Zatanna Zatara and her best friend, Artemis Crock, loved live music. They made sure to go to their favorite musician's show any time they came through town. When Jagged Stone announced his world tour, Zatanna jumped at the opportunity to finally see him in person.

Jagged's tours were notorious for being secretive. They didn't know the name of the opening act until a couple hours before the show.

Zatanna and Artemis made their way to the Gotham Knights arena, where the show was to take place.

"Hey look, some guy named Dick Grayson is the opening act." Zatanna said as she pointed at the banner.

"Dick?!" Artemis laughed, "never heard of him. Hope he's good, if he's opening for Jagged."

They took their seats, they were close enough to the stage. Zatanna was so excited to finally see one of her favorite musicians. The lights went out and a single spotlight shone on a young man with slicked back black hair. He stood proudly with his acoustic guitar. Then the notes rang out so crystal clear, the arena went silent. Everyone was so captivated by his music. As the song ended, everyone erupted with cheers and claps. He was amazing.

"Thank you, Gotham! I am Dick Grayson, and I'm very excited to be here opening for Jagged Stone!" He spoke so clearly. "If you guys don't mind, I would like to share this experience with you all and play some more of my songs." More cheers from the crowd. As it died down a little bit, he started another song. His guitar playing was so intricate, it sounded like there were two guitarists and a singer. It was all just him. Zatanna was mesmerized.

After a couple songs, he put his guitar down on a stand and moved to a small white spinnet piano. "We're going to slow it down for a second. I wrote this song when I was grieving the loss of a family member, it's called 'No Safety Net.'" He said, and began playing piano. Tears formed in Zatanna's eyes, Artemis could see this song hit her hard. It had only been a couple years since her dad was taken hostage by Dr. Fate. She knew how much Zatanna missed her dad.

Dick Grayson finished his set with a couple more upbeat songs. The crowd wanted more, almost as if he had been the headlining act. By the time Jagged Stone started his set, the crowd was very wild. Jagged's set was wildly different from Dick Grayson's. He was more into the theatrics of the show, there was confetti, pyro, and flames. Jagged's pet crocodile, Fang, even lounged on the grand piano for a couple songs. The show was amazing, but Zatanna couldn't stop thinking about Dick Grayson.

"Please give it up for Dick Grayson," Jagged called out to the crowd as the show was close to ending. Once again the crowd went wild "He's going to be joining me for the last song of the night 'My Guitar is My Only Family.'" Jagged was an eccentric performer, and his playing was completely different from Dick's style yet somehow they made it work.

"THANK YOU, GOTHAM CITY!" with a final bow from both Dick and Jagged, the show was over.

Zatanna turned to Artemis and they both yelled "THIS WAS THE BEST SHOW EVER!"

The two friends made their way to Artemis' apartment.

"That Dick guy was really good," Artemis said

"Yeah, the way he played and was able to captivate the audience." Zatanna responded

"It made me wish I knew how to play an instrument," Artemis laughed

"Makes me wish I hadn't quit piano." Zatanna said remorsefully

"Can you believe we finally got to see Jagged Stone live?!"

"What was your favorite part?"

"Probably when he played 'You Are The Donut of My Life' while Fang lounged on the piano!"

"Such a great show. Nothing will ever be as good as tonight." Zatanna said

"I can die happy now." Artemis agreed.

Gotham Manor

"How was the show, Master Dick?" Alfred Pennyworth said as Dick made his way into the manor.

"It was really good. I even got to share the stage with Jagged Stone!" Dick Grayson said with much excitement.

On stage, you would never see it, he's a cool, nonchalant musician. He puts his emotions into his music, but holds back all the excitement. Dick continues to detail his show to Alfred, he's glad to have the experience to play in public more. Up until now he had only released a couple EP's. He was juggling his time as Robin and his music career, so performing live only happened once in a while.

"Very good, Master Dick. I am glad you had a good time." Alfred said as he sent the young man to bed.

"Alfred… Do you think I… I could do this more often..?" He asked before opening the door to his room.

"I am sure Master Bruce would allow it, but you would have to prioritize." Alfred said and walked down the grand staircase.

Once in his room alone, he began to think. What did Alfred mean by prioritizing? Surely I can be Robin and Dick Grayson. Bruce gets to do both. He gets to be Batman and Bruce Wayne.

"Music is important, it helps keep me human with all the work I do with Batman as Robin. But evil doesn't take a break. Even as I was on stage, Bruce was probably on patrol." He mumbled to himself. "Without music, I don't know if I could keep…" the thought trailed off.

Learning to play guitar was what kept Dick from falling into deep darkness after his parents died. In a way, music was the saving grace for him. That and bringing Zucco in.

A couple weeks had passed since the Jagged Stone concert. Zatanna had been listening to Dick Grayson's discography every day since. She was so captivated by his musicianship and his lyrics. Plus, he was also hot. That first night she had spent hours online trying to find out more about him, but he was so secretive. He only played a handful of shows a year, nobody knew where he was from, his age or anything else about him. Zatanna couldn't decide if the secretiveness was annoying or more attractive.

Zatanna had stayed home from school, she had been fighting a fever all morning. When she finally managed to leave her room for some orange juice she heard some gentle guitar playing. She could've sworn it was Dick Grayson's guitar playing, but that didn't make any sense. She was all alone, everyone was at school and nobody played any instruments. A sneeze escaped her nose and then she tried to listen for the sound again. She didn't hear anything, so she figured she was probably imagining it.

Dick had left his Biology notebook at the cave after a study night with the team, Alfred was giving him an open note test, so he decided to swing by the cave and grab his stuff. The empty cave was an eerie sight for him. Ever since being adopted by Bruce, even if the mansion was big and empty, he knew he could always find Alfred there.

While on his way to the Zeta tube, he had a song idea stuck in his head. He needed to hurry and pluck some notes on the guitar to make sure it worked out well. Dick had a room at the cave, but rarely used it. He ran into his room, where a small travel guitar sat in the closet, and began plucking away. No one was home, so his secret identity would be safe.

*ACHOO*

Dick froze in fear. Sounded like Zatanna. He liked Zatanna, she was nice and funny. He could trust her to watch his six. They had been training together since she became a full-time resident at the cave. As close as they were, Dick was always hesitant to let people know about his secret identity. Even his best friend Wally only knew him as Richard Wayne, adopted son of Bruce Wayne. Dick wondered to himself why she was home.

"No time, gotta run." he thought to himself. He waited until he heard her door shut, hacked into the cameras and made sure she wasn't anywhere in the hallways or common areas. With that he darted out and made his way back to Gotham via Zeta tube.

That was close.

Zatanna had all but forgotten hearing Dick Grayson's guitar playing while she was sick.

Until one day, she came home early from school and this time she could hear the faint playing of guitar. She followed the sound to the source. This wasn't something playing from a speaker, but the real thing. The sound was emanating from Robin's room. She stood outside and could hear the guitar playing, just the same way and style as at the concert, and then the voice started singing.

IT WAS HIM

That was the voice that had captivated her the night of the concert. Zatanna didn't expect a.) to find out Robin's secret identity, b.) ever be in the proximity of Dick Grayson again or c.) Robin was Dick Grayson. She was frozen in place unsure of what to do next. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Hey, Robin. It's me, Zatanna," she said quietly

"Uh!" a couple seconds of awkward silence "OH Hey! Zee, come in!"

She knew he was playing guitar, but as she entered the room, there was no sight of any musical instruments.

"I heard you playing guitar," she decided she was just going to come clean, "I really love your music."

Dick knew he couldn't hide forever, he couldn't keep this part of him as a secret forever. He didn't realize he was holding his breath, but he finally let it go. Her words were sincere, not mocking.

"No use in lying to you, but how did you know?"

"I was at the Jagged Stone concert and you were amazing. I don't know how I didn't see it before!"

"I mean, that's what a secret identity is, no?" He laughed

"Yeah, I guess so," she shrugged, "but usually people use their secret identities to hide, not to perform for 65,000 people in arenas." They were both laughing now

Zatanna could not believe that her new favorite musician was also one of her best friends. Someone she admired so much was also the musician she felt the most connected with. The lyrics to most of his songs resonated with her. Music could always express the feelings some experiences left her; loss, grief, happiness, and love.

Zatanna had developed a crush on Robin from the minute they met, but nothing ever came from it other than flirting back & forth. Despite fighting alongside each other during missions and training together, they hadn't really bonded over too many things.

"'Plummet' was the first song I wrote, it was about my parents and overcoming their deaths. In the last couple years, it's been therapeutic to kind of process things through music like this" he let the words flow

"That's one of my favorites. Ever since my father became Dr. Fate and I've been alone…" she empathized with him, music was like a universal language. Pain and sadness, although from different sources, was shared.

"Losing family is hard." He agreed. Pain was universal. He couldn't imagine what it was like to see Zatara but was not able to really talk to him. As alone as he felt sometimes, it was nice to have Alfred and sometimes Bruce.

"What about you? Do you play any instruments?" He was curious, not just because he wanted more people to jam with but also because he was genuinely captivated by the magician.

"Not anymore, not really. I took piano lessons up until the time my mom died, but then quit. I wanted to spend more time with dad." She admitted, quietly. She avoided topics like these with her teammates, but talking with Robin was effortless. She felt like she could share everything with him.

"You should pick it up again. Music is a great way to express emotions."

"maybe I will." Zatanna was humble, growing up she often received high marks in judged performances across the state in her division. If she had kept it up, she might've even gotten scholarships. Piano was something she didn't realize she missed until lately. It was something that reminded her of her mother, and now her father too.

They spent the rest of the afternoon talking about music, his lyrics and becoming Dick Grayson, an elusive performer.

"Zee, you wouldn't mind keeping this secret, would you?" He asked.

"Anything for you, Boy Wonder." She affirmed, and gave him a peck on the cheek.