Just Like a Pill Part (4/?)
Based off the YJ_anon_meme prompt:
"So, Robin is actually a girl, but dresses and acts like a boy because of what happens to little girls in Gotham. The team find out and have to deal with not only their betrayal, but having to completely change their expectations.
Bonus! The guys start getting protective, and Robin shows them that she doesn't need them to save her."
Warnings: Some mild swearing and heavy drama.
A/N: un-beta (i think I failed to mention that before) so all mistakes are mine. Also, there is slight OOCness in Superboy (and Robin, of course) this time I think but it was kind of a necessary evil.
Part IV
Superboy was mad. Robin. Robin was a girl. And he-she had never told them. He had wondered why he-she and Artemis had smelled so similar before but had in the end just decided Wally’s super speed made his human smell different. It wasn’t like he’d met any other non-powered humans besides Black Canary (also female) and Batman (who he’d just decided was also secretly super-powered).
It wasn’t until last week he’d really gotten suspicious. Artemis had arrived at Mount Justice angry and seemed to just get more pissed off. After she’d yelled at him for staring at the television too blankly, Robin had taken pity on him and Megan and explained that Artemis was in fact neither ill nor possessed. Robin had been very patient and knowledgeable, answering all of their curious and probably socially inappropriate questions.
He punched the reinforced punching bag before him with extra force to vent him vexation with how ridiculous and complex human social norms were.
It wasn’t until Megan had marveled at the fact human females could not be completely grossed out and nonfunctional during a week of bleeding via their reproductive channel that Superboy had gotten suspicious. Robin replied that for most women the bleeding was nowhere near as bad as the other symptoms, like cramping. Megan had been looking over her latest batch of cookies, looking pleased that the bottoms weren’t burnt, so she’d missed Robin’s body language. While talking, Robin had wrapped his-her arms around her stomach and wore an expression he’d categorized as a grimace of remembered pain. At the time, Superboy had just been confused, because as far as he knew, human males did not ever experience this phenomenon. Now he knew why.
He roared in anger and threw all of himself into assaulting the punching bag. He decided if he broke it, it would be “defeated.”
Eventually, he realized someone was trying to get his attention. Standing at a safe distance, the rest of the team (save Robin) was watching while Kaldur repeated his designation with subtly increasing exasperation.
Noticing he finally had Superboy’s attention, Kaldur stepped forward. “Superboy, we require your opinion.”
Superboy gave him what he hoped was a nonplussed expression.
“The medication Robin ingested on the ship en-route to base Wally claims was in fact a heavy painkiller, not a caffeine pill. Megan claims she knows Robin was not lying when he said he came out of the mission largely unharmed. This appears as though Robin is abusing painkilling drugs, which is a strong indication of a drug addiction. The team is divided on whether we should confront Robin ourselves or go directly to Batman. I believe…”
Kaldur was still talking, but Superboy’s inner thoughts tuned him out. They thought Robin was abusing pain medication. But Robin was in pain, her posture and scent indicated that much to him very clearly both before and during their argument in the ship bay. If it wasn’t from a mission related injury the information he had been presented with indicated that there was a high likelihood she was experiencing severe menstrual cramping. If they confronted her, especially now, there was a chance she’d reveal herself. However if they went to Batman …he was the one forced her to hide.
“We should confront Robin.” Superboy blurted out, effectively cutting off Kaldur’s ongoing monolog.
“Yes!” Wally cheered, causing Artemis to elbow him sharply in the ribs.
Kaldur frowned. “You are sure?” he asked, looking doubtful.
“Yes,” Superboy affirmed, trying to sound convincing, “this is something that happened on a Young Justice mission. It’s about us, so it’s between us.”
When Kaldur used his override she’d given him for absolute emergencies and she heard the entire team file into her room, Robin knew Superboy had outed her. Instead of getting up and having to face them, she stayed curled up, hunched under the blankets like they would somehow protect her.
She listened anxiously to see who would cave, stop fidgeting, and start yelling at her first.
“Robin,” Kaldur spoke carefully, seeming unsure, “your actions on the ship have us worried.” That had not been what she was expecting.
Robin sat up quickly and turned around to face them. None of them looked particularly angry, just confused and worried. “What are you talking about, exactly?” She asked, hoping for some clarification as to what had actually gotten them upset enough to break into her room.
“The medication you took on the bioship, what was it?” Kaldur asked seriously.
Robin involuntarily stiffened. Oooh. Of course, she knew Wally had let her off too easy earlier.
Robin sighed. “Okay, you got me, it was painkillers -but it wasn’t from anything on the mission!” She quickly added, seeing the team seem to uniformly stiffen (save for Superboy of course), and trying to salvage as much trust between her and the rest of the team as she could.
Kaldur raised a hand to cut off whatever angry words were about to spill forth from an irate Wally and Artemis. “How seriously are you injured, Robin? The truth this time.”
“It’s nothing life threatening,” Robin hedged.
Superboy snorted and when the rest of the team looked to him he simply shrugged. “She told me as much earlier.”
Robin let out a choked cry at Superboy’s choice of pronoun.
“Dude, Robin may be lame, but calling him a girl’s kinda low.” Wally chided, causing Artemis to shove him hard.
Superboy gave Robin a measured look, like he was waiting for something. But Robin couldn’t tell them. They would be so mad and Batman would be angry and everyone would look at her differently and- Superboy’s frown deepened.
“Are you actually taking the meds because injuries are bothering you?” Superboy asked innocently. Robin gave him a confused look. From the others that question would make sense but he knew…
“Yeah, I got injured on a mission with Batman earlier this week and the running and getting smashed into things kinda "reopened the wound" so to speak.” She replied, lying as confidingly as possible.
Megan frowned sadly. “You’re lying.”
Megan’s words seemed to open the floodgates. The entire team was in uproar, but she heard Wally above them all.
“Robin, what the Hell?” he snarled. “Drug abuse? Seriously?”
“It’s not drug abuse!” She protested violently, trying to get the disgusted look off her best friend’s face. “I am in pain!”
“Wait!” Megan shouted, surprising everyone into silence, “He’s still telling the truth.” Megan looked at her questioningly. “If you aren’t injured, why are you in enough pain for strong medication?”
Robin stared at her, frozen. This was it. This was the moment when it all ended. She couldn’t tell them the truth. They’d have to think Robin had a drug problem because she couldn’t tell them why she was really hurting and she was not using Batman’s cancer contingency because that was just too cruel.
Superboy stepped forward and sat next to her on the bed. She eyed him warily as the rest of the team looked on in bafflement. “Why can’t you just tell them?” he asked quietly, looking genuinely confused. “We don’t tell anyone Wally’s name. They can keep a secret. Besides, why keep this a secret at all?”
“Keep what a secret?” Wally asked, “You don’t, like, have cancer or something do you?”
Surprising everyone, especially herself, Robin burst into hysterical laughter that quickly dissolved into tears, curling herself into a ball to hide her face.
“Oh my God! Tell me you don’t seriously have cancer!” Wally begged, sounding horrified.
Robin shook her head, refusing to uncurl at Superboy’s hesitant prodding. “No. But I can’t …I can’t tell …Batman’d be… I can’t go aga-st,” Robin curled herself in tighter, disgusted with herself and unable to both breathe and talk on top of sobbing.
“Batman won’t let her tell you.” Superboy said seriously, apparently giving up on getting her to uncurl or talk rationally, but not moving from his seat next to her on the bed.
“Stop calling him a girl, can’t you see Rob’s…” Wally trailed off uncertainly. It was the Robin remembered she wasn’t modulating her voice any more.
Superboy, apparently trying a different tactic observed from Megan’s soaps, put a hesitant hand on her back, large and warm. “That’s what Batman wouldn’t let her tell. She is a girl.” He replied bluntly, sounding angry/uncomfortable with all the emotion in the room.
Part V
"So, Robin is actually a girl, but dresses and acts like a boy because of what happens to little girls in Gotham. The team find out and have to deal with not only their betrayal, but having to completely change their expectations.
Bonus! The guys start getting protective, and Robin shows them that she doesn't need them to save her."
Warnings: Some mild swearing and heavy drama.
A/N: un-beta (i think I failed to mention that before) so all mistakes are mine. Also, there is slight OOCness in Superboy (and Robin, of course) this time I think but it was kind of a necessary evil.
Part IV
Superboy was mad. Robin. Robin was a girl. And he-she had never told them. He had wondered why he-she and Artemis had smelled so similar before but had in the end just decided Wally’s super speed made his human smell different. It wasn’t like he’d met any other non-powered humans besides Black Canary (also female) and Batman (who he’d just decided was also secretly super-powered).
It wasn’t until last week he’d really gotten suspicious. Artemis had arrived at Mount Justice angry and seemed to just get more pissed off. After she’d yelled at him for staring at the television too blankly, Robin had taken pity on him and Megan and explained that Artemis was in fact neither ill nor possessed. Robin had been very patient and knowledgeable, answering all of their curious and probably socially inappropriate questions.
He punched the reinforced punching bag before him with extra force to vent him vexation with how ridiculous and complex human social norms were.
It wasn’t until Megan had marveled at the fact human females could not be completely grossed out and nonfunctional during a week of bleeding via their reproductive channel that Superboy had gotten suspicious. Robin replied that for most women the bleeding was nowhere near as bad as the other symptoms, like cramping. Megan had been looking over her latest batch of cookies, looking pleased that the bottoms weren’t burnt, so she’d missed Robin’s body language. While talking, Robin had wrapped his-her arms around her stomach and wore an expression he’d categorized as a grimace of remembered pain. At the time, Superboy had just been confused, because as far as he knew, human males did not ever experience this phenomenon. Now he knew why.
He roared in anger and threw all of himself into assaulting the punching bag. He decided if he broke it, it would be “defeated.”
Eventually, he realized someone was trying to get his attention. Standing at a safe distance, the rest of the team (save Robin) was watching while Kaldur repeated his designation with subtly increasing exasperation.
Noticing he finally had Superboy’s attention, Kaldur stepped forward. “Superboy, we require your opinion.”
Superboy gave him what he hoped was a nonplussed expression.
“The medication Robin ingested on the ship en-route to base Wally claims was in fact a heavy painkiller, not a caffeine pill. Megan claims she knows Robin was not lying when he said he came out of the mission largely unharmed. This appears as though Robin is abusing painkilling drugs, which is a strong indication of a drug addiction. The team is divided on whether we should confront Robin ourselves or go directly to Batman. I believe…”
Kaldur was still talking, but Superboy’s inner thoughts tuned him out. They thought Robin was abusing pain medication. But Robin was in pain, her posture and scent indicated that much to him very clearly both before and during their argument in the ship bay. If it wasn’t from a mission related injury the information he had been presented with indicated that there was a high likelihood she was experiencing severe menstrual cramping. If they confronted her, especially now, there was a chance she’d reveal herself. However if they went to Batman …he was the one forced her to hide.
“We should confront Robin.” Superboy blurted out, effectively cutting off Kaldur’s ongoing monolog.
“Yes!” Wally cheered, causing Artemis to elbow him sharply in the ribs.
Kaldur frowned. “You are sure?” he asked, looking doubtful.
“Yes,” Superboy affirmed, trying to sound convincing, “this is something that happened on a Young Justice mission. It’s about us, so it’s between us.”
When Kaldur used his override she’d given him for absolute emergencies and she heard the entire team file into her room, Robin knew Superboy had outed her. Instead of getting up and having to face them, she stayed curled up, hunched under the blankets like they would somehow protect her.
She listened anxiously to see who would cave, stop fidgeting, and start yelling at her first.
“Robin,” Kaldur spoke carefully, seeming unsure, “your actions on the ship have us worried.” That had not been what she was expecting.
Robin sat up quickly and turned around to face them. None of them looked particularly angry, just confused and worried. “What are you talking about, exactly?” She asked, hoping for some clarification as to what had actually gotten them upset enough to break into her room.
“The medication you took on the bioship, what was it?” Kaldur asked seriously.
Robin involuntarily stiffened. Oooh. Of course, she knew Wally had let her off too easy earlier.
Robin sighed. “Okay, you got me, it was painkillers -but it wasn’t from anything on the mission!” She quickly added, seeing the team seem to uniformly stiffen (save for Superboy of course), and trying to salvage as much trust between her and the rest of the team as she could.
Kaldur raised a hand to cut off whatever angry words were about to spill forth from an irate Wally and Artemis. “How seriously are you injured, Robin? The truth this time.”
“It’s nothing life threatening,” Robin hedged.
Superboy snorted and when the rest of the team looked to him he simply shrugged. “She told me as much earlier.”
Robin let out a choked cry at Superboy’s choice of pronoun.
“Dude, Robin may be lame, but calling him a girl’s kinda low.” Wally chided, causing Artemis to shove him hard.
Superboy gave Robin a measured look, like he was waiting for something. But Robin couldn’t tell them. They would be so mad and Batman would be angry and everyone would look at her differently and- Superboy’s frown deepened.
“Are you actually taking the meds because injuries are bothering you?” Superboy asked innocently. Robin gave him a confused look. From the others that question would make sense but he knew…
“Yeah, I got injured on a mission with Batman earlier this week and the running and getting smashed into things kinda "reopened the wound" so to speak.” She replied, lying as confidingly as possible.
Megan frowned sadly. “You’re lying.”
Megan’s words seemed to open the floodgates. The entire team was in uproar, but she heard Wally above them all.
“Robin, what the Hell?” he snarled. “Drug abuse? Seriously?”
“It’s not drug abuse!” She protested violently, trying to get the disgusted look off her best friend’s face. “I am in pain!”
“Wait!” Megan shouted, surprising everyone into silence, “He’s still telling the truth.” Megan looked at her questioningly. “If you aren’t injured, why are you in enough pain for strong medication?”
Robin stared at her, frozen. This was it. This was the moment when it all ended. She couldn’t tell them the truth. They’d have to think Robin had a drug problem because she couldn’t tell them why she was really hurting and she was not using Batman’s cancer contingency because that was just too cruel.
Superboy stepped forward and sat next to her on the bed. She eyed him warily as the rest of the team looked on in bafflement. “Why can’t you just tell them?” he asked quietly, looking genuinely confused. “We don’t tell anyone Wally’s name. They can keep a secret. Besides, why keep this a secret at all?”
“Keep what a secret?” Wally asked, “You don’t, like, have cancer or something do you?”
Surprising everyone, especially herself, Robin burst into hysterical laughter that quickly dissolved into tears, curling herself into a ball to hide her face.
“Oh my God! Tell me you don’t seriously have cancer!” Wally begged, sounding horrified.
Robin shook her head, refusing to uncurl at Superboy’s hesitant prodding. “No. But I can’t …I can’t tell …Batman’d be… I can’t go aga-st,” Robin curled herself in tighter, disgusted with herself and unable to both breathe and talk on top of sobbing.
“Batman won’t let her tell you.” Superboy said seriously, apparently giving up on getting her to uncurl or talk rationally, but not moving from his seat next to her on the bed.
“Stop calling him a girl, can’t you see Rob’s…” Wally trailed off uncertainly. It was the Robin remembered she wasn’t modulating her voice any more.
Superboy, apparently trying a different tactic observed from Megan’s soaps, put a hesitant hand on her back, large and warm. “That’s what Batman wouldn’t let her tell. She is a girl.” He replied bluntly, sounding angry/uncomfortable with all the emotion in the room.
Part V