Young Justice Trash

Deaged (Part Two; Roy)

Roy was NOT going to look after SIX rowdy children (Four of whome have SUPERPOWERS) for Seven hours for no pay. He continued to laugh until the offer was semi-reasonable. There were two billionares in the group, he expected AT LEAST a decent check, maybe even a month of rent.

But eventually it was settled, and the teen was alone with the kids. There were at least four pages of instructions; each mentor left notes to help him deal with their kid, Bats left a whole page of notes. As if Roy hadn't babysat Dick a hundered times before.

At six he'd be replaced by Clark, and after that... WHO CARES? HE WAS FREE!

So it was Eight am, and He was chugging a soda, rereading the instructions. At least the kids had fitting clothes now (Thanks to Barry and Dianah for the six am Walmart run). He knew that Aqualad would be more used to salt water, that Waly should be kept away from all sugar (DUH), and that even as a six year old, Conner was still stronger than him and could not be allowed to lose his temper (Dianah wrote that one since Clark gives 0 shits for the kid).

"I Want cereal." Artemis sat across from him at the table.

 "So? Why is that my problem?" He asked his replacement.

"Get it." She was tough for a child.

"Get it yourse-" The cereal boxes were on top of the fridge, well out of the girl's reach. "Ah." He retrived a box.

"I didn't say what I wanted." She protested, just to by stubborn. 

"This is the only one you ever eat." He slid a carton of milk across to her. "So you guys have been up all night?"

"Yes, but I'm not tired."

"Sure. Where are the others?"

"Don't care." She shoveled Corn Flakes into her mouth. 

Roy coughed, exasperated. "Brat." He placed the instructions, and his soda, out of her reach and left to locate the others.  First were Conner and M'gann; the boy was staring at the blank TV screen, the other playing with her own toiletries, trying to paint her toenails a glittery black. 

"Can't you just shapeshift them black?" The redhead asked.

"This is funner." M'gann argued, spilling polish on her skin. 

"Okay, just keep clean." He pulled an ad out of a newspaper someone was reading earlier and slid it next to her on the carpet.  "How about you work on that, so nothing gets on the carpet."

"Thanks." She answered absently.

Next Kaldur; he wasn't hard to find either, sitting on the edge of the bathtub, legs fuly submerged, staring in blankly.

"How is it?"

"Not the same." The boy admitted. 

"I'd send you down to the ocean, the beach is what? Two minutes from here? But you know, I'm supposed to keep an eye on everyone, and I don't really want you to be possibly kidnapped..."

"I know." The eight year old was surprisingly good at managing his expectations.

"But hey, maybe when the league's free again, you can get into some salt water."

"Sounds like a good idea." He turned to face Roy. "How's everyone else?"

"Good, but I'm yet to find Fred and Ginger -that is, Robin and KF."

"I'm the team leader. I should help." Kaldur admitted.

"That would be GREAT. For sure, get on that when you're done." He hurried off, four down, two to go. "WALLY! DI- WHERE ARE YOU TWO?" Exasperated, he pulled out the big guns. "ONE, TWO, THREE, EYES ON ME!"

"ONE, TWO, EYES ON-" Wally stopped himself, but not before  Roy had estemated the boy's location.

"WALLY WEST, JUST SHOW ME YOU'RE ALIVE!" He didn't. Wally was such a little bitch. Roy pretended to leave, waiting. The younger redhead sqealed as Roy snatched him into the air. "Gotcha, bitch."

"STOP. Put my down!"

"Where's Dick?" He ordered.

"In there!" Wally kicked at him. The older redhead dropped the boy onto the hallway floor. "He'll be okay, he's ROBIN."

"He has the body and maturity of a three year old. Besides, Bats will KILL me if anything happens to his birdie." Roy strode through the door, commensing his search. "You didn't lose him, DID YOU?"

"It's not MY job!" Wally shouted in the doorway.

"If Bats kills me, I'll kill you! Help me look!"

Wally took off into the adjacent rooms, Roy scoured the room. "Dickie, are you in here? You're not in trouble, I just want to see you. Have you eaten? I'm going to get everyone some breakfast. What do you want?"

Eventually, he located the child, leaning against a bookshelf, playing with a decorative amber ring he must have found in a drawer; he seemed to be debating on putting it in his mouth. 

"Okay... Let's not do that..." He cautiously pulled the choking hazzard out of the boy's mouth. 

"When?"

"When what?"

"When'll Bruce come home?"

"I don't know." Roy admitted, then, remembering the kid was a three year old with attatchment issues, he added; "But he'll be back later, and I'm here! You can play with Wally if you want, and Artemis..."

"No!"

"What?" Roy asked suddenly, not wanting him to turn the waterworks on. 

"She's bad!"

Well, Roy OBVIOUSLY knew that, but he was still curious. "Why?"

"She's MEAN! She said- she- said- I'm a baby!" HE finished.

Roy nodded as sympathetically as he could, trying to refrain from telling him he was. "That's tough, Birdie. How about we get some breakfast? Are you hungry? Let's go get the others..."

"Food?" Wally asked egarly, clambering onto the chair next to Artemis, who was now reading a Betty & Veronica Double Digest and sipping the milk out of her cereal bowl.

 "Get lost!" She huffed. "He's in my space!"

"Fun fact, there is only so much space, and we actually have to share." Roy stated stiffly.

"Exactly." Wally annunciated, grabbing one of the empty bowls on the table. "Roy said it's my turn in the space."

"I didn't have a turn!" She gaped at him. Artemis can bicker over ANYTHING.

"Share." Roy called as the other three arrived. M'gann, complete with gaudy smudged nails, thoughtlessly levitated over a loaf of bread, and began making peanutbutter toast. Conner just sat down, his whole demeaner was weird, the league thought it was because the mysterious poison was clashing with his programmed teenage brain.

Kaldur followed through, helping Roy with The younger three; tightening Artemis' ponytail for her, letting Wally talk excitedly to him, and helping by pouring Robin some dry cereal when the box was too big for him.

Roy leaned against the fridge, pulling down his half-drunk soda and downing the rest.

Six hours and fifteen minutes to go.

-a part three with Clark and Conner is in the works-