A/N: aw, thank you for the reviews! It's great to know that there are still people out there interested in reading Sladin… I mean, I write for my own sake (I wanna find out how it goes!) but it IS more fun and inspiring when people are reading it too… 😉
In this chapter there is a scene I've tried to delete a few times, but Slade wouldn't let me. He claims it's necessary. Robin claims it's not. It's a bit… weird, but it IS one way to make a point, so… bear with it… 😉
Chapter 2: Come Aboard
"Wow, this isn't bad!" Robin looked around their suite as the staff carried in their luggage. The whole suite was made up of warm woods, crème walls and a blue carpet with a pattern of golden yellow and light blue. An open archway from the sitting room led into a bedroom with perfectly white sheets on the bed and big, fluffy pillows. Opposite the bedroom was a seating area with a two-seat sofa. They had a balcony with lounge chairs and a spacious bathroom with both a bath and a shower to boot. There was a big flower arrangement on a table and the closet held bathrobes and slippers. These rooms could have been situated in any finer hotel, and it didn't look like a ship's cabin at all, one of the few things that gave it away was the life jackets on the top shelf of the closet.
"Only the best for my love," Slade purred behind him and kissed his neck, making the teen shiver in a strange delight. A moment later they were alone and the teen took two big steps away from the mercenary, trying to look professional.
"Let's unpack and talk strategy," he said, and Slade seemed to agree as he began opening his bags. The man had brought several suits and a lot of clothes, just like Robin. They were expected to dress for dinner, and to be seen in the same suit two nights in a row? Unthinkable! They also had a lot of sporting and bathing clothes, of course, as it was supposed to be a vacation. They unpacked in silence for a while. Slade, however, had packed things in what appeared to be a hidden compartment, which wasn't on the list of recommended items to bring.
"That's… a lot of weapons," Robin muttered.
"I'd like to have a range to choose from," the man shrugged and put them away as well. "You were very professional out there. Good work. I thought you'd be more… reluctant."
"I knew what would be expected, and it needed to look natural," Robin shrugged, a little pleased and a little embarrassed at the same time. "If that kiss had looked like our first, well… it would attract attention."
"It would."
"You didn't exactly ease me into it, though," the teen scolded the man. "There was no real reason to be that intimate that early, maybe not at all!"
"No one would believe that we were married if my hands weren't all over you," Slade snorted. "You're a rather irresistible piece of ass."
"Funny, you're just an ass," Robin grinned sweetly.
Slade snorted. "We should probably finish up and go up on deck for the departure? I assume that's expected by tourists?"
"Yes, there were welcome drinks to be had too, I think… damn, where did I put the program?" Robin rummaged through his things until he found it. "Yup. Drinks in half an hour Deck 16, the Sun deck, for us."
"Good. I wonder if 'our' guys will be social or keep to themselves…" Slade pondered aloud.
"We'll have to try to figure out both who's there and who's not there," Robin sighed.
"They wouldn't draw suspicion either way. Spending a lot of time in their cabin as a couple would be seen as natural."
"Pity we can't," Robin joked.
"Indeed?" Slade smirked at him. "Well, you'll have to limp in the mornings. Wouldn't want anyone to think I wasn't doing my job."
Robin laughed coldly. "You do the limping, Slade. Now go pretty yourself up, we have to leave soon." The teen then did something very foolish; he turned his back on the man.
He had no warning whatsoever, but suddenly he was on the bed, on his stomach, his neck and hip in a painful iron grip and his jeans were down by his knees, together with his underwear. Robin tried to kick out, but Slade had him under complete control. The man's groin, still covered by his pants, were pressed into the teen's behind.
"Now, Robin… so there's no misunderstanding… I'm the top. Exclusive. We never discussed those details with Bruce, but in a crowd like this it might come up in some raunchy banter. We need to keep our stories straight. Agreed?"
"Fuck you!" Robin growled, trying even harder to fight back.
"I see I have to take further measures," the man said and the hand on the teen's hip disappeared for a moment. Robin froze when he heard the zipper.
"Slade! No! Stop! You can't!"
"You agree, then?"
"Yes! Yes! Agreed!"
"And what was the agreement?"
"You're the top! Okay? Let me go!"
"In a moment. I want you to remember something here Robin," the man told him in a low growl. "I'm not a nice man. And you're on a ship. You have nowhere to run and I can do what I please with you, because you're too damn heroic and proud to go cry to Batman or abandon the mission. That does not mean I will, but don't push me, understood?"
"Fine!" Robin reluctantly grunted.
He was finally released and hurriedly pulled his jeans up as he scrambled off the bed, nearly falling flat on his face. Once he was decent, he whipped around to face an indifferent looking Slade.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" the teen exclaimed.
"Making a point through abusive, excessive violence." The man smirked slightly, like he thought the whole thing had been a good joke.
"Why?!"
"Because you wouldn't listen otherwise."
The teen gaped. "You… you could have tried using your words," he then growled.
"This way was quicker. Besides, there was something else I wanted to illustrate. Continue like this and you might get yourself killed."
"You're… you're gonna-?"
"No. No, Robin, we're partners. But you were just threatened with rape and you're still keeping your voice down because of the mission… I needed to know how fucked up you are."
"Excuse me?!" the teen's voice rose a bit.
"If or when we face these people there will be no time for heroics. Hesitation or trying to think of a humane way to take them down will get you killed. I like my skin where it is, so I'd like to avoid that, but in that case, I need you to put yourself first, your primal self, not some heroic delusion."
"I am aware of the dangers."
"Three weeks ago, you tried to reason with a madman with a gun and almost got yourself killed."
"How did you-? That worked out fine!"
"Because your metal friend had a bit more sense and blasted the man."
"Well, I understand this is different, ok? Many people might get hurt if that poison somehow spreads, after all."
Robin saw the man roll his eye and it looked like the mercenary was very close to facepalm as well. Suddenly the man was grabbing his shoulders, almost shaking him.
"This. Is. Not. About. Other. People! Put yourself first!"
"Fine! Fine!" Robin snapped.
"If you can't, at least run and let me deal with it," Slade muttered and let him go. "You're mainly here for your brains after all, I'm the brawns."
"So you're saying I'm smarter?" the teen smirked.
"Do you want to be back on the bed?"
"No."
"Then learn."
"We need to get ready," Robin huffed and walked by Slade into the bathroom. "Do we need to change?"
"You're the one with that type of knowledge," the man replied.
"Then we should. And Slade?"
"Yes?"
"I got the point you were trying to make, but if you ever threaten me for just making fun of you again, I'll make sure Bruce starts with peeling the skin off your balls."
There was a moment's silence and the teen honestly thought he would be flying again at any moment, but then there was a short, gruff laugh. "Understood."
Robin quickly washed himself off in the bathroom and brushed his hair into place once more. When he came out Slade was in his underwear, picking out an outfit.
"Nice," Robin said, letting his eyes roam over the man's body. "Exactly how gay were you again?"
"I should have known violent sexual acts would turn you on," the man smirked at him.
"The white pants and white shirt," was all Robin replied.
"That won't make me look like a sailor?"
"That's kinda the point," the teen said and pulled his own top over his head, "I'll wear white shorts and the blue polo, and we can be seamen together," he added with a naughty smirk and pulled down his pants, sans underwear this time.
"Nice," Slade leered, copying Robin.
"You've already seen more than I wanted you to," the teen snorted. "You really crossed a line there, Slade."
"Maybe I did. I have a problem with lines," the man shrugged and disappeared into the bathroom to freshen up as well.
"You fucking well have," Robin muttered.
"I can still hear you!" Slade's reply came through the door.
The teen replied with a hand gesture this time.
Soon they were standing with tall glasses of good champagne in their hands, smiling happily at everything and nothing around them while looking out over Fort Lauderdale harbor.
"This will be fantastic, honey!" Robin, in his role of insanely-in-love-new-husband squealed and almost jumped up and down on his toes which hugging Slade's arm with his free one. As Slade wasn't very good at socializing without punching people in the face, Robin had taken it upon himself to play the over-socializing type and he had already introduced himself to three couples, dragging the mercenary along for the ride.
They listened to a short speech by the captain, joined in on a cheer for the trip and then watched with the others as the ship started gliding away from the port and slowly maneuver out into open water. There were a few people down there, waving goodbye to relatives who happily waved back. Robin took note of them and mentally put them on the list of lesser suspects. 'Their' guys most likely didn't have people seeing them off. He locked eyes with Slade and nodded a little in their direction. He got a nod back and, probably because they were staring at each other and Slade thought it might look odd, it was followed up by a long, slow kiss. Around them several couples were doing the same thing, all kinds of affection were displaced from making out to just standing close to each other. Robin took note of this too, once the kiss was over and he could think properly again. Slade was a very good kisser, it was too easy to get lost in it all, and he needed to stay sharp. He emptied the champagne and almost instantly had a staff member with a tray offering to take it away.
"I need a picture of you!" Robin then stated and brought out his phone. He snapped a few shots of Slade, furtively focusing on the people around the man instead. "The light's not good, please come over here instead?" he then said. He also shot video of the crowd. Moving the phone as slowly as he could. All of it was immediately and automatically sent to the Batcave for processing. Slade took photos of him too, and then, leering, insisted on a selfie with them kissing.
"Bruce will start building that machine," Robin whispered to him afterwards. He then 'accidentally' bumped in to a male couple and apologized, introducing himself and Slade in the process. So the afternoon went until they returned to their rooms to shower and change for dinner. Robin was looking down at their passenger list and sighed.
"3,560 guests in 1,780 cabins and just seven days to go through them? Lovely."
"Well, we know there's two of them, we know they are biologically male-"
"We think we do, anyway. Who says they haven't spread out with a companion each?"
"Let's assume they haven't." Slade decided. "Let's also assume they are on board at all… leads can be wrong. But we know they have been on cruises before, we've been able to connect some deaths to these kinds of travels. One or both of them could be disguised as a woman, but as far as our information goes they haven't done that before. Either they are not comfortable with it, or, and this is important, they might not have a body type that really matches."
"Like how?"
"Imagine me in a skirt."
"Point taken."
"Bruce has also been busy using his computer skills to scratch off as many as possible from the suspect list. He placed us on this deck for a reason; it's here that most uncertainties are. Untraceable, suspiciously fake names, for example. All the research takes time… we have to give him as many names and visual data as possible."
"Yeah, we can't possibly get to know all these people and have deep conversations with them where we just suddenly start talking about Mother Russia…" Robin sighed.
"If that's your plan I might want to change partners," Slade chuckled. "And now either you hit the shower or we're sharing. I'm starving."
"It's the sea air," Robin chuckled and hurried along.
"Oh, and don't forget we have to at least try to identify possible targets on the ship and we have no idea about those. They might also be among the one thousand three hundred plus crew members," Slade reminded him through the door.
"God dammit," the teen groaned.
The ship offered traditional dining which meant dinner at specific times every day where you were seated with the same group of people, as well as any time dining where the restaurant was open for dinner from five thirty until ten. There was also a pizzeria, a barbecue-place and several other places to eat like cafés, onboard. Robin and Slade couldn't possibly tie themselves down to the same crowd every night, but had to explore it all, of course, so tonight they had the early seating in the traditional dining hall. Slade looked damn good in his dark grey suit and Robin could just hope he looked half as good in his light grey.
Even though he was essentially working, Robin found that he was having a good time. As they were taking an after-dinner stroll on the deck, he said as much to Slade.
"I haven't been on a vacation for years," he admitted. "How about we forget about work and just enjoy ourselves?"
"You know when I was talking about you needing to put yourself first?" Slade asked.
"Yes?"
"You took it too far."
"Really, now?" Robin grinned and arched an eyebrow. "So Slade is all work, no play?"
"Work comes first," the man shrugged and then kissed his hair as another couple passed by.
"You're sending me mixed signals," Robin giggled.
"I think you should stay away from the wine from now on," the man snorted, with laughter in his voice.
"I'm not drunk!" Robin objected. "Maybe just a bit tipsy," he added, thoughtfully. "Which I didn't mean to become. Simple miscl… miscalklu… miscalculation."
"I see. Well, how about heading back to the cabin, we have some work to do tonight."
"Yeah. Don't worry, strong cup of coffee and I'm on top of it," Robin promised.
He was asleep within five minutes of coming back.
"Wake up."
"Um… huh?" the teen answered, feeling foggy.
"I'm about to leave to break into the security room to tap the video feeds," Slade told him. "Did that last glass of wine wear off?"
"I… yeah… yeah, sorry," Robin mumbled.
"Good, then I need you to contact Bruce to see how the updating of our suspects lists is doing. We will need to target specific couples tomorrow."
"Alright, good luck. Be careful."
"Aren't you sweet?"
"Fuck off."
"And there it went. If I'm not back in thirty minutes, send help."
"Really?"
"No, but come find me and bring a mop and some bleach."
"I hope that was a joke," Robin sighed.
Slade smirked. "Me too."
Batman answered the call almost immediately.
"I've been able to narrow the main suspect list down to about one hundred couples," was the first thing he said.
"Oh, yay," Robin drawled. "Did you get a positive ID on the ones waving goodbye?"
"Yes, and good call, they are all off the list," the man replied.
"Good. I'm sending you notes on the people we dined with tonight, mostly older couples and I don't think any of them are our guys, I made sure to study their hands as well… easy to forget to age those."
"Often missed, yes," the Dark Knight nodded. "I'm running the list against the passenger list now, and- ah, most of them weren't on the target list but one couple was. You're sure about Captain Williams and his husband?"
"Uploading photos now, and yes. I suspect early onset of Alzheimer's. Could be faked, of course, but their builds…?"
"I see what you are saying, we're taking them off the list as well. Good. Is Slade hacking the system according to the plan?"
"Yes, he's on it."
"Good. Anything else suspicious to report?"
"Not really. We'll see if we can track down any of the couples on the list tonight, at least make sure we know where they live… Not sure there's much more we can do tonight without drawing attention to ourselves."
"We're not going to talk about that selfie?"
"No."
"Just asking. So… things are… under control? You don't feel… uncomfortable?"
"Well, he is pretty hung…"
"…"
"Just kidding!"
"You almost gave me a heart attack," Batman muttered. "But if things get to be too much, just pretend you're having a fight and split up. You will cover more ground like that after all."
"Yes, but four- that is three, eyes see more than two. Slade is good at reading body language… although earlier today the guy he was watching just turned out to have the runs."
Batman chuckled. "Well, that will make a person look very uncomfortable. Alfred or I will make sure to always be available, so just call, and everything you send goes directly into the analyzing program in the computer which will send us both reports. Just give it as much information as you can."
"Yeah, I'm going to leave my phone on recording and place it in my front shirt pocket whenever we are among people," Robin said. "that should give us lots of footage without looking suspicious."
"Sounds good. Ah, Slade just patched through the security, I'll be running that too."
"That was quick."
"Well, the ship only goes through its camera feed after something has happened, so that makes things easier," the man said.
"I guess," Robin shrugged. "I'm getting changed for a romantic evening stroll on deck, then."
"You sound very enthusiastic."
"We could switch places you know? I could handle Gotham for a few days," Robin warned him.
"I appreciate what you are doing immensely," Batman hurriedly assured him, and the teen grinned.
"Sure you do. Gotta go. Say hello to Al."
Ten minutes later Slade was back, no worse for wear, and confirmed his mission had been a success.
"The security on this ship is lax at best," he let the teen know. Robin had changed into leisure wear again and soon they were up on deck, noting that the wind was actually slightly chilly, slowly mingling with other couples. The deck quickly emptied, though, perhaps due to the wind, but Robin had seen many yawns and suspected most would have an early night.
"I think we should turn in," he suggested, and once they were back in their cabin he told the man what he had thought about on the way. "The ship will reach the Princess Cays at nine tomorrow morning. If we get up early, we should be able to track down at least some of the suspects while they are having breakfast."
"Sounds like a plan," Slade said and removed his shirt. "I could do with some sleep."
"You don't normally sleep?" Robin asked, as it had sounded by the man's tone like it was a rare occurrence.
"Of course I do, but I can stay up for as long as I have to," the man said and let his trousers fall to the floor next. "So don't try to compete with me there. Sleep when needed. You have to stay sharp, after all."
"Yes, yes," Robin yawned and started undressing himself. He disappeared into the bathroom to change into his pajama pants and brush his teeth and then went to bed. Slade used the bathroom as well and then the bed dipped rather violently as the man sat down on it.
"The hell?" Robin yelped as he almost rolled onto the man's side of the bed.
"Interesting mattress," Slade commented, sounding amused. "At least I assume you didn't want to cuddle?"
"Not really, no," the teen drawled and rolled back.
After that the mattress behaved better and they settled in. Robin, however, couldn't sleep. His mind was full of ideas of how to get through their list as soon as possible, and the ideas kept getting crazier until he just sat up in bed in frustration.
"Lots on your mind?"
"Yeah, brain is going on overdrive."
"Go sleep on the couch if you're going to toss and turn."
"How thoughtful and empathic of you." Robin glared at the man over his shoulder.
"I have no idea what those word mean," Slade smirked back at him. "We could fuck?" the man then offered. "That usually works."
"Thanks, I think I'll just try to fall asleep again," Robin muttered and turned back so the man wouldn't see the blush on his face.
"Good luck."
"Thanks."
"The offer still stands, though. Any time."
"Generous."
"I'd say so."
Robin snorted and laid down again, His head was still full, but with other things this time.
"You'd really be ok with having sex?" he asked after a while.
"Why not?" Slade asked, sounding somewhat confused like if Robin had asked if he enjoyed breathing.
"Well, we're not exactly… you know… on the same side… normally."
"And?"
"So it would be just sex? No feelings involved? Practically jerking off but with assistance?"
"An interesting way of putting it, but yes?"
"Huh." Robin was quiet for a moment. "I might be interested in that." He waited until he felt the man turn towards him. "But not tonight, I'm finally getting sleepy." The teen fell asleep a bit later with a small smirk on his lips.
They were up early and managed to meet up with one of the couples on the suspect list, that was; people Bruce hadn't been able to identify or confirm actually being on this cruise. Some could be written off simply because of their age or build, and the unlikely team made very sure they weren't tricked by costumes and make up. Pretty soon they both noticed a couple of men, tall, buzz cut, serious looking and very quiet. Luckily the breakfast room
started to fill up by now so Robin's excuse of asking if the other two seats at their table were taken wasn't very suspicious.
"Hi, I'm Robin Wilson, this is my husband Slade," the teen said. He knew his phone was on and recording, but made sure to turn so it would catch both the men's faces.
"I'm Derek, this is Tim," the dark-haired of the men offered. His dirty-blond friend nodded and continued buttering his toast.
"Sorry for the bother," Slade said as he sat down. "This is our first cruise, I think Robin is a bit too eager to make friends."
"Just because you would prefer not to leave the cabin," the teen snorted.
"I have to say I understand him," Derek smirked, and Robin could feel the man undressing him. Tim just gave his supposed partner a look and rolled his eyes, sighing.
"Oh, you…" Robin close-to-giggled. "So are you going ashore? Do you know what there is to do?"
"Lots of outdoor activities, apparently… snorkeling, kite surfing… banana boat rides…"
"Oh, I need a picture of you on a big banana, Slade!" Robin snickered.
"Seems, fair, I have plenty of pics of you riding one," the man leered, getting low chuckles from the other couple.
"Why did I marry you again?" the teen sighed.
"My big banana?"
"Watch it or there will be banana split for desert tonight," Robin warned the man before turning back to the other couple. "Ignore him, he thinks he's special." Judging by Tim's look the man somewhat agreed. "So what will it be for you? I wouldn't mind some snorkeling…"
The men exchanged looks. "We might. Haven't quite decided yet," Derek said.
"Fair enough," Robin said, waving the subject away. "Mmmm… this marmalade is divine, Slade! Try!" he urged before practically forcing a piece of bread into the man's mouth.
"Not as divine as you," the man purred after he managed to swallow the thing.
"Awww… love you," Robin purred back.
"Love you more," Slade answered, giving him a quick kiss.
"Newlyweds?" Derek asked dryly.
"Oh! Yeah… sorry. Sorry," Robin blushed, although it wasn't from the man's comment. "We'll be good now."
"How boring," Tim smirked, but then they all focused on breakfast.
"Do you know anyone onboard?" Robin asked as they were finishing up. Their strategy involved asking that as one 'innocent' couple could vouch for another.
"No. We like to stay pretty… private," Derek answered. Robin pretended to not get the hint but they had to let the couple go after that.
"What do you think?" the teen whispered to Slade when they were alone again.
"Possible, it will be interesting to see what the computer comes up with," Slade nodded. Robin turned his recording off and sent an extra message to the bat cave that the men were a priority to check up on.
After stalking the breakfast areas for as long as they dared they made their way to the place they were to disembark from. They were getting shipped into shore by tender boats and Slade and Robin were among the first to leave the ship, partly because of the suite they had came with that privilege. Once at shore they took refuge in the shade and furtively filmed everyone going ashore.
"I feel like such a creep," Robin joked as he pretended to show Slade something on a map.
"Welcome to the world of spying," the man chuckled.
"This world is also immensely boring," the teen admitted.
"Trust me, you don't want it to be too interesting," Slade let him know.
"It's our guys," Robin then whispered and nodded towards the two men they had had breakfast with. They were walking close together, talking, and seemed to be in no great hurry. "Should we follow them?"
"No. We have no proof."
"Then let's go get some," Robin said and dragged Slade back towards the tender boat which has just dropped off the last batch. "Excuse me?" he called out to the crew. "Can we go back?" he clutched his stomach and looked miserable. "I'm not feeling too well…"
"Of course, sir," the crewmember in charge said and Robin turned to lade.
"Honey, please, you don't have to go with me… I'm just going to be in our cabin anyway, feel free to go… just pick me a few seashells and buy me a souvenir, okay?" he said that to give the man a way out in case Slade thought the idea was bad or thought it was better to split up, but the man shook his head.
"Of course I'm going with you, love. I'll spoil you until you tell me to get the hell out and then I'll just spend the day by the pool," he grinned.
"Love you," Robin smiled back weakly, and was then helped on board.
A crew member followed them to their cabin just to make sure they had everything they needed and didn't have to call the ship's doctor. Robin assured her that it was only an upset stomach. "I think I can have lactose but my stomach doesn't agree," he joked.
As soon as the door closed on the staff member Slade was on the phone, contacting the bat cave.
"We need info on the two from breakfast, anything yet?"
"Negative, I can't find any matches of their names," Bruce replied, "The computer is running their faces through a face matching program but that will take a while."
"I'd say they are suspect enough to check out," Robin said. "Their cabin is on this floor. Let's go."
"Be careful," Bruce urged them.
The door locks were electronic and needed a key card, but that was no problem for Robin. Slade kept watch while the teen quickly gained access, but once the door opened Slade took over.
"Let me go through first, just in case. You look through their personal belongings, stay away from any locked bags and the like."
"Sure," Robin nodded. "Let's be quick."
Five minutes in and Slade had just unlocked a metal attaché case. He rummaged through it silently and then quickly shut it close. "We're leaving. Now."
"What…?" Robin asked, a bit alarmed.
"Now."
After making sure no one was in the hallway they quickly slipped out and were back into their room a moment later. Slade was already on the phone.
"Our targets, Derek and Tim," he told Bruce. "They are CIA. Run their photos through their system, through the fed one too, I think you'll find a match. Oh, and Derek Williams and Tim O'Locke."
"Will do." Bruce said and Robin could hear keys clicking over the speaker phone.
"CIA? You sure?"
"Recognized their set up. The case contained their real ID's or at least that's what I believe they are."
"Got a match, you were right," Bruce told them. "Damn," he added, "I thought we had something."
"Will they be any problem? Why are they here?" Robin asked.
"Might be after the same people we are," Slade shrugged.
"Could we work together?" the teen asked.
"No," Slade shook his head. "They will only be in the way."
"I have a feeling Slade will think they will be in his way," Bruce muttered. "But for now, stay away from them. I don't want them to be too interested in your identity either, Robin."
"Yeah, okay," the teen agreed. "But that leaves us on square one again. Has the computer come up with anything else to go on?"
"There's three couples you need to check out as soon as possible. The Stefans, the Stormbergs and then Schmidt and Weber. They are all on your deck."
"Found them," Robin said, looking through the passenger list. "They might have left the ship, should we look through their rooms?"
"Do we have confirmation they left?" Slade asked Bruce.
"Not yet."
"Then it's too dangerous, but that doesn't mean we can't go check. I'll take the rooms towards the stern of the ship and you take the one towards the bow."
"And once I've figured out which is which I'm with you on that plan," Robin snorted.
"You go left in the hallway."
"Ok, got you," the teen grinned. "I'm going right now," he said and grabbed a piece of stationary from the stylish desk, which he scribbled the room number on.
Before he knocked on the door he fiddled with his phone, activating the live feed once more. He then knocked and waited. After a little bit he knocked again and was about to leave when the door finally opened, just a little.
"Hi!" Robin grinned, but then looked a bit nonplussed. "Um… I was looking for Robert?"
The man, later thirties early forties, perhaps, had a rounded face and glasses. His mousy brown hair seemed to be thinning at the top and for some reason he compensated that with wearing it slightly longer on the sides. The rest of him were thin if anything, making him look a little bit like a needle pin.
"I think you have the wrong room," the man smiled, not unkindly.
"Oh! Oh damn! I just scribbled it down…" Robin showed him the paper where he purposefully had written the number badly. "Does this look like a one to you, then?"
"Might be, might be," the man said. His voice reminded the teen of an English professor, for some reason, someone who weighed their words and enjoyed collection old dictionaries.
Robin could faintly hear the sound of another person moving inside but didn't see anyone.
"I'm sorry to have bothered you," he said, smiling apologetically. "I couldn't stay ashore today because of my stupid stomach so I hoped this guy I met had stayed behind too… oh, I'm sorry, I'm Robin Wilson!" he said, holding his hand out.
"Carl Schmidt," the man introduced himself. "My partner Victor has a bit of a sore back so we decided to take it easy today. Victor?" he added, calling into the room.
A somewhat younger man, early thirties at the most came to the door, clutching the side of his back with a strained expression. "Oh, hello," he smiled when he spotted Robin. "Victor Weber," he added and held out his hand. He was half a head taller than his older partner and had short but thick, auburn curly hair.
"Robin Wilson," the teen repeated. "I got the wrong room. What happened to your back, did you stretch something?"
"Yes, it's silly really. I will be better in a day or two, though."
"My husband is really good at muscle injuries," Robin said without having any idea if Slade had given anyone as much as a foreplay-back rub. "If you want to, I can bring him over? He just wanted to spend the day at the pool anyway, this way he'll at least be useful," he added with a grin.
"So that's why you went looking for company?" Carl asked teasingly.
"Well, I think he is a little bit annoyed with me for cancelling today's outing," Robin sighed, looking sad. "We had both really looked forwards to it. I told him to go himself, but… well."
"Is he a doctor?" Victor asked.
"Oh, no, not at all, he deals in stocks, but he's very athletic and has some kind of a license from when he was younger," Robin claimed. "For like sport accidents? I'm not sure… I mean, you probably should call the real doctor, he just helped my dad with his back the other week… I understand if you don't want to-"
"You know, why not? As long as he doesn't crack my back he can't do much harm," Victor said.
"You sure?" his partner asked, not sounding too pleased.
"I don't want to hobble along like this if I don't have to," the man answered.
"That's great, I'll go get him! He's probably not gone to the pool yet," Robin said and hurried off before the men had an opportunity to object.
To be Continued…
A/N: I think you know what scene I was talking about in the top A/N, and I can just IMAGINE the OUTRAGE if that was included in an actual book or TV-show or something… but screw those people, Slade is Slade and he doesn't care how the points are made as long as they are understood. And I think Robin did understand. Kinda. Maybe.
Aaaanyway, I wonder if Slade will be a good massage therapist… at least it's not open heart surgery. Unless something goes VERY wrong…