Title: Just So You Know
By: Xmarksthespot
Disclaimer: Don't own YJ
Notes: Oh man, this is a really, really old project that began when YJ season 1 was still airing. Basically one of my theories with how the identity revelation would take place.


Since the day Gotham Academy students were held hostage by a handful of mobsters who thought they could threaten the CEOs of every Gotham City elite company with the fact that their kids were held at gunpoint (and ultimately failed), Robin had been visiting the commissioner's daughter almost nightly. Or at least, whenever he had the chance to get away from Batman from their nightly patrol.

It began with a tap on the window followed by a muted shriek from the redhead who turned from her computer screen in shock at the brightly coloured hero grinning in the moonlight. At first, Robin was a nervous wreck, unaccustomed to being so close to his daytime best friend-slash-crush while still in costume, but after the first few visits consisting of stuttering: "Uh, I was just, er, wondering how you were…"

Barbara had laughed and pointed out how silly he was to be nervous around her, and that he should stop being so awestricken by her beauty and just talk like he would normally.

"Y-Yeah. You're right. I mean, you are pretty awesome," he agreed, of course, not without saying: "Not as awesome as me though," which led to a friendship of sorts.

So what started out as a precaution to see how a potential victim of the Gotham Academy Attack was managing her day to day life –Barbara had, quite often, teased Robin about visiting other students that were held hostage during the attack, rather than just her—now led to him just visiting her, whether it be for a friendly chat or to rant about his recent mission. He, of course, had to lie a lot about his life, if only to separate himself from Dick Grayson, and it bothered him immensely. Dick Grayson had known Barbara for years, and Robin had been talking to her for a good five months. Not to mention Bruce had approved of their friendship the same way Batman approved of Commissioner Gordon's work.

Essentially, five and a half months later, Dick had enough. He spent the entire day working up the courage, triggering knotted and twisted expressions of confusion from his fellow teammates as he worked out speeches and rewriting them in his head. Then, when the sun trickled out of the sky, leaving the city dark with only artificial lights illuminating it, Robin headed to the Gordon residence, lowered himself from the roof, and tapped onto Barbara's window.

He was going to tell her. Today. Right now. And she was going to yell at him, but because she's a wonderful person, she was going to forgive him, and all would be right in the world…He hoped.

Barbara was already in bed, despite it being quite early compared to her usual bedtime. She crawled out anyway to unlock the window for him—Robin climbed over the sill and into her room, which was a first considering he usually stayed by the ledge. He gulped in anticipation.

"Robin?" She said, and may have stifled a yawn, but at the moment there were too many wires going off in the boy's mind to connect any dots.

"Uh, hey, Barbara." And suddenly he was the timid superhero that showed up at her window for the first time five months ago. "I…I just wanted to talk and—"

"Are you injured?" She suddenly asked.

Confused, he answered her. "No."

"Are you in hiding?"

"No."

"Did you and Batman get into a fight?"

"What—no! I just wanted to—"

"In the morning." And with that, the redhead turned around from him only to crawl back into her bed.

From behind his mask, he merely blinked and thought about what he just witnessed. He assessed the situation, slightly panicking. Having worked alongside Batman for several years, he was trained to come up with several backup plans and solutions, but despite the many scenarios he cultured in his head earlier that day at the mountain, he wasn't expecting this.

"What?"

From her position, she yawned and turned over to the side to face him. "Look, I know this must be an exciting day for you, finally coming into a cute girl's room and all," she said with a wave of her hand, "but I haven't slept for two nights –first because of Bette and her boyfriend problems, and second because of the commotion down the street with Killer Croc and Penguin—and some of us aren't trained professionals, so I really need my sleep."

"But Barbara—"

She rolled to the other side of the bed. "In the morning, Robin. My dad's working night shift tonight, so feel free to help yourself with anything in the fridge. Watch some TV. Leave a sticky note or something. I'm off. G'night."

He blinked again in response. Several times. He became eerily aware of how silent it was now in her room. Turning to face the opened window, he weighed the options in his head, knowing full well that if he left now, he wouldn't ever be as prepared as he was today to tell her; he would lose the opportunity. Nodding to himself, he leaned forward to shut the window. Robin then sat down on Barbara's desk chair, crossed his arms, and waited.


Robin hadn't realized he was dozing off at Barbara Gordon's desk until he heard her voice, which almost surprised him off of his seat.

"You're still here."

The Boy Wonder fought to maintain his composure, pushing himself up and straightening out his uniform and hair. He looked straight at her and cleared his throat.

"Er, yeah. I, uh…I needed to talk to you about something."

She smirked and raised her hands to claw through her bedhead, disregarding the brush on her nightstand. She pushed the blankets aside and climbed off of the bed when she deemed it presentable.

"You couldn't write it down in a sticky note?" She called out as she wandered off to the bathroom, seemingly aware of the fact that her father had left early that morning for work.

"Too risky," Robin responded, following after his friend and waited in the hallway for her to finish refreshing in the bathroom. He kept his head down low and studied the cracks in the tiles until she stepped back out, dressed for the day. She was oddly comfortable with the fact that he—a superhero— stayed at her house –in her room—all night.

Opening the fridge, Barbara pulled out a carton of orange juice and poured it into a glass. She offered it to him first, which he declined; he was eager to continue the conversation and the fact that he was still here meant he hadn't been thinking straight since the night previous.

"It's day time, Robin," she said while putting the carton away and drinking from the glass. She then walked back into her bedroom, and without a simple nudge, he followed.

Robin felt like a lost puppy.

"How are you going to leave my house without being noticed?" She asked, straightening out her comforters and pillows.

Robin shrugged. "I've got it covered."

"Alfred?"

"Ye—" He stopped. "Wait, what?"

"Did you eat all of my animal crackers?"

But Robin couldn't comprehend the situation any more than he did when he first stepped into her room. "What did you say?"

Barbara frowned and crossed her arms, finally facing him. "I said help yourself to whatever's in the fridge, not on my desk," she said disapprovingly.

"Barba—"

She gave him a sly smile. "Yes, Dick?"

And that's all it took for his heart—and stomach, lungs, liver, both of his kidneys and whatever other internal organs he had, to drop. Not to mention his brain—that was complete mush. He stared at her dumbly and closed his mouth after the first few seconds only to swallow the odd lump of Secret ID down his throat.

He had a feeling that whatever sounds that were coming out of him weren't comprehensible either, and the only movement he could muster at that point was to adjust his mask; ultimately, he needed to confirm that said mask was still on.

It was.

"Dick?"

The mention of his name was enough to stockpile a truckload of air into his lungs, and the young hero finally fell out of his gape.

"You knew?" His voice cracked more than it should have.

Barbara nodded slowly, her smile still present. "Of course I knew."

"B-But how?"

"You're the one who said it yourself. I'm awesome at everything." She lifted her glass of orange juice, if only to hide her amused expression from him (as if he hadn't seen it already). "And FYI, everything means a little snooping around."

"But, I always cover my tracks."

"Mm, so you think. Security cameras seem to say otherwise."

Robin's head immediately fell to his computer gauntlet, and then he quickly studied the bedroom that he had been in several times as Dick—there were no special equipment of sorts aside from her computer.

With an unfathomable shock in his voice, he exclaimed: "You hacked into a security camera?"

She shrugged and finished the rest of her juice.

"Among other things. Hey do you want breakfast? I'm starved."

But Robin was far from being done. "How did you hack—"

Barbara quickly rushed from her room to the room next door, and if he had to play the puppy dog analogy one more time that day, then it would be suffice to say that Robin followed after her.

As she was going through her father's closet, the young hero systematically ran every piece of data he had stored in his head, organizing dates, times and events he knew Barbara had been present for, trying to make sense of what she just said.

"You're probably going to have to change into something else though," Barbara continued to say.

"Barba—"

"You can wear my dad's old shirt, but it'll be a little big on you, and he'll probably think we're up to something if he comes home seeing you wearing it."

"Which security—".

"The school's, the banks', the streets', ecetera, but it wasn't a biggie," she finished, and held up a bunch of shirts in her view before hanging them back up. "Hmm, I do have that old sweatshirt you lent me last time. Let me see if I can find it for you."

"Gotham Academy? You hacked into—"

"Found it! There, throw it on."

He almost missed catching the sweater, and continued to ramble. "Batman made sure no one could hack the school—"

"I'm feeling like omelettes today. How about you? Oh, how about that new waffle place down the block?"

"That still doesn't explain how—"

"Dick."

Robin shut his mouth, and looked up from his hologram that listed every security camera in the entire city. He gulped at the sight of her stern expression. "…Yeah?"

Barbara sighed.

"Give Alfred a call so Bruce doesn't think you've been kidnapped again—God knows that man did not let you come here just to tell me your secret identity—and put on the sweater. Hurry up, because I'm starving."

"R-Right."

"Also: don't get your tights in a twist. You said it yourself, Dick: I'm Barbara Gordon. I'm awesome at everything, even my deducing skills are better than yours. Got it?"

"Yes?"

"Good. Let's go get waffles!"


A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed that, and if you did, please leave behind a comment :)