AN: After reading through Flick and Daisy Sparrow's fics again, I've finally decided to write a Slade/Robin fic. I never knew how fun it would turn out to be.
…
Slade wants an apprentice.
Robin.
When Slade sees him, he is always enraptured by the intensity, the very core of the Titan. The fierce slant of those masked eyes, and the wild spikes of hair sending sparks of familiarity through his veins.
Yes, he wants him, needs him.
At first glance, Robin appears to be a lost case; no one could control him. Slade wanted very much to test that theory out.
Robin was someone worth knowing, someone who Slade recognises instantly.
Because Robin is Slade.
Their mannerisms, their intense wariness around people, and most of all, their protectiveness. But there are differences, as minute as they are. Slade can see them, because he is Robin, and consequently, he knows what he would do differently.
Slade scowls, when he sees Robin reassure the Titans kindly, gently…as an equal.
…Robin has spent too much time under someone, too much time as just a sidekick. It has taught him humility.
Slade is always disgusted.
But that doesn't last long. It never does.
He wants an apprentice, but he needs something so much more. He needs someone who can deal with the training, someone who can be Slade-and yet, he didn't want perfection.
Slade wants a challenge.
He needs to see Robin break, to see that firm resolve shatter to pieces, and to see that pretty face behind the mask cry. Slade knows that Robin would never cry; he knows that. But Slade is a master at this, and he is sure that Robin's admission of defeat will be the same as shedding a few crystalline tears.
Both as humiliating, both as devastating.
It is what Slade revels in, and he hopes to shape Robin, to touch every inch of him and ruthlessly bend him to shape, until he can do no more. Slade is prepared, prepared for the challenge, and so he sits and waits.
…He can watch Robin for as long as he likes.
Slade just likes to watch him; all information and data has already been gathered. He doesn't need to watch Robin as much as he does, but he does, because he is obsessed with the Titan. It is something that Slade fully acknowledges, and something that he is proud of.
Slade is the only one in control, and he is in control of what he desires.
He knows himself, and therefore he knows Robin. Slade can predict what he does, and he can predict what Robin does as well. It is a matter of simple symmetry, because Robin does not think that Slade knows him.
Robin refuses to be different, unpredictable, because he refuses to accept that he is Slade.
They have many things in common, Slade and Robin.
Robin is ignorant,
But Slade knows this, only too well.
Fin