(A/N)- I think out of all the 2015 prompts, this one was my favorite to do. Bringing Batman into the TTverse is just always fun, especially when he can just play Exasperated Dad to Robin's shenanigans.

Enjoy dear readers!

Disclaimer: Maybe if I was rich like Bruce Wayne I'd have enough money to buy DC Comics. Hoo boy would there be some housecleaning.

RobStar Week 2015, Day 2 - Meeting Batman

Robin hesitated a moment in front of the steel door. His raised hand faltered, almost falling back to his side. With some trepidation, he braced himself and pushed open the door.

The salty sea breeze hit his face almost immediately, rustling through his hair. The same breeze caught the edges of a familiar black cowl, swirling the hem around the man's legs before it died down again.

"You're late," came the brusque greeting.

The corner of Robin's mouth twisted. "Nice to see you too, Bruce," he snarked. Had he seriously expected me up here in exactly two minutes? "Cyborg and Beast Boy held me up." He waved a hand. "Don't worry, they don't know you're here. Somehow," he added, peering curiously at his mentor. It shouldn't surprise him that Batman had managed to scale to the Tower's roof without detection from the security systems (and apparently without using the Batplane at that) but for some reason it just bugged him. He'd have to have a talk with Cyborg later about revamping them.

Pushing aside his annoyance at how easy it had been for Batman to breach the Tower's security, he cleared his throat, folding his arms over his chest.

"So what's this about? Joker escape from Arkham and go on the road again?" he asked.

"Nothing like that," Batman said. "We just needed to have a talk."

Uh-oh.

Robin felt a splinter of unease creep down his spine. It couldn't be good that Batman had crossed the whole of the country from Gotham to Jump and just wanted to "talk".

By which he probably really meant explain.

Robin braced himself for the worst, wondering what he had done this time. "About...?" he prompted hesitantly.

Batman's expression was undreadable, but there was a vague tone in his voice that suggested he was aggravated. "What exactly happened when you were in Tokyo?" he demanded.

A sharp jolt of panic passed through him and Robin tried not to let it show. He quickly flipped through the list of things Batman could be mad about regarding Tokyo. Was it his running afoul of the law there? That would be hypocritical considering Batman himself rarely answered to foreign law enforcement. Was it killing Saico-Tek? But he hadn't actually killed him and surely Batman wouldn't blame Robin for being unfairly framed by the real villain.

...Did Batman know about his dating Starfire?

"Uh... A lot actually," Robin said with a grimace, finally answering his mentor. One hand drifted up to scratch nervously behind his neck. "What specifically did you want explained?"

In reply, Batman pulled a folded newspaper section out from under his cowl, and deftly tossed it to him.

"Page 37, Global News, first article."

Robin caught it with shaky fingers, and nervously flipped to the page in question. A large color photograph of the medal ceremony with the mayor greeted him, a side-inset picture particularly closing on his hand intertwined with Starfire's. The headline read, "Spotted in Japan!" and under that, "Jump City's favorite teen heroes take some time off in the land of the rising sun for heroics—and romance?"

He already knew. Of course he did.

Feeling himself flush lightly, Robin lowered the paper, rubbing his head awkwardly. "I, uh... I meant... to tell you about that..." he stammered.

"So you two are dating."

Robin bristled at the accusatory inflection in Batman's voice. A dozen justifications were already on his tongue. His shoulders tensed defensively and he dropped the paper off to the side.

"Look, if you're going to give me the whole, 'Having emotional attachments gives your enemies a weakness to exploit.' lecture, you can save it," he snapped. "I've given it to myself plenty of times already, and I've decided I don't care." Robin paused, taking a breath and forcing himself to calm down. Much quieter, he continued, "I'm not like you, Bruce. I can't do the whole 'push her away to keep her out of danger' thing. I've tried. But I just..."

He trailed off with a helpless sigh. A faint red blush colored his cheeks.

"...I like her," he admitted softly.

The Dark Knight said nothing in response.

Robin shook himself and cleared his throat. "Besides," he added, "she was already in danger just being my friend."

For a long moment, Batman just looked at Robin. Then he gave a tired exhale.

"I'm not going to lecture you," he said. Blank white eyes turned up to him, expression reserved. "But I have some... concerns," he told the boy.

"Like what?" Robin asked, mildly relieved he wasn't going to be read the riot act.

"Does she know?"

And there went his feeling of relief.

"Uh..." He didn't have to ask what Batman meant. There was only one big secret he had kept from the Titans. Used to have kept. He tried to keep his voice from cracking. "No, not yet," he lied.

Bruce immediately pinned him with a Bat-Glare.

"Yes. Yes, she knows. They all know," Robin admitted immediately, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

"When did you tell them?" the Dark Knight questioned.

"Last year, when we were on the road, chasing the Brotherhood," Robin replied, finding the rooftop under his boot exceptionally interesting.

There was a bit of a growl in Batman's voice as he said, "When were you planning to tell me?"

Robin winced, his face screwing up with embarrassment. "I was kind of hoping never?"

Batman's demeanor softened a little. "I'm not angry. They're your teammates. If you can't trust them, you can't trust anyone. I understand." His mouth furrowed slightly. "But I would have preferred you talk to me before deciding to entrust them with that knowledge."

The furrow deepened.

"And before deciding to publicly date an alien," he muttered.

"You don't approve of her, do you?" Robin guessed.

"That remains to be seen," the man dismissed. He fell silent a long moment and then, to Robin's surpise, began to look uncomfortable. One black gloved hand raised from under the cowl. "Is she...?" he started, then trailed off awkwardly. "Are you...?" he tried again.

Robin stared. Was Batman actually embarrassed?

Finally seeming to find his words, the Dark Knight asked, "Have you been... intimate... at all or..." The man's face squinched as he finished. "...physically copulating?"

"Physically—What?!" Robin cried, his eyes widening in horror. He turned full-face red and waved his hands wildly, sputtering. "I—No! No, I—we've never—I just—we haven't even—" He took a deep breath, getting ahold of himself, then looked at Batman incredulously. "Why would you even think that?!"

The ghost of a smile tweaked his lips. "I was a teenager once too, Dick, as hard as that may be to believe."

The man fell silent again, growing somber. Robin rubbed his face, willing his color to fade to normal. Batman was a still black statue for a while, motionless and saying nothing until, softly...

"Does she make you happy?"

Robin met his mentor's gaze, all serious. "More than anyone," he murmured reverently.

Batman nodded, acknowledging Robin's words.

An awkward moment passed.

"Would... you like to meet her?" Robin offered hesitantly.

The man considered it a moment, then said, "All right. Bring her up."

Robin darted for the door almost immediately, a lightness in his steps that Bruce couldn't fail to notice. His protégé returned a few moments later, nudging the door open with his toe, hand-in-hand with Starfire. The girl looked curiously at him with her wide-set alien eyes, her fingers comfortably curled around Robin's.

The boy led her up to him, stopping a few paces away and clearing his throat. He gestured at his girlfriend. "This is Starfire." Then from her to Batman. "Starfire, meet my mentor."

Her head tilted. "You are The Batman, correct?" she asked.

The Batman. Bruce had to admit he liked the way that sounded. Capital "The" Batman. If nothing else, the girl certainly had a healthy respect for his title.

Maybe he could persuade himself to like her.

"That's right," he confirmed.

The girl beamed. She seemed pleased to see him. Another point in her favor.

"You have raised your adopted bumgorf very well!" she complimented. "He is a fine young man. You should be quite proud," she said.

Batman turned his eyes on Robin. Affection shone on his face, masked but unmistakable, and his voice turned soft as he said warmly:

"I am."