Beyond the Night: Beyond the Team (Young Justice/Teen Titans fanfic)

Child-isn't

Robin found himself appreciating Red Arrow even less than before. His stomach still churned from having a rather embarrassing incident blurted out in front of their newest team mentor. She's also already gotten mad at him but found himself almost caught crying in front of her earlier. He certainly wasn't feeling the aster right about now, yet he didn't wish quite yet to admit this aloud.

Instead, he focused his attention elsewhere. "Hey, since we have that settled, how about some team bonding with our new babysitter?"

Sometimes that mouth of his left a lot to be desired.

Zatanna reacted first, her voice straining. "Look. I was told to pick a room and settle in. I brought some stuff with me, so I'll go and unpack and leave you five to talk this over. I can trust you to behave, right?" The five looked at her, and she then said, "Okay. Leaving now."

Kid Flash burst out laughing, and yet so far, the speedster seemed like the only one who understood Dick's strange sense of humor. Superboy gave Wall a rather dumbfounded look indicating he didn't know what was funny, while Kaldur crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. Roy, however snapped. "Seriously? How childish can you get? We don't need a babysitter? This is exactly why..."

Robin's entire body tensed. "You're right. None of us need a babysitter. Except you."

Wally took a deep breath, the amusement quickly leaving his face. The intake was sharp, indicating he knew all too well Roy managed to tick Roy off. Superboy stared, this time without the dumbfounded look. He opened his mouth to say something, but Red Arrow spoke first, his own temper flaring. "Excuse me!"

"You heard me."

"Robin, what you said was uncalled for." Kaldur sighed.

"So was what he said!" Robin felt his chest tighten.

"I didn't say anything wrong! Why do you have to act so childish! I mean..."

"That's what you did wrong." Wally piped up.

"Stay out of this Flash wannabe."

"Excuse me!" Wally's own voice tensed up.

"Enough!" Kaldur snapped. He calmed his voice down once he had everyone's attention. "How can our mentors take us seriously as a team, if we're fighting like this?"

Roy glared at Robin. "How can they take us seriously and not treat us like little kids, when Robin makes stupid comments like, 'let's bond with the babysitter'."

"Jeeze. I was simply making a joke." Robin folded his arms across his chest.

"Seriously. This is what I mean about you acting childish. Why can't you just grow up."

Robin's mouth opened, wanting to protest, yet also snark back again. The only person acting childish on the whole team – that was Roy. Superboy interrupted. "I didn't understand the joke, but you're wanting to have some team bonding time? I don't see a problem with that."

The youngest superhero felt his day brighten considerably. "Okay. I've got just the game."

He dashed over to where he stored a bunch of games and dragged out the game of Perfection he stored away. He didn't see Roy folded his arms across his chest. "A game. Are you serious?"

"It's a training tool." Robin turned around, a smile on his face.

"Yeah. Keep telling yourself it's not a little kids game to make yourself feel better." Roy's comment hit hard, and Robin swallowed, quite unsure of how to handle the situation. He knew deep down in the pit of his stomach that things didn't feel good, not at all.

"You know, what. If you're going to be like that, I'll just go ask Zatanna."

Wally sped over, suddenly nudging Robin in the ribs with his elbow. "Hey. Does somebody have his first crush?"

"What are you talking about?" His eyes narrowed, confused as to what Wally was getting at.

"You know what I mean. You've got a crush on Zatanna."

"I do not." Robin found the comment annoying yet couldn't figure out why Wally seemed to think he'd not yet hit puberty, but perhaps his small size played a part. At least though, Wally didn't underestimate him like Roy did.

"You do too."

"Seriously." Robin turned on his heels, heading towards the living quarters. "That's not why I'm asking her. Seriously, I wouldn't be that..."

He almost said the word childish, yet Roy cut him off. "Wait. You're really going to go and ask her, a nineteen-year-old, to play a baby game?"

"None of your business." Robin snapped, not wanting to go into detail regarding what the game taught skill wise, let alone continue arguing with Roy. Right about now, he hated Roy. The fact he was the oldest seemed to go to his head. He walked through the hall, glancing into the rooms trying to figure out which one was Zatanna's. He opened the door, and saw her putting something on the wall. "Zatanna..."

The game dropped from his hands, clattering to the floor, the pieces flying everywhere.

~B~

"What do you mean it's your fault?" Cyborg watched Robin open and close his mouth like a fish, the panic setting in. In the back of his mind, Cyborg knew he'd seen Robin react this way, possibly one of the times he wasn't looking, yet he also knew his friends habit for blaming himself for things he wasn't at fault for.

"I betrayed you guys?"

"Are you talking about Slade?" His stomach lurched, and Robin flickered, suddenly wearing that mask of his. They'd seen the darker side of Robin then, but how someone could get under the youngster's skin. Seeing the glaring Red X mask made Cyborg want to vomit.

His eyes closed, attempting to push aside the image of Red X which now stood in front of him. Opening them revealed Robin now also wore Red X's outfit. Cyborg screamed, "That isn't you! Don't let Slade get to you, to bring you down like this! I mean, come on! We told you that..."

Realization hit.

"... you're not alone."