Hello Readers. First and foremost, I would like to inform you that this chapter would have probably been posted a little bit early in time if it was not for one of my friends purposely annoying me.
As they enjoy reading this story, I, the child I am, decided that I wouldn't post it for a while just to peeve them. Although that was slightly childish, if you want to blame anybody for waiting this long, blame him.
Anyway! Fifteen more drabbles, here we are! Before this Chapter begins, I would like to go over something: It could be a while for your drabbles to come up, so don't be discouraged that I haven't written it up yet. It'll appear eventually, even if eventually is in a few chapters.
Okay, now that we've gotten that out of the way, read on!
Jokes (Older Robin) – For TheImaginativeFox
It hurt sometimes. His body, his bones and his skin – everything hurt. It grated his nerves and plunged his stomach into a pit so deep it didn't emerge for hours. His skin paled, his eyes watered, his confident stance fell, his lungs failed to collect air and his heart beat so fast he thought it was going to break through his rib cage and fall to the ground where it'd be stomped on and crushed into a million tiny little pieces.
He hated it – hate, hate so much; it hurts so bad – He hated feeling it; useless and painful feelings that only caused him to want to curl up and cry in a corner or in the middle of a corridor. It was a freaking joke to them, all of them. He was a joke, they were a joke. Why were they a joke?
As Dick reached a hand up and opened his locker, he only slightly hesitated. Gotham Academy students were not kind to him and they certainly didn't like the red and gold poster on the inside of his locker door. Because to them, as proven by the laughter around him as they stared, it was all a joke.
Tears (Older Robin) – For TheImaginativeFox
The Bioship was full of cheerful chatter. The mission had gone well, after all. Nobody had died, the perpetrators were behind bars, most at Blackgate, the leader, Scarecrow, at Arkham and to their knowledge nobody had been hurt.
Robin smirked and tossed a comment at Kid Flash, who'd been bragging about taking out ten henchmen at once in one move, about how he'd only managed that because Robin took on the other twenty in the room. This caused the Fastest Boy Alive to whine and protest.
But Robin didn't really care. He rubbed his arm absentmindedly. Fear Toxin was terrifying, that was the point, he guessed, and he had been the only team member to be infected on this mission, not that the team knew that. In fact, he doubted they'd ever been infected by the toxin before.
He'd acted quickly, of course, taking the antidote from his belt in seconds and administering it. However, the antidote took a minute to kick in. That minute had been hell. Dark twisting images made of pure shadow, five stupidly realistic human bodies – not real, so not real – falling in front of him and an echoing crack filling the air as their corpses warped on the concrete ground. It was followed by a sixth, this one in a billowing black cape and pointed cowl as it fell towards the unforgiving ground and the second the tip of his cape touched the floor, the antidote kicked in and the figures dissolved.
A tear formed in the corner of his eye and was absorbed by his mask before he responded to Kid Flash with a snarky comment. He'd break down in tears when he got home.
Forts – For TheImaginativeFox
Bruce woke up with no pillows. His first thought was who on Earth had managed to grab his pillows without waking him up and his second was where exactly those pillows where. Quickly checking the sides of his bed in case they'd simply fallen off, he determined that, yes, his pillows were missing. Grabbing a robe and wrapping it around himself, he exited his room and made his way down the hall towards Dick's room. He found nobody there but, again, there was a distant lack of pillows upon the young boy's bed.
The billionaire made his way downstairs, passing Alfred as he started to search for the youngest member of the Wayne household. Said Butler had a distinct sparkle in his eye as he directed the man towards one of the many lounges in the manor.
Entering the room, the answer was obvious for both of the morning's mysteries. What lay in that Lounge Room was not so much a fort but a castle made of pillows and who else lay, asleep, in the centre but Richard Grayson, thumb placed in his mouth and hugging a Batman plushie with one arm and a worn down elephant in the other.
Cards – For TheAsterousAuthor
The edges were a little worn, the colour was faded from the original red and white design and the little child was holding them a little bit too tightly in his hands, ever so slightly bending the cardboard. Dick sat in the back of a black car as the woman at the wheel drove through Gotham. Her platinum hair was tied in a bun so tight it looked painful, her face was young, maybe late twenties, early thirties, she had pale skin that was caked with too much make-up, including bright red lips and a silly amount of blush on her cheeks, making her look like she'd stood in the sun for much too long. Those lips were drawn in a thin line as she drove, looking back at him every few minutes, expression darkening every time she did so.
He'd learnt not to cry the second she yelled at him for it the instant the car doors closed, so instead he stared at the set of playing cards in his hands, his father's playing cards, and counted them, turned them over, shuffled them in silence and held back tears for as long as he was able, a few loose drops rolling down his cheeks, with each of which he took care in making sure they avoided the treasured deck of cards he held in his hands.
Fantasy – For TheAsterousAuthor
When Dick lived at the circus, they didn't have all that many books. His mother had kept all her textbooks from when she went to school and they had a few novels, many of which an eight year old didn't find interesting. He remembered being read novels for bedtime stories, tales of magic and dragons, which he'd loved, especially when both his parents read to him in various voices that made him laugh.
He'd grown a love for fantasy as he grew up, even more so after the deaths of his family. If the heroes of those stories could get through so much pain, why couldn't he? So he fought on. When he became Robin, he couldn't quite say how long it took for him to realise that he, Dick Grayson, had become the hero of his own novel. He didn't exactly have dragons but he was the Squire to the Dark Knight and had a Magician, Archer, Atlantean, a couple aliens and a boy who could run at the speed of sound by his side, so he figured he was pretty close.
Gala (Older Robin) – For TheAsterousAuthor
This was an interesting mission the team decided. Robin hadn't joined them, surprising the majority of the members, as it was in Gotham, but Robin had simply told them that he and Batman couldn't be at the Gala themselves due to an important mission, so that is why they'd been called in in the first place.
All Batman had told them is that they were there to protect Bruce Wayne's son, Richard Grayson, due to the number of threats he had gotten as of late. When asked about why exactly they needed to protect this kid, Batman had curtly replied that Bruce Wayne was one of the League's biggest funders. The team hadn't asked questions after that because of the look on his face and didn't fancy having their own rearranged.
As they entered, the team, no matter that they were wearing fairly expensive clothing, felt out of place and underdressed in the blindingly beautiful hall the party was being held in. A boy with bright blue eyes and a man with steely grey greeted them at the door – freaking Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. They shook hands, as they hand with every guest before them, and directed them into the hall.
As interested they were at the beginning of this mission – a fancy party; that sounds pretty cool – the team quickly realised how boring this would be. It was slow and mostly consisted of adults talking to each other while getting drunk on champagne. Bruce Wayne – Bruce Wayne – had made a speech about the charity they were giving to and each person had tried to gain attention as they 'generously' gave a large sum of cash to the cause.
The most interesting part of the Gala was when they noticed Richard Grayson standing at the side with the most obvious 'I-am-dying-of-boredom' look on his face. They'd gone to talk to him and he'd stared at his adoptive father across the room before looking back at the group of equally bored looking teens and commenting that 'Bruce and himself hated these things and they both looked for each and every way out of them' before making his way up to Bruce, hand on his forehead, complaining of a headache before they left the hall, only for Bruce to nod approvingly at him as they made their way home.
The team watched on in shocked silence before scurrying away. No need to stay any longer than necessary.
Walls – For TheAsterousAuthor
Dick going missing in the manor was always a concern. However, due to the frequency that this happened, the worry had dropped from 'bomb going off' to mild concern. Saying this, however, every time this happened and Dick went missing for an hour of two, it made the billionaire wonder how exactly he could have lived with the foreboding silence the manor had to offer.
This time, after only half an hour of the boy being 'missing', Bruce went a little nuts. The mild concern blossomed back into earth shattering worry. Where was that kid? The manor was silent, save for Alfred preparing dinner in the kitchen and Bruce seriously missed the childish laughter that echoed down the halls and brought life to a lifeless home. It didn't take long for the child to reappear when he was called a few times and Bruce ruffled his hair, only then noticing the state of his clothing. He was filthy, covered in dust and cobwebs. Where on Earth…? He noticed the boy tugging on his sleeve only to hear Dick babbling about secret passages and whether Bruce had made them for his other job. Wait, what?
Demanding Dick show him, he was led to a rather unsuspecting wall near a doorway. Dick walked over to the doorway, grabbed hold of some part of the frame and pulled, revealing a lever. The wall slid open to reveal a passage, dark with cobwebs covering the walls, looking like something straight out of a movie. What, when, how… What!? Dick causally mentioned it led to one of the lounges downstairs as Bruce gawked at the newly revealed doorway. WHAT!?
Burning (Older Robin) – For TheAsterousAuthor
Selina wasn't normally aloud into League bases. She was a thief after all. But as of this moment, Selina Kyle was in Robin's bedroom at Mount Justice. She snorted, who thought that one up?
Ignoring the name of the Mountain she was currently in, she dipped the towel she was holding in cold water again and rang it out before resting it onto the sick boy's forehead. Poor kid, he was burning up. Robin whined in his uneasy sleep and attempted to push the towel off, Selina gently knocked his hand away and pulled the blankets up higher from where he'd kicked them off.
She was in fact dressed as Catwoman at the moment, not Selina Kyle. She'd thought it'd be funny when she walked out of here, especially if any Leaguers happened to be there and freaked out about a villain getting into the cave. She'd only been called because Bruce had a major sense of what Selina liked to called 'Daddy Bats', much to his annoyance, and hadn't trusted anybody else to look after his little bird. He was across the country at the moment on a Business trip, so she guessed he had a good enough reason not to be here.
It was a surprise when the door to Robin's room opened revealing a red-headed speedster who was going on about video games or something. He took one look at the room, Catwoman, his best bro laying on a bed with a damp towel on his forehead, before he threw his hands up in the embodiment of 'nope', spun on his heal and marched out of the room.
Gold – For TheAsterousAuthor
Haly's circus was cold and wet today, but that didn't deter a young boy from running around outside the Big Top doing flips and rolls. Tomorrow was opening night here in Gotham and Dick, as well as the rest of the circus, had been told to put on their biggest show. He couldn't wait, it was just so exciting! Dick watched as the final touches were being out up around him before bending backwards and making his way, on his hands, back to his trailer, watching as the older members of the circus put up posters, including his family's red and gold one.
A slight drizzle began to rain down on the circus and Dick flipped back onto his feet. Normally, this was okay, Dick liked rain – it was fun to play in. But this rain was cold, freezing he'd even say, and he didn't want to be caught up in it. He was in sight of his trailer as he was swept off his feet by a teenager, who placed the younger boy on his shoulders causing giggles to arise from his throat. Jo Grayson smirked and started to run, causing even more laughter to be emitted from the eight year old.
Jo stopped, plucked the boy off his shoulders and left him outside one of the trailers before making his way to the next one, tossing the boy a grin, and going inside. Dick leaped up the steps before opening the door and entering.
A woman with Strawberry blonde hair and a man with black greeted him, matching golden rings on their fingers, and sent him to get himself ready for bed. It was a big day tomorrow. It didn't take long until he was in bed, with a hair ruffle from his father and a peck on the cheek from his mother, before he closed his eyes and tried to sleep. Tomorrow was gonna be awesome.
Roses (Older Robin) – For TheAsterousAuthor
His father had loved Gentians. He had said their blue reminded him of the sky, the sea and his wife and son's beautiful eyes all at once. He loved that – all that travel and beauty in one flower.
His Aunt had adored Sunflowers. They were bright and bubbly and they looked like the sun on a summer's day. She loved summer. When the flowers died, she loved to scatter the seeds and watch the birds flock to them for food.
His Uncle liked Water Lilies. He still did to this day, after so many years. He loved white ones the most because they reminded him of his wife – simple, yet amazing. Now a days, though, he thought they looked so lonely on the water, a little bit like himself he guessed.
His Cousin hadn't really liked flowers all that much, much too manly, but he'd always had a soft spot for Snapdragons. They had the word 'dragon' in it – what's not to love? Plus, the red and yellow ones looked like his costume and he liked that. They were bright and cheerful and reminded him of his family.
He thought Asters were pretty cool – nothing much to say there. He liked the name, the purples, pinks and whites they came in. They were sort of homey looking – like a classic flower drawn by a three year old. Had a certain charm to them.
His mother had had an interest in Roses. Deep red ones, bright yellow ones, baby pink ones, ones that were a light orange or even mixtures of different colours – all types. She'd sometimes dye them, make them royal blue, bright purple or even pure black. Sometimes she'd cut off the thorns but she'd leave them on most of the time. She liked them like that. Said that it showed people that just because something was beautiful, they shouldn't always touch.
It was for this reason he always carried a rather odd bouquet of flowers to the graveyard; some blue Gentians, some Yellow sunflowers, some red and yellow snapdragons and an assortment of different coloured roses. He'd look at the four graves that stood before him, place the flowers down in the middle and talk to them for hours before making his way home to sit at the side of one of the many natural pools in the Manor's grounds, staring at the Water Lilies.
Peril – For TheAsterousAuthor
Wally was pretty damned terrified. He could run at the speed of sound, faster sometimes he liked to brag, but at this moment it was like he could never move fast enough. His best bro was falling and damn it he couldn't get his legs to move any faster.
The world blurred around him as he sprinted towards his friends falling form. He was fumbling with something, perhaps his utility belt but Wally couldn't care less because oh God, he's falling, Dick, no don't worry I'm coming!
The boy in the air was now only a few stories off the ground and Wally would never be able to get there in time. He was too far and no, Richard! So close! He's ten, oh God, he's ten!
Suddenly there was sound that seemed to cut through any other noise in the world and Robin let loose a stifled scream as his grapple gun went taught and retched his arm from his socket. Wally's eyes went round as he raced up the buildings side and pulled the Boy Wonder through one of the buildings windows. Robin let loose a watery sob as Wally held him and Kid Flash couldn't care less about the tear stains on his costume as his best bro cried on his shoulder.
Vengeance – For TheAsterousAuthor
Blood dripped down from clenched fists. The world was silent save from the sound of the liquid hitting the metal of the catwalk he was currently standing on.
Pitiful. So, so pitiful. He clenched his fists tighter as he looked at the monster that lay on the floor in front of him. This thing didn't deserve to be called a man. It stared at him, shaking in fear, mismatched eyes wide and terrified, and Dick took in this feeling with more pleasure than he should have. Gone was the laughter that that thing had let out when he first saw the boy. He knew he had been a sight, a leotard clad eight year old in pixie boots and a crude mask, almost like it had been a second thought, barely staying on his face. Now, however, his fists were splashed with blood and his face was so still as he stared down at Tony Zucco that he doubted he could be described as anything but horrifying.
The monster was pleading, begging to be allowed to live and Dick new he'd listen to that begging. He wasn't a monster like the thing he had broken. So he kicked the thing across the head one last time, knocking him out, turned on his heel and tried to walk away. He'd made it two steps before he fell to the ground in tears. A comforting shadow fell around him and the Dark Knight held the child as he cried into the man's cape.
Motion Sensors – For TheAsterousAuthor
It annoyed Robin that most of the League didn't trust him. Batman trusted him, Alfred trusted him – why didn't they? So here he was, sitting in the air vents, carefully listening in to this meeting just as Batman had instructed him to. Bruce had thought it'd be not only good training for stealth, but listening to League meetings would also be able to give Robin some time to understand more and more League issued problems.
It had been child's play, quite literally, to get to his current position. It had started in the Batcave. Batman had walked through the Zeta Beam first and carefully surveyed the Watchtower before alerting Robin through his com that he was able to come through. Using some careful hacking, he made sure the Zeta Beam would not announce him entering before making his way through the Zeta and into the Watchtower.
It had been silent. They'd gotten here early. Batman had quietly watched as the boy quickly pulled up his wrist computer, tapped a few times on the holographic screen before nodding in approval as the boy scrambled into an air vent. Motion Sensors were down, he'd be safe for the most part. The only 'trouble' would have now would be being as quiet as possible as to not attract the attention of those with Super hearing in the room.
Hah, he'd hacked the Motion Sensors – like staying quiet would be hard.
Chatter (Older Robin) – For TheAsterousAuthor
In all truth, they really should have realised by now. Currently, Dick Grayson was sitting in a room, tied to a chair, with the worst knots he might add, listening to his kidnapper talk to who he assumed was Bruce on the phone. He could get out of this situation any time he wanted, in fact, the rope that had been used to tie his hands together was so loose he could practically slip his hands out without doing anything, but this was much too amusing.
How hadn't kidnappers caught on to the fact that the money never went through? Well, at least he could have an excuse for getting out of homework, he guessed. Not that Bruce would really care about the whole 'getting kidnapped' thing. The man was fully aware of his wards ability to get it done anyway.
Ah well, always worth a shot.
He was brought from his musings when the man in front of him – he didn't even have a mask on, the idiot – put the phone back on the hook and made his way to the boy that wasn't even feigning being scared. The only reason the blonde haired man hadn't gagged him was that he'd hoped Dick would call out during the phone call to make the money come faster. He hadn't done that, in fact, during the course of call, the boy had been snickering.
Dick snorted when the man took out a small knife and attempted to look threatening. He had quipped that he doubted he'd be able to use that and then started whining about how he was hungry and needed to go the bathroom and so thirsty. The man had shoved a microwave meal in front of him – was this guy serious, he wasn't even trying to be scary – which Dick again started to whine about. It's not Gourmet! I can't eat commoner food. What a horrible way to die. Trapped in a room with a thug eating commoner food. He kept this up for several minutes, voice getting louder and higher pitched each time, until started all over again and complained about how he was hungry and he had nothing to eat.
The man had flipped. He flung his small knife into one of the walls in rage, grabbed the boy and shook him, screaming to just shut up! Dick had smirked, dropped his hands from the bonds, and slammed them on top of the man's ears. He stumbled away, disorientated, and within seconds he was out cold on the floor.
The man had woken up later in the police station, handcuffed to a table, barely able to focus on anything but that fact that Richard Grayson was currently asking Bruce Wayne if they could go out for pizza after this was done. He slammed his head onto the table with a groan.
Facebook (Older Robin) – For TheAsterousAuthor
Dick Grayson didn't really like Facebook. He wasn't addicted to it like a few teens he knew, but yes, he had an account but he rarely went on. It was boring, to be frank. Richard Grayson on the other hand had been known to stay on there for a couple hours, if not just to keep appearances up.
Robin was the one you should be worried about. Yes, Robin the Boy Wonder had a Facebook account. It was the most amazing place, really. Batman didn't approve of it and it was wonderful. He'd post pictures of himself and Kid Flash, the two amazing founders of such a brilliant place, 'hanging out', quite literally in Gotham, all bad enough that it'd be incredibly hard to study his face. He'd taken selfies during fights – which Batman would scold him about afterwards – and posted the most ridiculous status updates.
Joker broke out. Not gonna sleep tonight. What fun.
Just because it involves plants that can melt my face off shouldn't mean I can't go on this mission! Seriously, Bats.
Scarecrow is a pain and I hate him.
I swear to God, Batman! Don't make out with Catwoman where I can see you!
And his personal favourite: I have a girlfriend. I repeat, a girl showed interest in me – this is more than I expected in life.
The best part of this whole Facebook thing is that he is just part of the crowd. Other fake Robin accounts littered the site and he often got messages telling him that he was stupid to create a fake account and that his pictures were horrible and so photoshopoed it wasn't funny.
Well, he had to get his laughs from somewhere. Nobody seemed to notice he knew things before the press had realised details.
There we go, fifteen drabbles! How swell!
And now the classic stuff at the end: If you wish to leave a word prompt for me to write, drop me one in a review. You can also ask me to write one based on a song, but if I seriously don't like the song, I might not write it so there is a little bit of risk there. Again, it could be a few chapters till your word comes up, so don't worry. It'll be there within a few.
My friend, the one who annoyed me, asked me to write a One-Shot based upon 'Walls', so I might do that sometime in the future. Let's see.
*Claps hands together* Okay! I think that's that!
Review and/or PM me,
- Cat =^.^=