Merry Christmas! This one is a gift for GraysonGirl, although I'm sure you will be allowed to read it as well… Well, GG wanted another "regression 5-year old Robin" and I couldn't resist… so… here goes!

Oh, this is also something I hope kodokumegumi on DeviantArt will like, 'cause she did this VERY cute pic for the first 'regression-drabble' (The Peas Contact)…

Cuteness-warning!

Letters and Lego

If Slade ever found out who told the kid it was Christmas, he would personally snap that moron's neck. But maybe Robin found out by himself… children seemed to have this inner clock that gave off an alarm at the possibility of presents and candy. It was not like Slade was likely to forget Halloween any time soon. He shuddered.

Robin was still in his regression state and refused to leave. He had made several psychologists cry, over the last couple of weeks. Some had bought him more Lego.

Slade didn't quite grasp the concept of Lego… Here was a toy that could be turned into a million things, so you really just needed one set, right? Wrong. Apparently you needed as many as you could get your hands on. The worst thing was that he could only blame himself. He had been the one to bring Robin the first set, thinking it would keep him occupied for a few days. The boy had assembled the car within 15 minutes and then discovered pictures of other products on the box… and thus it had begun.

Robin wasn't about to nag anyone, and certainly not Slade, because although he could be rather in-your-face, he wasn't exactly spoiled. At least he hadn't started out that way. No, he had been very sneaky… He begun by telling Slade how much he loved the car, and then he, as by pure coincidence, happen to notice another car on the box.

"Look! There's a fire truck!" he had exclaimed.

"Yes?" Slade had answered, still not quite aware of the trap being set.

"That would be neat, huh?" the boy asked.

Slade was unconvinced about the 'neatness' of a pile of red plastic blocks and shrugged noncommittally.

"Because with two cars I could do a race…" Robin continued, unaffected by the man's indifference.

"A race with a fire truck?" Slade again found himself being dragged into 'Robin-world' against his will.

"Yeah… that would be wrong, huh?" the boy looked up at him and bit his lip in thought. "But it's too big, anyway… it would take a long time to build… and I want to play with you! What are we going to do today?"

As it turned out, they were going to get that fire truck.

Well. That had been the start of the Lego-terror. But a fire truck without a fire station? That wouldn't do! And without at least one house to save from fire, what good was a fire station and truck?! And the people living in the house must have cars, right? And one of them was rich, and he had to have a plane. And he had another rich friend who also had a plane. And a space shuttle!

Slade sighed at the memory. Outwitted by a five-year-old. Great. Or… outwitted? He would claim it was self defense if anyone dared to ask. And now the whole Christmas idea occupied the boy's mind.

"Slade? Howdoya' spell 'Lego'?" Robin's voice interrupted the mercenary's thoughts.

"It's 'how do you', Robin, what have I told you about articulation? And why do you ask?"

"Weeeell… you said I should… an' I'm writin' a letter to Santa!"

The boy was sitting on the floor, using the first step of the dais as a desk. He had papers and crayons spread out on it, unknowingly creating quite a lethal trap for anyone who happened to walk down the steps. Say from a certain throne. At least Slade hoped it was unintentional, although he wouldn't put anything passed the little devil.

Slade shook his head, looking at the mess. Crayons. He was pretty sure there had been no crayons in the Tower before he took over. People kept sneaking stuff in! If he had known that two big blue eyes and a trembling lower lip could turn people into willing slaves he would have never bothered to find that damn contract in the first place.

"Slade? Slaaaade?" Robin tried to get the man's attention but he was too wrapped up in thoughts about how to stop the contraband of toys. "Hey, Mister Wiiiiiiilsoooooon!" The man's head snapped up.

"Yes? And who let you watch 'Dennis the Menace' again?"

"Raven. She likes it too. And how do you spell Lego?"

"Why do you ask, you can't write." Slade told the boy, rather cruelly perhaps, but he was a tried man by now.

"Can too! And it's for my letter to Santa! So how do you spell-""

"L-E-G-O" Slade told him tiredly.

"Oh. Okay… Err... What does an 'L' look like?"

Slade closed his eye briefly, counting to ten. Loosing patience with the boy was not a good move, especially not with Starfire around. Besides, he didn't want Robin to withdraw more into himself, he wanted the boy out of this state, as soon as possible.

"Why don't you just draw what you want for Christmas, so Santa can see for himself?" Slade asked, congratulating himself on the stroke of brilliance.

"I can do that?!" Robin asked, astounded. "BB said I had to write a list."

Aha. BB. The little green changeling was the real Christmas lover in the group and Robin hung on his every word. If Slade saw Beast Boy turn into a green reindeer again, there would be trouble.

"I'm sure pictures make it easier for Santa, Robin. That way you can make sure he doesn't misunderstand." the man said.

"Wow... You're so smart!" Robin looked up at the man admiringly and Slade sighed again… that was the look that got Robin the medieval Lego fortress with the drawbridge. Slade needed a break. Badly. He would go to the gym for a while, or maybe go scare the shit out of Chang, that was always good for entertainment.

"I'll come back soon. Don't touch anything. Why don't you finish that wish list in the mean time?" he told the boy and stepped down from the throne. A single black crayon almost killed him as it rolled away under his foot.

Robin was very, very busy. He wanted Santa to bring him the new Lego Mars Mission Command Base, but it turned out to be quite difficult to draw.

Suddenly there was a signal. Robin recognized it; it meant someone was calling to talk to Slade. That was usually boring, and besides, Slade wasn't here. The signal kept on beeping, though. What if he should answer? Slade would be happy if Robin helped, wouldn't he? The boy had a faint idea about the importance of being good this time of year. Besides, he had been watching the man enough times to know what to do. Deciding to act, he climbed the steps and pressed the right buttons.

"Robin?!"

The boy twisted around to face the screen and his eyes turned very big.

"Robin? We have been so worried, Slade has not let us see you in… we… Robin? Why are you looking like that?"

On screen was the scariest man Robin had ever seen. He had this strange hood with sharp pointy ears, like horns, and it was all black. And the little you could see of his face did not look happy.

"Slade? Slaaaaaaade!" Robin shouted in alarm, and the man rushed in. He had been alerted by the signal but had not been able to reach the room until now.

"Robin? What is going o- ouch, damn Lego!" The boy moved like lightening, hiding behind the man and peeking out from behind his arm.

"S-Slade is-is that BATMAN?"

Slade's eye snapped to the screen.

"Did you answer the call, Robin?" he asked dangerously, and Robin quickly realized that the man did not want this kind of help.

"'es… m'sorry! I only wanted to help!" the boy defended himself. "Is he Batman, Slade? The real Batman?!"

"Yes. What do you want, Bruce?"

"What the hell is going on, Slade? What have you done to Robin? And… why does the Tower look like a daycare center?"

Slade looked around. Surely it couldn't be that bad… oh… it was…

"Ever heard of regression, Bat? He doesn't remember you, he only remembers what he heard about you as a kid…"

"You…. you…" Batman was lost for words, and could only watch as the boy slowly edged into view from behind Slade.

"Are you really Batman?" The boy asked shyly.

"Yes, Robin, I am…"

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Truly?"

"Yes."

"The really really real Batman?"

"Err… Yes, Robin I am…"

"Wow. That's so coooool!" the boy looked up at Slade, smiling widely. "You are friends with Batman?! Do you know Superman too? And Santa?! Wait! Mr. Batman, I gotta show you something!" The boy scurried away and Slade was left facing the bat-glare alone. It was quite uncomfortable, actually.

"Slade, I swear…!"

"We are working on it! Believe me, we are."

"Look! Look! I built the Batmobile!" The boy was proudly holding up one of his own Lego creations for the men to admire. It actually looked quite like the real thing… if the real thing had looked like a half crushed grilled chicken. "I didn't have 'nuff black blocks…" the boy confessed, looking at the mostly black but also yellow and red construction. "I'm gonna wish for more black bits for Christmas. Slade? Howdoya' spell 'black'?"

"Why don't you go draw it, Robin?" the man asked.

"Can't. You stepped on my black crayon." Robin remembered. "Sooo… whatdoya' think?"

"It's very nice, Robin." Slade told him.

"Yes. Amazing." Batman agreed, and the boy's face shone.

Christmas evening eventually came, and Robin had a small fit when he discovered that there was no open fire in the throne room. How would Santa be able to deliver the presents? The team calmed him down, telling him that the man would have no trouble getting through the ventilation system, which led to Robin insisting that one vent was opened and milk and cookies were placed beneath it.

Slade was rather pleased at the moment. He had convinced the boy to clean up and put all the Lego away in boxes, slyly telling him that Santa might not leave any Lego if he saw that Robin already had a lot. Robin told him quite confidently that Santa surely knew the importance of having a really neat Command Base, and Slade agreed. He wanted a neat command base too, thank you very much. The boy had thought about it for a while, but then started picking everything up with great energy. With only a few breaks to 'fix' models he stumbled over, the floor was now free of Lego. Finally.

"Slade?" The boy crawled up in his lap and looked up on him seriously. He wanted something.

"Yes, Robin?"

"Can I stay up and wait for Santa?"

"No."

"But whyyyyy?!"

"Because if you stay awake he won't come."

"Why?"

"He is really, really shy, okay?"

"Why?"

"I don't know… maybe he smells of reindeers."

This made the boy giggle.

"Really?"

"I don't know. That's just the way it is."

"Oh." the boy was quiet for a moment. "What do reindeers smell like?"

"Like tulips."

"No? Really? They don't!"

"No."

Robin giggled again. "You're funny."

Slade chuckled. "Go to bed, little bird…"

The next morning Robin very, very carefully peeled off the paper of a big box. His breath caught in his throat when he saw the alien world revealed underneath, the big rocket, the foam missiles, the alien attack ship… the boy let out a cry of joy and flew over to Slade, hugging him tight.

"Thank-you-thank-you-thank-you!" The boy was more than thrilled.

Slade patted his head amiably. "You are welcome. Now go play…"

As Slade watched the boy tear into the box, chatting wildly to Beast Boy who was more than willing to help, Raven entered the room and came up to the man's side.

"Sire, the professor and I have finally figured out how to reverse the regression! We will be able to turn him back into his old self any time…"

Slade looked at the boy, happily assembling a space shuttle, explaining to Beast Boy how he thought it worked. The boy turned and gave Slade one of his big smiles, his eyes outshining the Christmas decorations easily, before resuming his duties as space-engineer.

Slade sighed.

"That's good news, Raven… but… let's wait until after Christmas…"

The End.