Heyyooo! Well, first off, sorry about the lateness. To be completely honest, I actually forgot that I hadn't posted it yet. I was going through my uploaded documents and I was like 'Oh... I never published this. Shoot.' So yeah, sorry for that.
And Happy Fathers day!
Disclaimer- You can't just OWN Young Justice. I know. I've tried.
Megan was trying something out in the kitchen when they got back.
"Oh, hey Robin, hey Wally!" she called cheerily when the two boys ran in.
"Can't talk now, Megs! Super busy!" Wally called, heading straight from the door he had come through to the one across the room.
"Yup, gotta go!" Robin continued, following Wally in tow. The two were out of the room as fast as they had entered.
"That was weird." Superboy commented from his spot on the couch, looking away from the television.
"Yeah. Kid Dumbass didn't even stop to talk to Megan." Artemis added.
Kaldur shrugged. "As long as they don't get into trouble…" he said. Though knowing them… they probably will. He thought to himself.
A prompt two minutes later, the boys were in costume, bolting back out through the main room. The sight of their costumes startled the rest of the team.
"Where are you two going?" Kaldur asked urgently, rising from his seat, "Is there a crime happening? Why are you in costume?"
"Nope, everything's good!" Robin answered quickly, leaping over the coffee table, not even stopping on his run to the door.
Artemis furrowed her brow, angered. "Hey Kidiot, what the hell are you guys doing?"
"Can't talk now, Artemouth!" he answered, "Boop!" He added, jumping in his path and hitting her playfully upside the head (admittedly for the sole purpose of infuriating her). Before she could even turn around to smack him, he was gone, and the only thing she saw was the end of a cape fluttering out the door as it 'swished' shut.
"Should we worry?" Superboy questioned honestly.
"No unless the cops bring them back…" Kaldur decided.
The team mulled this over for a moment before silently agreeing and getting back to whatever they had been doing before they were…. Interrupted, to say the least.
Dick and Wally, now Robin and Kid Flash, stood at the edge of the rooftop they started out on earlier. They both wore determined expressions on their faces and had their fists placed firmly on their fists.
"Well!" Proclaimed Wally, clapping his hands and rubbing them together, turning to face Dick, "This is it. Last try. If this doesn't work, I'm out- I'm supposed to go to dinner with Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris tonight, and if I'm late again, Aunt Iris will skin me alive."
"I thought you were staying at the mountain tonight? It's Friday." Robin asked for clarification.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be back by ten," Wally waved it aside. "But we're getting distracted. We're here for… PARKOUR!" He posed with an air guitar for added dramatics.
He'd have held the pose longer, but a certain protégé who shall remain unnamed punched him in the arm. And this certain protégé had a good punch for a little dude.
"…OW?"
"Oh, did I punch you? Oops. Anyway, let's go." Robin pulled out his grappling gun and twirled it around his finger.
Robin aimed his hook at a spot on a rooftop a few floors higher than the one they were on. He took the shot and in a second he tightened his grip on the gun and his feet were lifted off the ground. He heard a mumbled "Jerk…" from his redheaded friend as he was pulled through the air.
He would've yelled something back, but he knew it would bother Wally more if he just ignored him. So he settled for a smirk and a signature cackling laugh.
Dick looked back and saw a vague streak of yellow leaving the rooftop. By the time he turned his head to the ground, Wally was already down there trailing him from the ground.
Robin shook his head and continued to ignore his neon-clad amigo. He chose instead to bask in the wind that flew by him.
Robin liked his grappling hook. That was an understatement. He loved his grappling hook. In fact, unbeknownst to everyone (except Batman of course) he secretly named it Lola because of how attached he had gotten to it. It wasn't so much the grappling hook itself that he loved. It was what the grappling hook allowed him to do. Being one of the most active and prominent members in the superhero community was taxing. Especially when you were really just a thirteen year old with no powers.
But with Lola… Robin could fly. He loved the way it felt to have the air whipping past him, soaring from rooftop to rooftop, navigating between buildings and swinging around walls. He loved how free it felt to not be bound only to what his feet could stand on. When he was in the air like that, he could stretch time out forever. He could think.
About Batman. About the team, and becoming it's leader. And then about Bruce, which was something entirely different from Batman, in Robin's opinion. He thought about his friends as Dick Grayson and his friends on the other side of his life. He thought about school and homework… Sometimes his parents…
But not right now. Right now all of Dick's thoughts were reserved for his parkouring. More specifically, his thoughts were reserved for how he was going to please the carrot top down below. Dick looked down quickly only to see Kid Flash looking back up at him, giving a thumbs up. Robin shook his head and silently decided to do the same thing he did before. As the grappling hook pulled him to the roof top, he quickly chose a chimney off in the distance and made it his destination.
"Here goes nothing…" Robin mumbled to himself, jumping off a rooftop and shooting out his grappling hook after a good amount of free falling. He immediately swung back upwards and twisted himself around to release the gun and shoot it again. It grasped onto another building top and Robin swung effortlessly around a building's emergency escape ladder and slammed his foot into the bricks next to it. He used the pull from the hook's rope to run along the building's wall and onto the other side before releasing the hook again.
"Dude!" He heard Kid Flash yell from below, "You're just being Robin. Make it parkourish!"
The Boy Wonder sighed, but reluctantly agreed. They came here to parkour, and that's what they would do. Besides, usually when he was being Robin, he was in a rush to get somewhere- usually some malicious crime scene. Now, there was no rush. He had all the time in the world.
And so, with that thought, Robin pushed off the nearest building wall with all the force he could bring out of his legs, and released the hook. He immediately folded his body completely in half, legs and arms out straight, and flipped several times in the air before releasing all tension and sprawling his hands and feet out spread eagle; only to curl into a ball and flip again. He managed to get upright and shoot the grappling hook again. It pulled abruptly on his shoulders and began lifting him upwards.
When he reached the top of the building, Robin caught sight of his chimney in the distance, and quickly reminded himself of his destination. He then ran and dove head first off the edge of the structure. He closed his eyes for a moment and let the wind rush past him.
And then, he opened them. And something in him sparked. He was instantly filled with images, memories, and feelings of his days back in Haley's circus, swinging from trapeze to trapeze. The invigorating moment you let go of the swing and coast through the air before a hand reaches out to hold you up once again. It was an art form, and a performance. And though the audience's coos of "oo" and "ah" were well sought after by every member of any circus, the performance was never for the people in the stands. Swinging in the air like that was never for the people down below. It was for you and you alone. You did it because of the way it made you feel.
Which was totally aster.
So Dick channeled that. He had nowhere to go and nowhere to be. He just had a grappling gun and a city that created an endless playground for someone like him.
Thus, Robin began to play. He grabbed onto a sturdier looking bar from a protruding fire escape and swung himself around. He flipped three full times in the air before smashing his foot into a wall and pushing himself upward. He grabbed onto the ledge of the next roof over and pulled himself up, doing a sort of tumble roll onto the top. The very second his feet were sturdy beneath him, he launched into a back flip to land on the roof of the building directly behind him. From below, Robin heard a muffled "Whoa!"
Kid Flash had been jogging along the ground beneath Robin, watching him flip and swing. To him, it all seemed to be general Robin-movement. Until suddenly, Robin's outer shell; his super-serious super-hero façade, appeared to melt away. All of a sudden, he let go and flipped himself around. He freely maneuvered his body in wildly impossible acrobatic ways, flexing and stretching himself the way only a circus performer could. When Robin stopped between two buildings and began flipping around between only those two to get himself back up to the top, Kid Flash stopped below as well. He shamelessly let his jaw hang open as his head tilted back to watch his friend. The only things he saw was a flip, and another flip, then a push, and Robin disappeared onto a roof top. Then just as quick as he was gone, he reappeared in the sky, and disappeared with a back-flip onto the other building top.
And the only thing Wally could stumble out was "…Whoa!"
Robin continued his running and tumbling and flipping. He ran from building edge to building edge, jumping over chimneys, sliding beneath antennas, and vaulting over heating vents. The concrete jungle became an extension of his very being and he moved without thinking, simply letting his body take over. His mind was clear and instincts took over. Anyone watching from below would see a small black haired figure dancing through the skies, sometimes with a grappling hook, sometimes without.
Robin persisted like that until he could not longer feel his arms, and his breath was coming in short spurts. His heart was pounding furiously in his chest, and even his legs seemed to feel like jelly. It might have been minutes, maybe hours, since he had started. He wasn't sure. And he would have kept going if it had not been for the voice echoing down below.
"Rob! Yo Rob-oh! It's getting late man, we've gotta wrap this up soon if I wanna be home on time."
Reluctantly, Robin sighed and allowed himself to slow. His swinging on the grappling hook became much more fluent, with less acrobatics. It was a slow and uncomplicated climb back to the top of the city. Once he reached a rooftop, Robin pocketed Lola and allowed himself the moment to breathe. He briefly looked out to the city's horizon to find his chimney.
It was far across the other side of town, all but forgotten.
A quick thumping of feet stormed up behind him, and next thing Dick knew, Kid Flash was standing next to him.
"So…" Robin panted, wiping the sweat from his brow, "How'd I do?"
"How'd you do?" Wally emphasized, "You did awesome! You didn't have a destination picked out again, did you?" He accused.
"You know, actually," Robin sat down and pointed his feet and legs straight out in front of him, "I did."
Wally gave him an incredulous look, waiting for the elaboration.
"But I totally forgot about it as soon as I started. I did it, Wals. Free running." Robin continued. He folded himself in half to stretch out his muscles and cool down to avoid any soreness the next day.
"You so did it, dude!" Wally crouched down next to his rather creased friend. "And it really was awesome. How did it feel?"
"…Aster. And gusting, and plorable and picable and volting."
Kid Flash stared. "Well… I got the 'aster' bit. I'm not sure what the other ones were." He admit.
"It felt gusting. Opposite of disgusting. And plorable. Opposite of deplorable. And picable. Neglected positive of despicable. And volting. Opposite or revolting."
"Good." Kid Flash chuckled. "That sounds like a lot of good things. Now, I've gotta get cleaned up before heading home so I don't reek of B.O. at the table. Mind stretching out back at base?"
Robin groaned a gurgled sort of mumbling sound as his raised his arms in the air to stretch out his back. "Take me away, Kid B.O."
Wally grabbed Dick's outstretched arms and flung the smaller boy onto his back. "Any time, Boy Destroyer-of-the-English-Language."
The two took off back toward the mountain, both beaming with happiness.
Wally let himself bask in the egotistical knowledge that it was himself who brought parkour to Robin.
And Robin merely let himself bask in happiness. Pure, unfiltered, unedited, happiness.
Wachaa! Ta-da! There's an elpilogue in the works as I type this. And it wraps it all up quite nicely if I do say so myself.
Lemme know what you think? I'd really like the feedback, because I'm currently working on another YJ story, and I want to know how you guys think I did in the respect of capturing the character's essence, you know?
Sooooo... Feedback? Por Favor? And I send my love and thanks to all of you!