A/N: A scene I write often start out as just one phrase or one situation. This started out with something Slade tells Robin… I kind of hope you will be able to guess what that line is after reading this… chocolate for those who do! -grins- Sorry… read the very cute Robin/Red X-story "The Woes of Chocolate" by "Holyfanfictionbatman" a while back and have had a sweet tooth ever since…
Disclaimer. I don't own the Titans, or a bar of candy at this time. And right now I don't know what I want the most.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter five: First Times

Robin had to change into regular clothes, as he had realised that he didn't want to risk being recognised by civilians. Not sure about what kind of training they were supposed to do, he had chosen a pair of simple sweatpants and a long sleeved t-shirt. Grabbing a light jacket and a helmet he finally took off on the bike. Cyborg had been right, the bike wasn't to be trusted, and Robin was glad that he didn't have far to go.

Arriving on time, even a bit early, he made his way into the strangely constructed building. As Slade had promised the doors opened as he pulled out the communicator, and he went in to search for the man. Robin found Slade in the main training room, mask-less and wearing a 'gi', the traditional karate outfit. It was black, though. Of course. Slade just nodded at Robin when he came into the room. He threw the boy a bundle of clothes and occupiedhimself with preparations, like rolling out a thin mat across the floor.

Robin was slightly peeved by this greeting. Sure, he didn't want Slade to pat him on the head for being on time; it was just that the man seemed to take it for granted… Robin hated being taken for granted.

Checking the clothes he found that it was another gi. A white one. The jacket and trousers were made out of a thick cotton fabric, which, since the gear was new, felt pretty coarse. It came with a white belt and Robin frowned. He was a black belt in many martial arts and this made him feel like a beginner. He walked across the room to change, folding his own clothes neatly and placed both Slade's and his Titan's communicator on top of the pile. It was probably a bad idea to keep them on him, and besides, the gi didn't have any pockets.

Straightening up, tugging one last time at the belt to make sure it was secure, he turned to Slade. He jumped and blushed a bit when he discovered that the man had finished the preparations and now stood watching him.

Robin then thought of his friends, out fighting some unknown threat.

"Will my team be able to reach me here? If they need me?"

"Who says I would let you go, even if they did?" Slade asked, his eye glinting coldly. "But yes. They will. This base is equipped with scramblers, but I have modified it now to let their signals through."

Robin paled.

"But… doesn't that mean that they can track me?" Because if they CAN, they WILL… his team only obeyed orders up to a point…

"No. The screen won't admit any outgoing signals from your frequency. They can call you, but you can't call them. Any faint traces that do slip through are set up to bounce around all over the town. They won't be able to pinpoint the source."

Robin nodded, relived that his friends could call him for backup but not be able to risk violating the contract.

"Ready? Let's start then. We are going to go through the basics of the martial arts you are familiar with and we will focus on techniques that suit your body type. Today it will be basic sparring one-on-one, but let me introduce you to some of the equipment we will use later" Slade motioned to the right wall indicating the row of punching bags, human-shaped targets and… dummies…Robin had caught a glimpse off the day before. They looked eerily real and Robin took a few steps towards them curiously.

"Yes." Slade said "I'm quite proud of them. They are made to match the average human body to the slightest detail. Bone structure, density, muscle placements and hardness, even skin properties equals a living humans." Robin moved closer and touched one of them. They even felt real!

"Why go to all this trouble? These must cost a fortune!" the boy asked, still utterly fascinated.

"They do. But when you hit, cut or even shoot one of these, you get an experience as close to the real thing as possible. You will be able to hear and feel the bones brake, muscle tear and tendons snap. As a bonus, microchips inside the doll will tell you exactly what kind of damage has been done."

Robin looked slightly disgusted and Slade added. "If you prefer even more realism we could work with cadavers from the morgue. I have a contact-"

"No!" Robin sounded truly horrified "No, this is fine…" He touched one of the dolls again.

Wonder what it will feel like…?

"I also have robots, of course, some very special ones too… but they are in storage and you are not ready to train with them yet." he said, peaking Robin's curiosity even more. They continued walking around the room, looking at different targets used for throwing-weapons, hand-to-hand combat and dart guns. They would use a shooting range when it was time for Robin to learn to handle firearms, Slade explained. In the far end of the room there was a small, but well equipped, basic gym and weight-area. Afterwards Slade motioned for Robin to move to the middle of the room as the training was going to begin. Robin soon became quite grateful for the mat.

The session started out well, or as well as could be expected, as they both were rather wary of each other. Slade, as promised, focused on teaching Robin techniques that were especially useful for a smaller fighter. They moved between different martial art forms and ended up with one of the first Robin had been taught by Batman: judo. Robin had not practiced it for ages, preferring to combine his acrobatic skills with kicks and punches, rather then the judos 'softer' style. But the boy soon found that with learning new and better throwing techniques, he could make even Slade fly quite a long way. He enjoyed this immensely.

As he was about to try a new method for the first time, Robin's grip on the man's belt and collar slipped and part of the gi-jacket became loose. As Slade untied the belt, to be able to close the jacket properly, Robin's eyes came to rest at the man's exposed chest. Traveling, as by their own accord, down to those sculpted abs and seeing the thin strand of hair leading down… his eyes jerked away and if Slade noticed the glance, he didn't let it show.

From there on forwards Robin's performance got worse and worse for some reason. The only things he noticed were Slade's skin, his scent, his closeness and the way he moved. He started making stupid mistakes, and Slade, who wasn't intending to go easy on him, practically threw the boy around the room like a toy. The man soon understood that something was awry, though, and he had a small idea what that might be. As Robin landed and hit the mat face first yet again, Slade stalked up to him. Bending down he lifted the boy's head by his hair and looked into his eyes.

"Oh, Robin. You are simply useless when you're horny."

Robin got to his feet in a flash, growling.

"I'm NOT…! How DARE…" lost for words the boy spun around and stalked off to the other side of the room. On the way his fist lashed out and hit one of the dummies. Slade cringed inwardly. That was one of the expensive ones… Giving Robin some time to cool off, Slade studied the damage. The fist had struck right over the heart and checking carefully, Slade was rather impressed. On a real human the only visible mark would have been a slight bruising, but the target would have been very dead indeed. The punch had actually cracked the sternum and damaged the heart badly. The boy certainly has potential…

Decided Robin had enough time, Slade called for him. "Robin. Come here. Now" he added, seeing that the kid was very unwilling to obey. Slade gestured to a bench, and Robin, muttering something under his breath, eventually came over and sat down. Slade took a stand in front of him, not close enough to aggravate the boy though, and folded his hands behind his back.

"Now you are going to listen to me Robin, and listen carefully. What you are experiencing now, may very well derive from the simple fact that you are a teenage boy. Both boys and girls your age often has a heightened sex drive. If you combine this with genetics… do you remember anything about your parents in that regard?"

"What?! If…? Yuck!" Robin yelled distraught, and almost got up from the bench. Then he remembered how loving they always seemed to each other, always touching and kissing… That memory gave him a warm as well as a slightly queasy feeling at the same time.

Slade smirked a bit. "That's right; I forgot how uneasy children always are about their parents actually having sex"

"Well, did yours?"

Slade flinched. Their eyes met and they both burst out laughing. Slade regained his composure almost immediately, though, and continued. "Furthermore, it might be that the plant's toxins broke a few mental boundaries in you, that can't be restored."

Yeah, my brain is mush all right…

"I asked Batman too look into… possible side affects and damages." Robin confessed, rather afraid of Slade's reaction to this.

The man just nodded. "I have started investigating that too. Since I don't have any part of the plant I sent a few blood samples of ours to one of my labs for analysis."

"You took my blood?!"

"You don't remember? I'm truly sorry, Robin, but you seemed at least half awake at the time."

Robin then had a very faint memory about Slade trying to talk to him and a slight pinch in his arm.

"It's… all right…" he decided "but you will let me know?"

"As soon as the result comes in. It won't be long"

"Are you worried about something in particular?"

"No, not really. But that plant affected me too and I don't want anything in my system I don't know about. And not in yours either."

"Well, now you know how it feels…" Robin muttered darkly, remembering certain nano-probes.

Slade choose to ignore that statement. "Back to the original issue, then. Your hormones might not be your fault, Robin, but, let me assure you, they are your problem. And it is a problem I expect you to solve. I do not care how you do it. Take cold showers, masturbate, seduce Starfire, get a whore, even, but solve it. Because it is clear that you can't train with me without loosing focus while in this state, and, this is important, I'm not going to touch you."

"Why? I mean…" Robin could have shot himself right then, and blushed madly.

"Don't get me wrong, Robin. I would love too…" the man grinned down on him like a wolf. "But until you come to terms with this, it will only cause more damage. You might enjoy it while it lasts, but as we have seen; regret, denial and self contempt soon follows. You are first of all my student, and I want you to learn, not indulge yourself in bizarre feelings of self disgust. Understood?"

Robin nodded, part of him relived that Slade was prepared to give him this space… and the other part… well, let's just say it wasn't quite as… satisfied… by the statement.

Slade took a step forward, grabbed Robin's chin gently, tilting his head up, and looked into the boy's eyes again. "You will think about this, and we will talk about it again later. Just remember, that if you decide to accept me as your… partner… in this, there is no turning back. I will not hesitate or ask permission in the future if it comes to that." He let go of the boy's jaw.

"You better get home now."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

As the boy left the building he was yet again being watched. I know who you are now, the man thought. I'm sorry for what I will have to do to you, but it won't stop me. This is not about you.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Robin walked into the tower with a few new bruises and a few new problems. He preferred the bruises. They would fade by themselves. He was greeted by his friends who had been back for some time from their mission, and had started to worry.

"Sooo… what happened? Did you manage to learn anything?" Cyborg joked, trying to hide his concern.

"Learned this." Robin suddenly attacked and used one of his new techniques to throw the very surprised Cyborg into the middle of the room.

"Maaaan…!" Cyborg sounded both dazed and slightly impressed.

"Friends!"

"Robin!"

"Dude!"

"What?! He wanted to know!" Robin innocently said, looking around at slightly troubled faces.

I can't believe that I have to go through all this and then they dare to question the USEFULNESS of it!

"You don't think the demonstration was rather too much?" Raven asked dryly.

Cyborg had picked himself up and walked over to the rest of them with a grin on his face.

"No, man, that was great, you must show us how you did that!"

"You got to do this to SLADE?!" Beast Boy wanted to know and the whole team broke down laughing as Robin confirmed this.

"I sure want to buy tickets to the next round…" Beast Boy snickered.

I'm glad you find it so entertaining; you want to go instead of me?

Trying to ease his friends worries Robin joined the laughter and joking, until a voice cut into the mirth.

"Having fun?"

Five heads snapped up to look at the big screen across the room.

"Damn!" Cyborg cursed "I forgot he could do that now."

Robin instinctively straightened as he saw Slade's face on the screen.

"I just wanted to remind you to think about what we discussed earlier, Robin"

No, you didn't. You wanted to remind me what kind of power you have now… Robin frowned.

Suddenly the alarm went of again, for the second time that day. Robin, looking up at Slade for permission, got a single nod.

"You may go."

Robin changed into his uniform quickly, almost forgetting Slade's communicator, and led the team out of the tower.

Yeah, keep on pretending everything is normal…

On the way to the exit, Starfire flew up to him.

"Please? What did he mean by this 'discussion'?"

"Have no idea" Robin smiled tensely "Slade tends to talk a lot."

Two hours later the now doubly exhausted team returned home. The bright side, beside the fact that they had kicked some serious H.I.V.E- butt, was that they also managed to bring back some grub. Beast Boy, his usual demand for pizza having been ignored, grumbled a bit about the cartons of Thai-food, but at least, he figured, they were going to eat.

Gathering around the table they started passing the cartons around, trying a little bit of everything (BB of course sticking to the vegetarian choices). The team was more relaxed now, but Robin couldn't help to notice the glances they threw towards the now blank screen. Slade didn't call back, though, and in the evening Robin just slouched with his friends in the couch, watching some weird mould-documentary Starfire insisted was 'most fascinating', and enjoyed the company.

This is it, he thought to himself, this is why I made that deal…I must not forget that…As long as these moments are important to me, I can never…

Never what? darker thoughts in his mind interrupted.

But Robin wasn't sure.

Change?

Batman called again later. Somewhere, deep inside, Robin still felt a jab of anger seeing the man, but, as usual, he didn't let his feelings show. Bruce informed him that they had fund nothing more dangerous regarding the plant, than that a higher count of endorphins than normal could be discovered in the victims for up to 48 hours after getting stung. Robin nodded. Slade's results, forwarded to him by email, confirmed this.

That must have been why I was able to stay that calm, after all…

He wondered where he would have been now if it wasn't for that dose of "happy-hormones".

Probably chained down in a cell somewhere on the other side of the world… beaten and raped half to death by now…

He shuddered. Bothersome as the contract was, he only had to remind himself of that, to realize that his situation now wasn't that bad.

In bed that night, Robin at last started thinking about the problem Slade had set before him. Since it involved so many frustrating and conflicting feelings he tried to break the dilemma down into small, manageable pieces, which he could answer from a purely logical point of view. First. The bi-sexual-thing… Yes. He could buy that. Slade's theory about everyone being more or less bi anyway, made sense to him. What is really needed between two people anyway? Lips and hands, mostly. Both genders had those… He just had a bit of trouble seeing himself with any other man but Slade… He, solely out of scientific interest, to test this theory of course, considered his two male friends. Cyborg? Robin had to admit that he probably could find the bulky young man attractive, in theory, but Beast Boy? He was cute and all, but… Robin suddenly realised something that made him burst out in a short laugh. If he would be involved with Beast Boy, the kid would never get to topp!

Considering the suggestions Slade had made about how to sort out the problem, he went through them all in his mind. Whores were out. Robin detested the selling of bodies and souls on the street. He had seen too many gruesome things that prostitution had led to. Cold showers were an option, but surely not that effective? Masturbation was also an alternative, nothing wrong with that, but since it was Slade that had suggested it, Robin really didn't care for the idea. He laughed softly as he remembered Slade's next suggestion. Seduce Starfire? Yeah, that would be the day… Suddenly he realised that the idea didn't even appeal to him as much as it should have. Starfire was a nice girl, a very pretty one at that, but…

Slade's big and strong and forceful…

Robin bit his lip. Starfire was strong… she could toss him through the room as easily as Slade could… when they first met, and she had grabbed him one-handed by the neck and kissed him, and afterwards pushed him to the ground, he…

Robin suddenly sat straight up in the bed.

Oh, my god, I'm…

He had wondered sometimes why he felt attracted to Starfire. Raven was so much more like him, he could talk to Raven… and now…

You like being dominated…

This revelation was a shock to the boy. He had always fought people that tried to control him or the world around him. He hated to see citizens being used and exploited, and at the same time… Strong arms holding him down, forceful lips on his, unable to do anything while… while…
I think I'll take that shower now…

As he was staring into the darkness later, the malicious little part of his mind had one more comment:

Yeah, you like being dominated… And you know who does it best, don't you…?

To be continued…

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A/N: Sooo… do you know the line? If your answer is "What line?" read the A/N at the top…I'm just curious, that's all! You might not even noticed it… but on the other hand, it's not something you hear every day… hopefully… -grins-

Just one more thing, not story related, so I'll keep it short:

I have read a robin/slade/red X-story SOMEWHERE but I can't find it… Don't think it was on this site, but it might very well be from a link I found here, so maybe you read it too or even wrote it… The story is that Mumbo somehow turns Robin into this "Cat-person" who starts acting very… un-robin-like… I LOVED it and want to read it again… so please? Anyone?

And by the way… If you feel up for reading something completely stupid, check out my slade/robin parody "Is there a doctor in the house?"… I just… had to… sorry…