Disclaimer: Did anyone else get a glitch here all day? oh well, don't matter. Didn't give me rights to young justice anyway. DC still owns them.

Um, the title should he warning enough. no bats in this chapter though. It does build up to the bat anyway. Please enjoy the crack chapter. I did.

Without Me

Ch. 23 – Marvelous Sugar

Dick hesitated leaving his room that morning. The one part of his dreams he could remember was with Superman comforting him while he spoke like a whiny little kid. It was so embarrassing he prayed it was a dream. But if experience told him anything, any part of a dream you remember clearly was either really weird or actually happened.

Why was it the things that were dreams you wish were real and the things that were real you wished were dreams?

Dick rubbed his head, groaning at himself. He did not want to face Clark that morning. After giving him the silent treatment all the previous day, the man ends up seeing him have a slight breakdown after a nightmare. No doubt he'd use it as leverage against him later. Well maybe not. Clark wasn't exactly vindictive. Wally or Ollie would have teased him forever about it. Hal would have joined in too. Bruce would just never talk about it again. Clark on the other hand might end up just trying to be friendlier than usual.

Uck. The last thing he needed was pity, and an overly friendly Superman got annoying after a while. As much as he liked him on a regular basis, when Clark put too much forward to make everything alright he tended to get cheesy. It was then Dick agreed with Bruce about the man being too cheerful. He tried to come up with some way to talk to the man of steel and convince him not to mention it again without losing any ground on the "child in the hero business" argument he felt he was having with every other Leaguer.

Once he had a Flash shirt on and grabbed his jacket, he felt he had something. Maybe being direct like Batman would help this time around. Direct and curt. He nodded to himself as he took the sunglasses out of his jacket pocket and put it on. He was ready to take on Superman.

He saw the man of steel talking to someone on the far end of the hall, reminding Robin he was getting yet another sitter for the day. He wondered who it'd be this time. He bet both Diana and Ollie were out because of the bad impression he left on them. He was quite sure Dinah would have told him if she was going to be watching him. John Stewart hadn't shown his face since that last meeting, and he hadn't seen either of the Hawks. He doubted any of the others were even options. So it had to be either John or one of the Hawks, right?

When he made it to the main hall, he stopped in the doorway, his jaw dropping.

"You have got to be kidding me." Robin gaped at his sitter for the day, then looked over to Superman in disbelief. The League had to be nuts.

Captain Marvel grinned from ear to ear before them, offering his hand to Robin excitedly. "Nice to meet you Robin! I've heard all about you from Flash and Green Lantern and Superman here! I'm Captain Marvel!"

"I know." Robin's disbelief at this turn of events only made him stare even more between the two superpowers of the League. Superman gave a nod of encouragement to Robin, who then finally gave him his hand. "I've met Captain Marvel in my world."

"That's so cool!" Marvel chirped in, excitedly shaking his hand like a little kid. "What's he like? Is he anything like me? Are you two friends there? 'Cause I thing we can be great friends! There's all these movies I got and games and food and toys, we're gonna have a blast!"

"Uh… yeah…" The teen tried to move along with the vigorous handshake to make sure his arm didn't snap off, but it was becoming quite difficult. "Can I have my hand back? I think it's going to break."

"Oh right sure!" The mighty mortal let go of Robin's hand, slightly embarrassed by his actions. "Sorry about that. Sometimes I forget about my own strength."

"Of Hercules, I know."

He gasped in surprise. "You know? Wow! You must be really close to your Captain Marvel! Is he anything like me?"

Robin looked up and down Marvel for a moment then smirked. "Exactly like you if I know right."

"Hotdog!" The man nearly jumped into the air at the thought. "The wizard was right! Some worlds are so close together there's really no difference!"

"Did the wizard also tell you how I can get home?" the teen asked quickly.

"Nope, but he did say not to lose hope. Everything will work out one way or another." Robin's spirits didn't lift at this statement in the slightest. He was hoping Shazam would have something enlightening to say about his predicament. Marvel settled in front of him again, floating slightly in excitement. "Hey hey! What do you wanna do first? I've got games and movies and—"

"I'll settle for breakfast first," Robin insisted, holding up a hand. "There's still some cereal in the cupboards and other things. If you want to pick a movie while we eat, go on ahead. I've got to ask Superman something real quick."

"Sweet! Okay! See ya in a minute!" With that Captain Marvel flew off into the kitchen like an excited child.

Instantly Robin turned to Superman, disbelief covering his face. "Are you serious? Captain Marvel?"

"He's a really great guy," the man of steel insisted, amused at Robin's objection. Didn't he like Marvel? "And after Flash told him about you, he's been asking to come visit."

"But this is Captain Marvel we're talking about." He tried to keep himself under control, especially at how funny this scenario was. "He's not exactly…"

"Relax. A couple other Leaguers reported they'd be coming by through the day too." Superman gave a knowing smirk. "I'm sure Marvel's perfectly capable of keeping tabs on you throughout the day, so long as you behave."

Realization came to Robin's mind, making him force back a smile and a laugh as he asked, "Do you even know who Captain Marvel is?"

Superman raised an eyebrow. "No, but he doesn't know who I am or the rest of the League either. So does it matter?"

Now it was near impossible to completely hide Robin's smile. "Nope. I'm going to go eat now. Have fun at the Planet Clark. Kiss Lois on the cheek for me."

Quickly before the man of steel could put two and two together, Robin towards the kitchen, then stopped as he remembered something important. He spun back around at the entryway, facing the man. "Oh, and last night never happened, got it?"

The alien nodded, letting the boy grin and get back to running towards what promised to be an interesting day. He knew Superman was watching him for a minute before going through the tubes to Metropolis, but even he couldn't see how far his smile spread or read minds. The teen took one of the other bowls and filled it with sweet sugary goodness just in time to see Marvel take out a Disney movie.

"How about Robin Hood!" he asked excitedly. "That's where you got your name right?"

Robin laughed, glad he was just as innocent as he remembered him. "Nope. Got it from my mom. She always called me her robin. But I did grow up watching the show a lot."

"So..." the man gave a small pout, "is it no good?"

The teen waited until the zeta-tube finished shutting down before answering. "It's fine. Hey, is it true the League doesn't know who you are or anything?"

Marvel shifted uncomfortably. "What's there to know? I'm the world's mightiest mortal and I gained my abilities from the wizard."

"Via lightning bolt." Robin smirked at the caught look on the leaguer's face. He raised a hand in his defense. "Don't worry. I won't blab. It's just really funny is all. How'd you get out of school today anyway?"

The boy inside Marvel grinned impishly as he put the DVD in. "I had Uncle Dudley call in sick for me. I really wanted to meet you sooner, but I had homework. All caught up now."

"When you go back tomorrow it's going to be rough," the boy wonder reminded him. "I was in your shoes not that long ago."

"I know." Marvel grabbed the remotes and floated over to his waiting bowl of cereal as they waited for the movie to start up. "But they said you might not be here long and I really wanted to know what it was like growing up doing all of this, especially with no powers. And Flash said you grew up in a circus! I've never even been to a circus! What's it like? Did you runaway to it? What'd you do there? I bet it was fun! It was fun right?"

Robin laughed, amused for so many reasons. Captain Marvel's string of questions were very similar to the first time they were able to talk one on one. No one could really hate the guy, but he was pretty easy to get to do whatever you wanted him to. Which led to what was really amusing in the teen's mind.

A fifth grader was supposed to baby-sit a high school freshman. And it looked like no one in the league was the wiser about it. 'Oh yeah, this is going to be fun.'

Hal was the first real adult Leaguer to make it to the cave, arriving around four in the afternoon. What he saw within seconds on entering floored him.

"Ha ha! You totally botched that one!"

"That's not fair!" Marvel shouted back. "It's way too fast for me!"

"Nah, you just don't practice enough!" Robin leapt into the air and landed his hands on the arrows beneath him. On the holosceen rhythmic arrows flew upward into slots and music in perfect time with the display filling the whole cave. Candy wrappers littered the floor, along with empty soda cans, several boxes of cookies, and splotches of what looked like paint. Both the people playing their version of DDR had paint on their hands and chocolate smudges on their faces, Marvel more than Robin, but only by a little.

Marvel pouted childishly as he tried to make another move on the screen. "I can't go to the arcade every day! I'm poor!"

"Try hopscotch then!" Robin grinned impishly. He landed combo after combo after combo, adding acrobatic flares to them whenever he could. "Or twister on steroids! Play it with Flash! He'll get you good at this in no time!"

COMPLETE the game roared. Both stopped their jumping around to see their scores.

"Please be a B, please be a B!" Marvel pleaded. Robin grinned knowingly. Quickly both their scores rolled to a stop before them. Marvel's shoulders drooped dramatically in disperse. "D! I got a D! Again!"

"Ha ha ha!" Robin cackled evilly. He had triple A's. "Sucks to be you!"

"That's so mean!" The mighty mortal griped at the teen. "I demand a rematch!"

"Demand as many as you like!" The teen rebutted, still grinning. "Doesn't mean you'll win!"

"What are you two doing?" Hal interjected. Both the players turned towards the pilot, surprised to see him there. It didn't last long though.

Robin grinned even more impishly than before. "Beating each other's butt in different games. He's pretty good at pin pong and air hockey, but royally sucks at DDR and Guitar Hero."

"And when did we get these games?" He tried to not sound impressed.

"A few hours ago. Movies got boring."

"Green Lantern! He's being mean!" Marvel whined, pointing to Robin.

"Um…"

"Am not!" Robin retorted. "You're just upset 'cause I keep winning!"

"Uh… guys…"

"Then Green Lantern's on my team!" Hal jerked in surprise as the mighty mortal flew over and grabbed his arm, pulling him to the projection floor before the screens.

"What the!" Without a single say in the matter, the pilot was placed between the two, unable to think of a way out of this.

"You don't have teams in DDR!" the boy wonder insisted.

"He's right you know," Hal tried, hoping it'd get him out of this.

"I don't care!" Marvel shouted, balling his fists in a near tantrum. "We'll beat you somehow! I'm not quitting until I beat you!"

"That's a little—"

"Fine!" Robin shouted, exasperated. He tapped a few keys on a pad floating near him and a new set of arrows appeared beneath Hal. He put in a new song, readying the system to play once more. "We can add up your scores after it's done and count that as one team score. But if someone else joins in, they're on my team."

"YAY!"

"HOLD ON A MINUTE!" Hal finally got the two's attention, not quite believing what he was seeing here. Both blinked at him in identical innocent ways. He took one more look around the room before asking what he should have already known. "How much sugar have you two eaten?"

"Ummmm…." Marvel looked away guiltily, licking the corner of his mouth where a glob of chocolate still rested.

Robin just grinned, maybe looking away. Couldn't tell with those shades. "We didn't eat it straight up. To the game!"

"Oh no you—" Before he could have a say in what happened next, 'Butterfly' started playing and the arrows started to fly. Both boys were already dancing away, attention entirely focused on the game.

"Come on GL!" Marvel encouraged. "We're losing!"

Quickly Hal attempted to follow the arrows with his feet while tapping his communicator to call in backup, or at least a camera. "Flash, get to the mountain asap."

"Why?" Flash responded immediately, curiosity taking over precautions. "Did something happen to Robin?"

"Ummm… You've just got to see this. I don't think I can—"

"HAHA!" Robin shouted gleefully as he perfected another combo while the other two messed up their steps. "Take that!"

"—handle this alone. Bring a camera."

"What?" His best friend on the other end was becoming more and more confused with every cryptic phrase.

"You'll see." Hal didn't want to ruin the surprise for the speedster, and frankly if he talked any longer he'd keep missing steps. There was no way he was going to let Robin keep winning.

It took two more songs before the Zeta-tube lit up again and Flash appeared. This time both boys took notice of it before Hal did and spotted Flash. The speedster took one quick look around the room before a scowl started appearing on his face. Instantly the two sugar high heroes pointed to Hal between them and shouted.

"HE DID IT!"

Before either adult could stop them or question what the 'it' was, the two bolted in opposite directions as fast as they could. Robin vanished into the ventilation while Marvel just flew off deep into the cave. Hal gaped as he turned his head around every which way in shock. Flash seemed to figure something out and pinched his brow in frustration.

"What just happened?" the pilot asked, completely confused.

"You've just been had Hal." The speedster looked around the room and spotted the drops of paint. "Did you take a look around and see what they painted yet?"

Hal looked away, embarrassedly thumbing over to the screen. "They kinda dragged me into the game as soon as I got here."

"Oh boy did they play you." Not thinking another second, Flash dashed around the cave, doing a quick search. It didn't take long and soon Hal heard him shout for him from the common area. He was there within minutes and stopped still in the doorway, gaping at the sight.

"Oh no they didn't." Both of them bit back laughs as they looked around every which way. Nearly every surface in the room was painted a different color, and very badly at that. It looked like someone had used their hands to paint everything. Remains of candy wrappers clung to the wall because of the stuff. The only good parts of the new paint job were the Leaguer's crests put around the room at random. A large red lightning bolt was on the ceiling.

"Oh they sure did." Flash shook his head, trying very very hard not to laugh at what the two did. "I can't believe they… Where did they find all that sugar?"

"Where did they find the paint?" GL looked around for his own crest and found it on one of the cupboard doors. Unfortunately it was yellow. Both adults shook their heads in exasperation. The majority of the League would be furious.

"We better get them so they can clean it up." Flash turned back to the main hall, turning off the game and bringing up an internal mountain search. "You grab Marvel while I get Robin."

"How are you going to find that kid?" Hal wondered out loud. "I mean, Batman trained him right? He could be anywhere."

"I sprayed the kid's sunglasses with a safe, rare isotope. Just as a way to search for him if he disappeared on us." The speedster gave his friend a grin. "Don't worry, I've handled a hyper teen before. Getting those two to clean up will be a cake walk compared to explaining what happened to Superman or Batman."

The space cop snickered before taking off to find Captain Marvel. Oh yeah, this was beyond hysterical. He just had to stick around until Supes came tonight and tell him the whole story. Sugar, video games, paint, one mighty mortal and one teenager. That was indeed the makings of trouble.

A/N: yes, pure crack. one should never leave captain marvel alone with Dick and give them sugar. I'm pretty sure the boy wonder would unlock the kid in him again and again, and then we'd have trouble. I've established in another story that Dick knows who marvel is, and his true age, so I thought it'd be funny if no one in the League here knew. And my reasoning for why he was allowed to watch the team in the show is simple: he was there for the psychological effect. SO long as the team had an "adult" supervisor, they're more likely to behave. Over all they aren't bad kids. Still, one ten year old watching over a pack of teenagers... hilarious.

I added the painting prank because of other fanfics I've read. It sounded like a dick thing to do. Along with downloading DDR and guitar hero to the league's computer for them to play. Then there's the classic "blame Hal" bit. Had to do it. Sugar high kids are a blast. I remember being one of them. =D