Tuesday, 15 December ~* Shows *~

"Robin, may I have a moment?" Bruce asked the next morning.

"Ok?" the teen said. Slade had left for a bit, on an 'errand', and there was still some time to go before his class. Robin had just finished off his green tea with pomegranate, which was one of his favorites so far.

The man led him to his office, which meant it was serious. Robin had a feeling what it would be about.

"So…" Bruce looked a bit uncomfortable. This was really, really bad. "I've… noticed that you and Wilson are getting… close again."

"We… are, I guess?" Robin admitted, although they hadn't done more than stolen a kiss here and there.

"Alfred tells me he found you in his bed yesterday morning."

"We were just sleeping," Robin clarified. "Besides… is it… a problem?"

"No… no. Like I told you before, I'm not thrilled, but he seems to… treat you well?"

Robin heard the question and nodded. "And, I have to admit… at his core, he's not… a bad man." Bruce continued. "He lacks certain… morals, though. I just don't want you to get hurt again."

"Slade would never choose to hurt me. We're taking things… slow," Robin said, looking away. "He's staying for the holidays. If… if that's ok? Because we can go back to my apartment, we don't have to stay here."

"Both Alfred and I enjoy having you, but if you want more privacy, I'd understand," Bruce said.

"I'd love to stay. For now. It's good to see Al too, without worrying about bringing Corona into the house," Robin admitted. "I'm really scared he'll get sick," he added in a somber tone.

"Me too. But in this house, we've never have had much of a problem with self-isolating," Bruce said wryly. "And I made sure Mallory was mindful too… and got tested often."

"Speaking of her…?" Robin let the question hang in the air.

"It's over." The man sighed. "I had hoped to have someone special to spend New Years with, but we were just too different."

"I'm sorry," Robin said, being one hundred percent dishonest. He was sorry for the man, of course, he also wished he'd find someone, but not this woman. Almost anyone else but her.

Slade wasn't back again until evening, and Robin had started to get really worried.

"That was a long errand," he commented.

"Yes," was all the man said, with a teasing smirk.

"No explanation?"

"None whatsoever. It's a surprise."

"For me?" Robin grinned hopefully.

"For Bruce, actually."

"Excuse me, what?"

"He's been surprisingly generous. I owe him," the man shrugged.

"Well… I guess… that's… nice?" the teen said, not quite sure what to think. "Besides, I owe you a kiss, he and Mallory broke up."

"Are you free for the next hour or so?" the man then asked.

"What did you have in mind? Kissing?" the former hero wanted to know coyly, butterflies in his stomach.

"I was thinking of beating you up."

Robin gave him a blank stare.

"Sparring, Robin. Do you want to spar?"

"Ah. Yes. Please," the teen replied. "Sure!"

Slade might still be a smidge slower than normal and a smidge less strong, but Robin still had to work very hard to keep from ending up flat on his face on the padded mat.

"Your instincts aren't as sharp as they used to be," Slade told him bluntly.

"They are now honed into finding interesting paragraphs to quote," Robin admitted with a grimace.

"I think sparring should be our main focus, then. You need to stay on your toes."

"I am!"

"More like your ass," the man told him.

"Wha-" the teen had time to say before his legs were swept out from under him.

Okay, yeah. He had some work to do.

Later that night the teen was agonizing over Christmas shopping. He tried to support local businesses, but he also wanted to be safe and do it online. His normal way of Christmas shopping usually included walking around until he spotted something fitting, however, Now, he basically had to search for it. Some pages had different recommendations based on age, gender and price range, but he didn't think Slade would appreciate "The Cross-word puzzle book". But, to be fair, the man's age wasn't really a trusted factor here. He had to hurry, though. Most places delivered the same day, or the day after, but Christmas was creeping in fast, and he wanted it to be a good one, despite everything.

He was curled up on the couch in the sitting room enjoying a slowly dying fire while he was gift hunting on his phone. Slade walked in and sat down, his own phone in hand and Robin decided to leave the shopping be for now. He noticed that he had gotten an e-mail from the university and opened it. He eyed through it and groaned.

"Do they think we're building a damn library?" he complained.

"What?" Slade asked.

"I've gotten a confirmation about which classes I'm taking next term, with the required reading. This will be a pain."

"Can't be that bad, let me see," Slade said. Robin handed him the whole and the man scrolled through the list. And scrolled. And scrolled. "Alright, it was that bad," he chuckled. "You should wish for a bookcase for Christmas."

"That's an idea," the teen muttered. "Maybe I should try to reserve some of these books at the library now, just in case," he sighed. "But I just can't be bothered right now. Rub my feet again?" he asked sweetly.

"I'm very willing to rub anything of yours," the man leered.

Robin didn't answer, but mostly because he rather wanted to let him.

To be Continued…