Back so fast! Cause we have no life. And I'm just in such a mood to write this~ Working on Young Avengers and the Runaways right now though... Totes wanna write Teddy/Billy~~~ Aaanyyywhooos, thanks for the reviews, favs, and alerts! =D And to those impatient reviews demanding instant gratification, learn how a plot works or don't bother sticking around. Patience is a virtue you know. Enjoy~!
Chapter Two: Boy Blunder no more
Everything. Sucked.
Robin groaned and rolled onto his back, coughing up the bit of water that had managed to get inhaled when he fell. Fell into a giant fountain that is. While chasing a petty crook nonetheless. This was just getting ridiculous.
His stumbles and falls had grown in frequency over the past week. At first they were just a nuisance. He would have to take several quick steps to catch a stumble. An extra summersault was needed to keep his balance. All sharp turns and deft moves were accompanied with a tense boy wonder, prepared to catch himself in case of any mishaps.
But then his body stopped listening to him and the trips became hazardous. His whole body simply froze the second his foot caught an invisible obstacle on the ground or his balance suddenly disappeared. His whole body froze and he couldn't make himself move until he was face down on the ground. Or in this case, face down in freezing cold park fountain water.
"Funny, could have sworn I relieved you of patrol until the test results came in."
Robin was on his feet again, pulled up by a glaring Batman. The water didn't seem so cold now, compared to the man's icy gaze. Laughing nervously, Robin scratched the back of his head as he shifted from foot to foot. "Well who knows how long that will take. And what if nothing shows up as wrong? I need to fix this somehow and sitting around in the Batcave isn't going to help any. The bad guy's getting away."
"I already dealt with him." The white lenses in Batman's cowl narrowed with his eyes, making his ward awkwardly fidget even more. Finally, the bat sighed and shook his head. "Don't go off on your own and stick close. The last thing you need to do is trip over a rooftop when you're alone."
"Yes!" Robin threw a fist into the air as he jumped up in excitement, but as he came back to the ground, his feet decided they didn't want to land. Once again the Boy Wonder found himself falling with no ability to stop himself.
Batman caught him with ease, the glare returned. "You're done for the night."
"But-!" The glare hardened and Robin shut his mouth. Dammit this was so not whelming. Robin crossed his arms and mumbled, "It's Friday. Since I can't finish patrol, can I at least go to Happy Harbor?"
"You are allowed to leave early for the weekend I suppose, but you are to keep the training to a minimal and you can't take your motorcycle."
"What?" Robin looked up with wide eyes and mouth agape. "Why not? I always take myself on the R-cycle!"
"I would rather we do not discover if your new found clumsy tendencies apply to driving as well." Batman tapped his earpiece and connected with the Young Justice comm. link system as he spoke. "Kid Flash, Robin is released from patrol tonight so he is permitted to leave for the weekend early. Come pick him up."
Naturally, this correlated to a grinning ginger beside the dark duo with moments of the request. Still in his school clothes and shouldering his backpack to boot. "Break the R-cycle already?" He elbowed his friend's shoulder with a snicker.
"No," Robin growled and shoved Wally back with an embarrassed scowl. "Apparently I can't be trusted to drive as well as walk."
"It is not a matter of trust, Robin."
The stern tone made Robin hang his head sheepishly. That had been childish. Batman was just trying to protect him from himself. "So I need a lift from you, KF."
"Sorry you only get the second rate Wall-mobile." Who wanted to ride a speedster, after all? A redhead no less! At his own jokes Wally again laughed. It did die soon after its birth, however, to instead be that of a soft smile at his friend.
'Best friends' was a very loose term often thrown around in the modern age by teenage girls that would sooner backstab each other than jump into the path of a bullet. When applied to the relationship between the two sidekicks, however, it was in the truest meaning. As a result the thoughts were more obvious across Robin's face than the color of the sky. At least, to Wally they were.
"It's a matter of being a good Robby son to Daddy-bat and not getting yourself hurt. Pretty sure Robs are hard to replace when they're out of commission for a while." A shrug and a chuckle, the shifting causing the weight of his four textbooks to change in the distribution on his shoulder. He put his arm through the other loop. "So let's go watch grass grow in a padded room~"
Robin snorted and looked up to Batman, curious to see how he reacted to being called 'Daddy-bat' practically to his face, but the man was already gone. Typical. He sighed and turned back to his friend. "Let's go before someone notices us standing here."
"Damn, I wanted to see a pink face under the cowl." Mused Wally borededly while glancing about for the black figure. Seeing none, he again shrugged and allowed the large grin back in his face. "So decide. Are you a pretty princess or a koala?"
"Why do you always insist on putting the awk in the ward when in comes to this?" No matter how many times Wally carried him places, he always loved teasing him when they had time to spare. Didn't help that the teasing never stopped getting to Robin. He couldn't help but get embarrassed when depending on others; it went against everything Batman taught him! "I don't feel like competing with your backpack," he grumbled, arms crossed and lips in a stubborn pout.
"I'm a ginger. All I know is awkward." As he stated this Wally made with the movements to pull Robin into his arms, bridal style, in a matter of seconds. Just as he finished the sentence there was his bud against him, getting another signature Wallace West grin. "Hold on tight, spider monkey." The teen quipped before, again, acting before Robin could respond.
Seconds later they were at the entrance to their HQ and Robin was pulling away. "I cannot believe you said that. You're ridiculous!"
Not like he could help it. Too many of his cousins were obsessed with the series. "Freckles are just tinted sparkles, I swear."
Robin stared at his friend, laughter threatening to bubble up, but he was able to contain it and turn his back to Wally. "You're such a girl. I bet you have dreams about Edward Cullen all the time." He stepped through the entrance and the computer announced his arrival, muffling his snickers.
... "Hey!" First he'd been happy to finally get a laugh out of Rob, hidden or not, but then the brat had to go and pull that card! The sounding off of Wally's ID was accompanied with his indignant shouts as he entered.
"Do you have to always show up being so loud?" Artemis screamed from the rec room. "Shut up Kid Mouth!"
Wally turned his gaze away with a small snort. "Oh, a real blood sucker."
Robin snickered with his bud, whispering, "You better be glad she doesn't have super hearing like Supey."
"Eh, sometimes I think it'd be funny if she did." Even more arguments to ensue.
"I think it'd be even funnier if I punched you in the face." Artemis huffed, joining them in the entrance hall. She looked to Robin and visibly brightened. "Oh hey Bird Boy, what are you doing here so early?"
"Batman took me off duty because my tripping has gotten worse," he mumbled, pink filling his cheeks. They needed to find a solution to this and fast.
While he was getting a bit worried himself, it wasn't to the point that Wally would allow Rob to see it himself. He much preferred to be optimistic. "Daddy-bat probably won't give us any missions until it's all worked out. Doesn't want his cute sidekick to get hurt~"
Cheeks flared into a deeper pink and Robin kicked at Wally, white lenses narrowed in a glare. "Dude shut up!"
Artemis blinked, then grinned, mischief glinting in her eyes. "Well in that case I guess Robbie-kins shouldn't join us with training today."
"Like I said," an expression much unlike Wally, one of faux seriousness, came with that nod of his, "watch grass grow in a padded room. I'm sure just watching us will be too much for his heart."
"We can't risk that! Maybe we should just lock him in his room..." Artemis tapped her lips, as if in deep thought.
"Ahh, but he'll probably hack the systems or pick the locks, won't he?"
"Oh very true! That won't work at all!" She glanced at their young friend and giggled at the sight of his cold glare and burning cheeks. He was such a kid sometimes. "Heh you're funny bird boy. C'mon, Black Canary said we should be heading to the training room."
Robin rolled his eyes and pushed past them. "I'll show you two who is incapable of sparring."
"This'll be hilarious." Sending a wink Artemis' way, Wally trotted after Ron to take his place beside him.
"Get changed," Canary ordered the second the three entered the training room. Wally and Artemis did as told, leaving Canary to stare at the lone Robin. "Batman didn't mention you would be here so early."
Robin sighed and crossed his arms. "I'm still under the effect of whatever happened on the last mission."
Canary raised her perfectly styled brows and inspected him mercilessly. "Are you still up for sparring?"
To this Robin lit up with a smile and nodded. Finally, someone who wasn't going to baby him because of this! "Of course I am!"
"Good." Just as she spoke, the door opened and Superboy joined them. "Superboy, you and Robin while we wait for the rest of the team, Robin you're on the defensive."
The clone scowled, but didn't argue despite his distaste. Battling on the offensive against the nimble and swift Robin infuriated the superpowered teen. There was no point in super strength if he could never land a blow on his opponent. The scowl dropped at blue eyes widened and looked down at his small foe before Canary told them to begin. "Are you still falling on nothing?"
Robin grinned and laughed, crouching into a battle stance. "Of course not!" He lied all too easily.
Superboy returned a small smile and held up his fists. Canary blew her whistle and he swung a fist for Robin's chest, but the kid had already moved, jumping upward to use Superboy's extended arm to propel himself into the air and to the other side of his opponent.
Robin landed without any feelings of unsteadiness or rebellious limbs. In fact, he felt as if a giant weight had been lifted from his entire body. He laughed and giddily avoided a barrage of punches Superboy threw at him.
They continued the routine, Superboy desperately trying to get control of the situation from Robin while the little boy laughed joyously and bounced around the room. The rest of the team filled the room, intently watching their friends fight.
It had been five minutes of euphoric bliss, moving like he had been unable to for an entire week. Robin couldn't contain the endless giggles that filled him as he once again ducked away from a heavy punch. How had he gotten rid of the enchantment? Wait until he told Batman! He could patrol again! And-
His foot felt like lead. All color drained from Robin's face as realization hit. He knew his foot wasn't going to pick up in time; he knew he was going to fall flat to the ground. It was back dammit!
But that was the least of his problems. Superboy didn't notice Robin's predicament. He wasn't paying much attention besides throwing his fists. The clone went at full strength, not bothering to hold back because he knew he would never make contact on Robin. So when his fist suddenly connected with Robin's jaw as he started to fall forward, it was with all his super powered strength, sending the teen across the room.
Everything went silent.
Superboy's eyes were wider than they had ever been.
Artemis' jaw hung open in shock.
M'gann's face turned an incredibly pale green
Kaldur lost his inhaled breath and waited.
And Wally, Wally of all people couldn't even react for a moment, just stare with his ghostly white cheeks.
But then Robin's groan pulled everyone back to reality.
And literally the very second the shock had passed Wally was beside Robin. The kid was speaking a mile a minute when he sat his friend up to look him over at super-speed. "HolyshitareyouokayRob? Ofcourseyou'! Batssaidnottodoanything! ShitfuckdamnRobareyoustillwithus?"
"I've been hit by worse," Robin mumbled, cradling his jaw gently. It didn't feel broken, so Superboy must have just grazed it as he fell. Damn this could have been worse.
A looming shadow covered the friends and Robin looked up to see a distraught Superboy. "I'm... sorry...?" He spoke slowly and hesitantly, not sure if he was doing the right thing.
Black Canary joined them and patted the unsure clone's back. "You didn't have control of the fight and then Robin lost it as well. It was inevitable." She squat down next to the downed sidekick and opened his eye wide to shin a small flashlight in it. "You don't have a concussion, but you should get some ice on your jaw. It doesn't look dislocated either. You're lucky."
"Yeah not lucky enough." Robin sighed and took her outstretched hand to pull him up. He felt heavy again. "Don't worry about it Superboy, I just got cocky thinking the tripping was over."
"Bad luck comes and goes?"
"Whatever." Normally Wally couldn't pass up the opportunity to argue on the point of magic. Too proud was he as a member of the science team. But right about now his friend was more important than winning. Besides, he already had the ice. Had zoomed off to get it the second the word left Black Canary's lips.
"Thanks KF." Robin pressed the ice against his face and crossed the room to join the others and sit against the wall.
Canary nodded, content he would be okay, and looked to Artemis. "You're defense. Kid Flash, offense. Let's keep going."
"Oh, yeah." Wally was hesitant. His gaze lingered on Robin worriedly in his movement back to the center of the room. Most would wonder why he had freaked to such a degree, considering getting kicked around was in the daily job description of being a sidekick. Not always be genetically stronger super-clones mind you, but still. And those most would be correct. However, as it was, that added to the continuous confusion to Robin's plight produced something more out of the ordinary from Wally.
It was a big surprise to the lad when in the testing of his friend they had found nothing on the basis of science. No narcotics. No screwed up nerves. No mind control devices. Nothing. So in that respect there shouldn't have been anything wrong with Robin, should there? It couldn't be magic. That was impossible. So if it wasn't science, it could only be emotional. That just increased the anxiety on Wally's end.
Had something happened that Robin wasn't telling him that made him act so strangely? The redhead would have hoped if that were the case the thirteen year old would have told him, at least him, the best friend. And, if something of such a magnitude that if messed with Boy Wonder had transpired, Wally should have been able to notice it in other ways. So maybe it was subconscious? Robin wasn't even aware of how something had affected him? But then he still would have told Wally, right?
It was circle of his train of thoughts, tracks connecting end to end. In the enhanced speed of his brain that tight circle became heated in all of the speed, rattling the otherwise 'chill' teenager. All he could do was finally turn to Artemis and give his best cocky grin under the circumstances.
She grinned back, minus all the inner turmoil, and teased, "Think you can hold your own minus your powers?"
What a brat. "Think? I know." Then was the lunge forward.
"I still can't believe you got your butt kicked by Artemis," Robin snickered.
Training was done for the day and the boys were in the locker room, Kaldur already in the showers as Robin and Wally talked and Superboy zoned out. Robin exchanged his mask for his glasses and turned to grin at his friend. "And not even a small butt kicking. That was a maximum sized piece of butt kicking on a silver platter."
"Chick needed a confidence boost. Can't help that I'm such a gentleman," came from the side of Wally's mouth in response, looking away in his remaining faint pout at the failure of backing up his big talk.
"Yeah, sure, keep telling yourself that."
"Robin should pick the movie to watch tonight," Superboy announced, coming out of his trance to look at them blankly.
"Isn't it your turn Supey?" Robin asked curiously. Normally the clone coveted his ability to choose movies. While he enjoyed watching static for some unknown reason during his free time, he also enjoyed actual films they discovered.
Superboy shook his head and grabbed his towel. "I hurt you while you're still not well. You can pick tonight." With that, he left to the showers and left no more room for argument.
"Oookaay then..." Grinning, Robin pulled his cape off and hung it up. "Up for some Sherlock Holmes?"
Following the goggles was the head of Wally's suit, peeling off of his skin and falling to hang at his back. "Think if you watch an old guy still kick ass you'll stop making out with the floor every five minutes?"
"Holmes is not some old guy and I have not been making out with the floor every five minutes!" Robin glared at his friend and shed the rest of his uniform in a huff. He didn't bother waiting for Wally and grabbed his towel, stomping off to the showers. But, just as he rounded the corner, a large crash filled the tiled room and a loud curse echoed against the walls. Yeah. Everything sucked.
For all his making fun Wally did enjoy watching the new Sherlock Holmes film. He enjoyed noting all of the horrible inaccuracies in character and stark contrast in style from the older films. Barry was a dork that had nothing but ancient criminal dramas and the like, so Wally thought his passing of judgment quite proper. This of course presented another one of the finite nuances to the friendship between he and Robin, as it was a given that the Wayne library had a collection of the novels that had been well visited by the little detective. However Wally still had to hand it to modern Hollywood, the new dynamic kept his attention better. Originally the storylines were all based more in mystery and held a lot more standing around and talking than fighting and running around.
Naturally all of the small integrated jokes were amazing as well. Oh, but not as knee-slapping as the grins he got when the boxing scene came up that included the Irish song by the Dubliners. So he'd sat up a little bit at the familiar upbeat twang of an Irish jig after acting so high and mighty in his knowledge on the subject of Holmes films. He couldn't help that his entire freaking being screamed Irish! It was pretty darn removed, too... He just ended up that freaky kid that showed the genes after a few generations.
There was a typical seating arrangement for these movie nights, mind you. Superboy was in the direct line of sight of the screen, a spot he was very adamant about keeping. To one side of him was Artemis, the other M'gann. Naturally beside the Martian was Wally in case any cuddling and clinging needed to ensue, while Robin was right after the redhead should there be a need for a few punches to shush him. This left Kaldur the place on the other side of Artemis to calm the situation with Robin should she and the speedster begin an argument that would eventually anger Superboy before he could be calmed by Miss M. All in all the seating worked out quite well for the group, especially on this night.
After two too many painful falls in a trip-full day, Robin was exhausted. They were ten minutes into the film and then Wally felt a light pressure against his shoulder. Heavy eyelids struggled to stay open as Robin leaned against his friend, and not even a minute later, the boy was dead asleep. Of course this was nothing out of the ordinary. For their years of knowing each other Robin dozing against Wally, visa versa, or both had become an almost natural occurrence that almost endeared the pair to their teammates if only for the cotton candy sweetness when noticing that, in turn, the redhead of the two would almost subconsciously begin to vibrate a little whenever he felt that tell-tale weight against him. Was he purring in content at the contact? Did his body naturally do so when it came into contact with others at a more stable state of rest than his could ever be? Wally himself didn't quite know. Half the time he didn't even notice the minute vibrations he gave off at these moments.
During one of the more intense fight scenes, while Wally cheered on Holmes, Robin was jostled enough to make him grumble in his sleep and slip under Wally's arm to curl into his chest.
Point: successfully gotten. Wally had in turn blinked at the sudden movements by the warm body that had been otherwise still for a time. Memories of the pain batarangs could cause when one woke a sleepy enough Rob always fresh, Wally was only left to tame himself and remain a bit more still and quiet. As a result his vibrations only increased in the withheld energy, producing an almost hum at the especially bad moments.
When the movie ended and it came time for everyone to head to their respective rooms, Kaldur and M'gann stopped to look to Wally and Rob. Neither made any move to get up, not even the still lucid Speedster.
"Aren't you going to bed, Wally?" M'gann asked in a tilt of her head.
A blink of green eyes, then a smile to accentuate his freckles. "Nah. Wouldn't wanna wake up Bird Boy here. I'll just sleep out here, at least until he wakes up." Because really, Wally was the same in terms of sleeping surfaces as he was with food. He'd take anything with some sort of value.
"Are you sure?" Came from Kaldur.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I've slept on concrete before, man. I can take a couch and a Rob."
"At least take this." Courtesy of the telekinetic Martian was a blanket that floated over to drape itself over the two, tucked around either's shoulders.
Wally merely grinned and nuzzled the head of dark hair beside his. "Night, beautiful~"
M'gann giggled and nodded, giving her own parting before she left the room, Kaldur a nod and knowing glance at the open ended nature of Wally's statement.
Robin woke up feeling wonderful. He always woke up feeling well rested when he fell asleep against Wally on the couch. But he felt even more rejuvenated than usual. The Boy Wonder slipped out from under Wally's embrace and their blanket with the largest urge to run and do cartwheels. The weightlessness feeling that he had while training yesterday was back. And he would be damned if he didn't use this time while he could.
Laughing giddily, Robin raced through the silent halls to the gym. He didn't even care if he woke everyone up. Glasses traded for his mask, Robin leaped up to the gymnastic rings with a gleeful holler. Boy Blunder no more!
A bleary eyed M'gann appeared in the doorway within minutes, Kaldur just behind her. "Robin?" She yawned.
"Is it smart to be doing that bird boy?" Artemis joined the spectators, arms crossed and brows raised skeptically.
Robin cackled and leaped from the rings, somersaulting in the air to land lightly in front of them. "It's gone!"
"Robin, you were arrogant about it yesterday and look at what happened," sighed Kaldur, sleepy himself.
"No it feels different today! Like it's totally gone!" Giggling, Robin cartwheeled around the older teens. "Think we'll get a mission today?"
"We shall have to wait and see."
"Hey, where's Wall-?"
"Rooobiiiiin!" Suddenly a few feet away now, Robin found himself captured in the arms of the team's speedster as the teen nuzzled his cheek nonstop. "What're you doing? Don't you know you don't leave before the other wakes up? And hey, why are you in here? You aren't training are you? What about yesterday?"
Robin snickered and leaped out of Wally's arms, crossing the rooms in a few jumps and landing on the balance beam. He jumped onto his hands and walked across it, laughing louder yet. "I'm back to normal!"
"... Wha?" Quite dumbstruck, Wally stared. "But you were wiped last night. What happened?"
Spinning around rapidly on his hands, Robin pushed off the beam and spun through the air to and in front of Wally, beaming brightly. "I have no idea but I feel wonderful."
"Pfft." Instinctively the smile was returned. "Someone totally injected you with Supey's DNA or something."
"Well unless you did it last night, that's very unlikely."
"Robin can't get better all in his own?" From the circle outside that KF and Rob bubble came a frowning inquiry from M'gann.
"Psh. His body hasn't given him a courtesy growth spurt yet. What makes you think it'd let him off on wacky reflexes so soon?"
"He doesn't have my DNA," Superboy growled as the last member to join the commotion. "No one took my DNA."
"Woah chill Supey!" One flip, two flip, Robin was standing in front of Superboy, hands on his hips as he grinned up at the clone. "Kid Idiot was just joking. More than likely whatever Klarion did to me is finally wearing off!"
Wally snickered. "Darn. Boy Blunder was starting to stick."
"So does Kid Idiot," Artemis snickered, turning on her heels to leave now that the show was over. "I say we should keep it."
"… Yeah, well considering your femininity Arty works just fine!"
Artemis whipped around and drawled in response, "Oh we're going there Kid-Sized-Dick?"
"You know what? You're-!"
"I am sure," Kaldur cut in just a bit loudly in his turning to Robin, "you have worked up an appetite."
"Oh, yes, it's about time for breakfast!" M'gann chimed in now.
"Oooh I could go for some pancakes or waffles. I haven't had much of an appetite because I've felt so heavy!" Robin ran off - cartwheel here, handspring there - to the kitchen, his laughter echoing behind him.
"Did I just hear pancakes and waffles?"
Kaldur smiled and shook his head as he followed the spunky thirteen year old and the speeding redhead. Seemed things really could be returning to normal.
End of Chapter Two
Woot for more lame Wally xD Star Trek to Twilight to Sherlock Holmes
Got this chapter through my last few of 7 AP tests . I'm so dead