Yay new story! Now I have like 5 stories to alternate writing though... oh well. I needed a story for one-shots. Some of these stories will be funny, some sad, some dramatic, some fluffy, some of them random. It can be anything from Young Justice to Teen Titans as well. I've had this chapter sitting on my computer for a while so I figured I'd post it. This is before Performance.
Chapter 1: Trapeze-phobia
"Robin B01" A voice announced. I left the zeta tube area and went into the living room of Mount Justice. The lights were off and to an average person there was no one here. I'm not an average person though. Being trained by Batman, I have an amazing sense of hearing and I heard a slight movement behind me somewhere. It sounded barefoot. And then a muffled snicker to my left which sounded a lot like Walle. My hand hovered by my belt, in case I needed anything. I backed towards the wall and groped around for the light switch. Finally I found it.
"SURPRISE!" The whole team jumped out at me as well as the entire Justice League.
"Happy Birthday," Zatanna said, giving me a kiss on the cheek. I felt my cheeks turn red and I looked around at everyone. The room was decorated in streamers and there was a large Batman and Robin themed cake on the table in the center of the room. It said in bright red letters: Happy Birthday Robin.
"Thanks guys, you remembered!" I exclaimed.
"Dude, how can we forget? You kept squeezing it into every conversation that." Walle pointed out. It was true; I had been trying to bring it up as much as possible. The party began but after about two hours the Justice League had an emergency mission and ran off leaving the us alone in the mountain.
"Aww, now what?" Artemis asked looking at the now messy living room. I could tell that everyone just felt like leaving it for the adults to clean. There were streamers everywhere and people spilled drinks or food here and there.
"We give you your birthday present!" Megan said excitedly to me. Everyone smiled at me and they motioned for me to follow down the hall. We all stopped outside the training room. "Close your eyes." Megan told me. I smiled and obeyed. This should be good. I heard the door open and Kaldur gently led me into the training room.
"Open them!" Walle said. I opened my eyes and in the corner of the training room stood a brand new trapeze set. It looked like it had to be at least 25 feet of the ground! The others watched me eagerly to see what my reaction would be to my gift. I put on the best smile I could, although I think it was probably still obviously fake.
"I suggest that you try it out, Robin," Aqualad said in his normal formal tone. I stared at the trapeze and it took every ounce of self-control to not just bolt away from the room right then and there.
"It's fantastic!" I lied, "Uh-oh I just remembered that I- I have a lot of homework to do. Got to go! See you later!" I rushed out of the room and as soon as I was out of sight I sprinted to the zeta tubes at a pace that would put Walle to shame. Tears already rolling down my cheeks, I zeta-ed to Gotham City.
When I got home I went straight to my room and jumped onto my bed. The memories of my parents' deaths came to mind and the thought made me tremble. After they died I promised myself that I never wanted to even see a trapeze again. It was too painful. And now what do I do? The team is expecting me to not only see the trapeze but to use it. To be swinging from the bars three stories off the ground.
I wouldn't do it, I couldn't do it. I can't give the team an explanation though of why I won't use my birthday present without telling them my secret identity. Surely Batman hadn't known what they were getting me, right? But maybe he told them to get me the trapeze. I was afraid of it, and Batman hates fear. He might want me to get over the fear but direct the blame to the team. I flopped back on my pillows lazily and fell asleep.
"Ladies and Gentleman, up next the amazing lions! After that, the Flying Graysons!"
"Dick, hurry!" My mother called. I hurried out of the dressing room to join her and my father, scowling at my costume.
"What's up with this costume?" I asked angrily .It looked ridiculous! Mom smiled at me and brushed my soft black hair out of my eyes and off to the side.
"Because when I see you up there you remind me of a Robin. You have an amazing talent and one day you'll grow up to be like me and your father. You were meant to fly Dick, and you always will."
The dream started to fade and I tried to call out to my parents, to tell them I loved them but I woke up screaming for them instead. I looked out my window at the now dark sky. I miss you, I thought towards the stars, I felt like my parents were up there, watching me right now. I swear that I heard them reply back in my head.
I knew what I was going to do.
I snuck into Mount Justice and headed straight for the training room. It was almost 3am. I told Bruce what happened and he had left me home instead of taking me on patrol tonight. I entered the room and flicked on the lights. Heading over to the trapeze set I silently set down my bag. Within a matter of minutes I had reached the top of the ladder and was holding the bar above my head with my right hand.
Here goes nothing. I closed my eyes and jumped. The pull of the bars against my fingers and my palms was familiar and nice but swinging down made me almost scream. I swung myself off the bar and did a flip before managing to grasp the other bar. I smile came to my face and I cheered aloud. I've still got it.
The next morning when Superboy came into the training room to work out he found me there. Laughing and flipping and flying from bar to bar.
Fluffy ending! :) I'll try to update this next weekend since weekends are mainly my story-writing time.