hair fondly, chuckling when Robin swatted his hand away gently and gave him a deadpan look of minor annoyance as he attempted -in vain- to restore his ebony tufts to their former glory.
The mercanary smiled at his apprentice with a respectful admiration in his eye. Robin may be a rebellious, rascal at times, but he was also a constant in Slade's life that the man appreciated more than words could say.
"Hey, Red-X!" Robin called out cheerily, turning away from Slade to see the thief look at him nonchalantly, messing around with his X-shaped projectiles.
"Yeah?"
"We didn't die! You owe me $25!"
Red-X swore under his breath as Robin did a victory dance, leaving Slade confused as the mercanary stared at them with a raised eyebrow. These two idiots had seriously made a pointless bet on whether or not they would die? He hoped they didn't have a death wish.
Sometimes he really questioned the sanity of teenagers.
FIN
A/N: I might edit this ending sometime because I hate it for some reason. Anyhow, I hope you guys enjoyed it nevertheless! Special thanks to Anthezar, the amazing author of Forgotten Bonds! For all of you Slade and Robin dynamic lovers (like myself), I highly encourage you to give some of Anthy's awesome books a read! You will not be dissapointed!
Peace, yeast and make a feast!
-Void