Friday, 4 December ~* Of *~

He only had one lecture on Fridays, first thing in the morning. It was normally easy to stay focused for that, as it was only an hour, but today was different. He was strangely… nervous. Tense. Like he expected someone to burst through the door at any moment. Who that someone was, was of course obvious? He had kept drinking his tea while it was a bit too hot, just because of nerves, and the ginger and lemon tea had managed to burn the tip of his tongue a bit.

Nothing happened, of course, and he spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon studying as much as he could, and then it was time for work. Work kept him busy enough to almost forget about the whole thing, for just a while, although he was a bit more distant with his regulars. And then the order came. Again, it was late, and Robin almost wanted to turn it over to one of the other delivery people, but he knew that was cowardly. And he wasn't a coward.

This time, while entering the building, he wasn't as careful. If any bad elements had been skulking around, they would have taken one look at Slade and quietly left. He had that sort of face. Well. Not ugly, just… well, he had that 'if looks could kill'-thing down to a degree that it was close to coming true.

He knocked on the door and when it opened, he glared at the man and held out the bag. Slade smirked at him and held out something in return. Money. Forty bucks.

"The food is pre-paid," Robin scoffed, although he of course knew that there was nothing close to forty dollars' worth of food in the bag.

"It's a tip."

The former hero laughed dryly. "No thanks. Last time I accepted a tip of yours, it didn't exactly end well."

"About that-"

"Nope, not interested, fuck off," Robin snapped, dropped the bag at the man's feet as he hadn't taken it, turned around and walked away.

He heard a curse muttered behind him and the next moment he was pulled around and pushed up against the wall.

The man pulled the teen's facemask off with a yank, like it somehow offended him. Slade looked… rather miffed. Robin felt his pulse quicken. He had not expected to be in danger from the man, not at all, but maybe-?

"Have you forgotten who I am, Grayson?" Slade growled.

Robin swallowed, but stood as firm as he could with the man's body pinning him against the wall.

"No. But I lost all respect for you," he spat.

Slade's single eye narrowed and his gazed drilled into him for a moment. Then, suddenly, the man half chuckled, half scoffed. "Ow. That actually hurt."

"You have no idea what fucking hurts!" Robin snarled, and tried to lash out at the man, unsuccessfully. "Let me go!"

"No. Because you're going to run away again, and not let me explain."

"There's nothing to explain! You're a bastard, and that's it!"

"Well. Yes, but not in the way you think."

"Sure, I'm sure you have a great explanation for doing what you did!" Robin snorted.

Slade sighed. "Yes. I've been trying to tell you. I do. Will you listen?"

"Do you care?" Robin snorted.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

That gave the teen pause. Slade didn't often admit he had feelings, although Robin was very well aware that he did. Or he though he had. Until…

"Fine. Sure. I'll listen. But I have one more delivery. I'll come by after, ok?"

"If you don't, I'll be in your apartment when you wake up tomorrow. Making breakfast, of course, it wasn't a threat," the man claimed with a half-smirk.

"Cute," the teen muttered and pulled himself free, only because Slade let him, of course. "And you should wear a mask!" he added as he stomped off, pulling his own on again.

"Why? Can't catch anything, can't infect anyone," the man called after him.

"Some are luckier than they deserve," Robin muttered and was off. The man might have heard him, at least there was a chuckle far behind him.

When he arrived back at the restaurant there was a bit of an emergency as someone had called in sick, and several more deliveries were waiting to go out. Robin took them on, feeling that Slade sure as hell could wait for him. It would serve him right, considering that Robin had had to wait for him. In vain. He finally was done, a little over two hours later, and was standing by his bike, trying to make up his mind. He was sweaty after work, half drenched, in fact. Should he shower and change? But why? What did he care if Slade thought he smelled? Why the hell would he clean up for that piece of trash?

He had biked half way to the building when he turned back to go home and shower.

"I thought I'd have to go pick up egg and bacon," Slade almost muttered as he opened the door.

Robin snorted and walked in. "I had to work overtime," he said, feeling like he at least owed the man a bit of an explanation. "Now say what you wanted to say. I want to go home and sleep." He looked around the apartment and was shocked at what a dump it was. It was completely bare. Through an open door, Robin could see into a bedroom with what looked like a cheap camping sleeping mat on the floor. There was nothing else. The remains of delivered meals were stacked up in the kitchen, and it didn't even look like there was running water. There was still electricity in the house, though, and the place was lit by a naked bulb hanging from the ceiling. "Cozy," he added.

"We'll get to home styling later, I'm sure," Slade drawled. "So… missed me?"

"Ok, I'm out of here," Robin decided and walked towards the door. He was almost immediately caught, and gave the man an icy glare to rival Batman's.

"That was a bad… joke," Slade conceded. "I apologize."

That was rare as well, so the teen nodded stiffly.

"Fine, just tell me. Why did you leave?" He was let go, although apparently a bit reluctantly.

"I didn't," Slade started, and when Robin opened his mouth, he raised his hands. "Not willingly."

The teen blinked.

"What?"

"I was…" the man made a grimace like he was about to be forced to talk about his hemorrhoids and their effect on his latest bowel movement, "kidnapped."

Robin burst out laughing.

"Sure. Yeah. Someone in a white van offer you candy? Try something else," he snorted.

"For the love of…" Slade grunted and ran his hand over his face. "It's true! I was not paying attention, having other things on my mind as you can imagine, and I got hit with enough tranqs to put a whole heard of elephants to sleep."

"And I didn't notice all this, because…?"

"It happened out on the street-"

"Exactly! Because you had left!"

"Grayson- fuck it, ROBIN, listen to me. Yes. I left. To buy us breakfast."

"Sure."

"It's the truth. I was supposed to be gone fifteen minutes, max. You were deeply asleep. I didn't bother to leave a note, because I'd be back before you woke up."

Robin wanted to believe him. He really did. But it was almost too painful to even try…

To be Continued…