The Titans had always been used to Robin's broody nature; that when he needed to think, he would often head out into the streets of Jump City. Whatever it was about patrolling the city on sleepless nights, it seemed to get his thinking done and all was well the following day. That is, until he began coming home beat and weary every once and a while, making the extra effort to slip back into the comforts of his room undetected. His friends noticed... even tried to confront him about it. "I just had a run-in with a few criminals, that's all," he would always insist.
He wasn't entirely lying either-- but it had only been one, not a few. They knew better than to believe it wasn't Slade and their reluctance to let Robin out on any nightly patrols in the future proved it. Regardless, he managed to slip out of the tower without their knowledge. It was like he was just asking for it all over again.
Some nights, Slade was nowhere to be found. Robin liked those nights... but on others, the ones that Robin often returned battered from, Slade was as present as the moon and the stars.
It was on those nights his arch-nemesis showed up that Slade would speak of apprentices and the sort of power the boy could have if he trained him. Robin always refused... always declared he'd never let a criminal train him and that he didn't need power. It was as though he deliberately tried to pick these fights with Slade; their conversations would lead to battles that lead to a beaten Titan struggling to make it to his room without a sound.
Starfire begged him not to go out on his patrols anymore, Cyborg tried to convince him that there were other ways to cure sleepless nights, Beast Boy offered to stay up and play video games with him instead and Raven asked him to think through what he was getting himself into. He didn't listen... not until the last night. On the last night, he gave it up to Slade... on a rooftop and in the rain.
Robin wasn't even sure what happened. One minute, they were in an intense stare-down, one trying to intimidate the other. The next they were down on the rooftop, raindrops dancing across their bare skin, Slade on top of him...
He distinctly remembered how hard it was to breathe, between his rapidly beating heart and the forbidden kisses they'd captured themselves within... the way he panted against Slade's neck in desire and moaned against his mouth in an ecstasy. He seemed to have lost all self-control and after he realized what he'd done, his cheeks were aflare with a bright red. Even more so as Slade held him against his chest upon sitting up and pressed his lips against the curve of Robin's ear, brushing the wet locks of hair away, a smirk slyly pulling at the corners of his mouth. "My sweet prince," he whispered darkly, "you are the one." It was enough to give the boy cold shivers up and down his spine...
Slade released him, satisfied; he had gathered his clothes and seemingly vanished off the rooftop. Robin had made no attempt to snap back, clearly too shocked at what happened and let the mercenary get away. He'd distractedly grabbed for his clothes, which were as drenched as he was and threw them back on in an embarrassed rush.
Silent as the night, he slipped into his room at the tower, thankful no one had been up that night. He repeatedly insisted it was nothing and he would never become that man's apprentice again. It was only after he changed into dry clothes that he realized his face was still red, that his heart was still pounding and his skin still chilled over with Slade's touch...
And as he lay down, trying to forget what he did and with whom he did it and where... he hated his traitorous desires for wanting more.