Title: 'Sir'
Summary: 'Robin glared at Beast Boy. "Call me 'sir' one more time," he dared coolly. "Just try it." There was only one person who got seriously called 'sir', and it wasn't him.' Set pre-series. Please read and review!
Genre: Friendship, slight Hurt/Comfort
Rating: K
Relationships: BB/Robin friendship (sort of one-sided), implied slight RobStar and RobinxBatgirl (DickxBarbara)
Disclaimer: I do not own "Teen Titans" in any way, shape, or form. If I owned DC, I would be the happiest person in the entire multiverse.
A/N: Between the combination of this idea being in my head ever since I rewatched "Go!" and the fact that I was stuck on a plane for three hours with no Internet…yup, I decided to type this while I was on the plane. And I'm finally uploading it. :) Enjoy!
"Is there anything else, sir?" Beast Boy grinned loopily at Robin, who suppressed a groan. Despite his original intentions of going solo by moving to Jump City…well, things didn't exactly go according to that plan. Starfire had asked to come with him to learn more about Earth customs, which he didn't mind all that much (though he was a little worried that Barbara would jump to a million conclusions if she found out). Then Beast Boy had decided he was going to tag along. Then they'd met up with Cyborg and Raven again to deal with Killer Moth—apparently some of the Gotham villains didn't want him to get out that easy. Celebrating with pizza afterwards had turned into hours at the pizza place talking and comparing adventures, and somehow from there, the decision had been made. Why meet up randomly when they could be an official team? It wasn't necessarily the team idea that Robin was against…he just wished that if they were going to elect him team leader, then they would at least listen to him.
"For the ten thousandth time," he said, not even trying anymore to keep the frustration out of his voice. "Stop calling me 'sir'. It's Robin."
"Hey, sir?" Beast Boy prattled on, ignoring him. "You know something else we should do with the tower? Put a pool on the roof!" Robin nearly told him that he'd been through that before and it sounded more exciting than it was, just to shut him up. It'd be one thing if he'd been allowed to put a diving board on the roof of the mansion and the pool in-ground, but with how high this tower was going to be? Anyone else, save Starfire and Raven since they could fly, would break their neck.
"Sure," he said, exasperated. If it'll shut you up! He really hoped that he'd never rambled this much, especially not in the past few years. Unless he wanted a headache, he'd never be able to look—well, not like he was going to be anytime soon anyways. "Why not? Talk to the others about it."
Beast Boy smiled, incredibly happy to be around his idol. He didn't notice Robin's exasperation at all; he was too focused on that Robin and him were talking and that he was now on a team led by Robin! Life didn't get cooler than this. Wait till the Doom Patrol sees I'm on a team with Robin! "Can we put a court up there, too, sir? You know, like for volleyball and stuff!"
Slowly exhaling to keep from blowing up at him, Robin repeated, "Why not? And quit calling me 'sir', Beast Boy." How big does he think the tower's going to be? There's no way we'll have room for all of this on the roof. "Keep in mind, kid. This isn't all fun and games. We're going to need—"
"Video games!" Beast Boy exclaimed, eyes shining. "And some serious speakers!" Even with all the years spent learning to suppress his emotions, Robin couldn't help facepalming. He never quits!
"—more of a…reasonable set-up, too. All of us still have a lot of room to improve. We'll have to include things like a training area, too."
"Room to improve?" Beast Boy repeated, amazed. "Dude. You were trained by Batman, sir!"
That did it. Robin glared at Beast Boy. "Call me 'sir' one more time," he dared coolly. "Just try it." There was only one person who got seriously called 'sir', and it wasn't him. Even if it wasn't a very commonly used title for him, even if they were fighting, there was still only one Boss, one 'sir'. And it was not Robin. Subdued and confused, Beast Boy gave a small nod. "Yes, Batman has been training me for the past few years. I know that I need to improve. Throwing together a team of me, a former Doom Patrol kid, an alien girl who knows next to nothing about Earth, a half-robot vigilante, and a girl who the only thing anyone knows about her is her name and her powers, with only two of them having worked with others before in a partnership or team? We're going to need training."
"You and I know how to work in a team, though," Beast Boy said happily, finding the silver lining. Is he always this blindly naïve? Robin wondered. "I haven't had a team to work with for real since I quit the Doom Patrol."
"If you love working in a team so much, then why would you quit the Doom Patrol in the first place?" Robin asked, genuinely curious. As obnoxious as he could be, Beast Boy definitely didn't strike him as a quitter, especially about something he believed in. Shrugging, Beast Boy was silent, definitely piquing Robin's curiosity. For once, he's not talking? Obviously, it was a touchy subject. He couldn't exactly blame the shape-shifter for keeping his secrets, but he figured that if necessary, he could find out on his own. He was a master detective in his own right after all.
"I got sick of Mento's attitude."
Robin looked over. "What?"
Beast Boy was staring at his old Doom Patrol mask in his hand. "Mento's attitude got too far."
Heaven knows Robin could sympathize with that. "What do you mean?" he said softly, wondering what the similarities would be.
Beast Boy half-shrugged again, far more serious now than earlier. "Mento was too stubborn. He wouldn't listen to anything I would say without criticizing every little thing." Robin inhaled, but he said nothing, letting Beast Boy continue. "And he's always been harsh. I got sick of it."
"…that so." Robin closed his eyes, remembering various fights between them. Maybe it was a kid partner thing. The mentor always eventually became unbearable. At some point, everyone snapped, and someone needed to split. "Are you…completely cut off from them?"
The answer was a simple, "Yeah." It was obvious from the look in Beast Boy's eyes, though. He might've gotten tired of Mento, but he missed the rest of the Doom Patrol. He put away his Doom Patrol mask, looking at Robin. "Why did you leave Batman?" Robin glanced at him, which must've intimidated him because he hurried to add, "Not that I mind you being here, it's just—"
"It's fine," Robin said shortly. "With you being a fan"—he couldn't completely keep a smile from twitching across his face—"of the 'Dynamic Duo', I shouldn't be surprised that you're asking." Despite that, he couldn't hold back a sigh as he looked out over the water to stare in the direction of Gotham. He wondered if everything was alright there. Maybe later I should call Babs. Just to check on things.
Still looking nervous, Beast Boy started, "It's oka—"
"If we're going to be on the same team, you can know." The bullet scar ached, but Robin ignored it. "In a way, I guess we were in similar situations. Batman has always been controlling, but he was starting to get too far, trying to keep me out of the field. I got sick of it, so I moved here." Sensing the unasked question, he added, "We aren't exactly…on speaking terms right now." Especially since I convinced Lucius to give me enough money for me to get to California without telling him Bruce wasn't okay with it. "And I'm not going back."
Seeming almost relieved, Beast Boy smiled again. "Glad to know you aren't ditching us, dude," he said happily, crossing his legs and leaning forward, pure joy shining in his eyes. This was why Robin had always been his idol slightly more than Batman. There was something about him that made him more human than Batman ever would be. And now, knowing that they had a genuine connection in going independent for the same general reason, it only made things better. "We're gonna make a great team, Robin," he said, laying on his back with his hands behind his head and closing his eyes, falling asleep almost instantly.
"…We've already proven that," Robin muttered, amazed at how quickly he'd fallen asleep. Still, he smiled at the sight for a moment before heading back to working on the tower to let Beast Boy sleep.
A/N: I love this friendship~ Maybe it's because of the similarities that I mentioned in this… This one-shot became a lot more serious than I'd originally planned, but I don't mind. :) Sorry if anything is OOC, especially BB talking about Mento and the Doom Patrol. It's been a looong time since I've watched the Doom Patrol episodes. It'd help if I owned them… *clears throat* Anyways, enough rambling from me! There's that box there to type in reviews. Please? XD I'll let y'all get to it! Adios~