Just Like a Pill (1/?)
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."
Warning! Mention of menstruation and other awkward teenage girl issues.
When she was younger it had been a game. A challenge. Like when Batman went undercover only more awesome because she did it all the time. Besides, she’d seen what happened to little girls in Gotham. Getting captured occasionally by the criminals she and Batman pursued was scary enough as a boy.
As she got older, it got harder, which was kinda weird from a logical standpoint. You’d think with more practice it’d get easier, like back flips and jump-lining. Suddenly, being Robin, boy wonder, and Richard Grayson, son of Bruce Wayne sent unhappy twinges through her whenever anyone said it. It was okay when a villain that did it, she could just punch them in the face. However, she couldn’t very well punch Wally with any seriousness, especially with the ball of guilt threatening to envelope her whenever she thought about how much she was lying to her “best friend.”
She knew she could change it. Tell Bruce she was ready to skip to Phase III of the Young Justice Plan Bruce had briefed her on the very night of the team’s formation. Robin would die, the team, in turn, learning to experience and cope with a loss. One month later, the missing Richard Grayson’s body would be found. Bruce Wayne would publicly grieve and the Robin/Richard chapter of her life would officially close. She already had an alternate ID as Rachel Pennyworth, for doctor’s appointments and such, and Rachel had “visited” countless times before. Rachel moving in to aid her aging great-uncle in caring for a grieving billionaire would be tittered at by the Gotham socialites, but not be completely questionable.
The thing was, if-when-if-when Robin and Richard died …so would all the friendships, connections, and reputations of them both. Bruce had already told her she could re-enter the cape community after “sufficient time elapsed for Rachel Pennyworth to possess the skills and aptitude.” But that would take at least a year, probably more, and she’d be an untried rookie all over again. Roy would be surly and demeaning, Wally would flirt shamelessly, the League would throw a fit at Batman for endangering another non-metahuman child after the death of Robin, (she refused to think of crumpled bodies and snapped lines) and everything she’d build on the premise of her lies would be gone. Phase III would someday have to happen, she couldn’t pretend forever without permanently altering her body and the older she got, the more people would wonder why the Boy Wonder looked to darn girly.
She’d been running back to the bioship, more goons than she could count on her tail when she’d realized she was slightly slower than usual. She racked it up, along with the various abdominal pains, to getting smashed by the latest product of the Blockbuster serum before Superboy had managed to bail her out. She was not going to be feeling the aster come morning.
Finally reaching the ship, she jumped in quickly. The rest of the team already present, Megan immediately cloaked the ship and took off. Worn out and achy, Robin collapsed in to nearest (and only empty) chair, ever-so-slightly curled in on herself to try and relieve the ache in her abdomen.
“Any injuries?” Kaldur asked the team at large.
“My arm’s the only thing serious, otherwise just scratches and bruises.” Artemis stated quietly, holding a field bandage to a decent sized gash on her upper left arm.
“Nothing hit me!” Wally chirped, stretching his legs out and tucking his arms behind his head.
Artemis glared and opened her mouth to retaliate when Robin, suddenly really not wanting to hear it quickly announced he had some decent bruises but was otherwise fine.
“Are you sure?” Wally asked, “I saw you get hit pretty hard by the Blockbuster mutant.”
“The Blockbuster hit you?!” Megan repeated, concerned.
Kaldur gave Robin a mildly concerned look. “Are you sure you are alright?”
“Relax, Batman’s body armor design is the best of the best. It took a stomping from Superboy.” Robin reassured.
“Sorry.” Superboy immediately supplied, looking both uncomfortable and guilty.
“No worries.” Robin breezed, “you weren’t in your right mind at the time.” Superboy still looked uncomfortable but seemed to accept Robin’s olive branch.
“You are sure you’re unharmed, Robin?” Kaldur asked again, sounding grave yet caring as only he could.
“Positive. Not even bleeding this mission!” Robin assured. Superboy frowned, looking confused and still slightly upset but, before he could sat whatever was on his mind, Wally and Artemis’ fighting, which had been slowly escalating in the background, grew too aggressive to not be addressed.
It didn’t take Robin long to realize the ache in her lower body was not due to injuries. In fact, she probably would have figured it out sooner if she hadn’t been so completely not expecting it. She’d kept meticulous record so that she’d never be caught off guard. It was still new for her, but she was blessed to be pretty much regular. Why would it be two weeks off -oh. She hadn’t counted on the effect Artemis would have. She’d never had another female around often enough to matter. So when Artemis got especially bitchy the week before, she’d thanked all higher beings she’d never had noticeable PMS and kept on with what she was doing. Trying to not convey any of her discomfort -the last thing she needed right now was more attention- she nonchalantly reached into the tiny compartment in her belt that she kept the good stuff Batman gave her so cramps wouldn’t throw her off. Unfortunately, Superboy, bless his infinite naïveté and curiosity, heard her and glanced back.
“What’s that?” He asked, almost childlike. Robin froze for a split second, unsure of how to respond, which was apparently enough to trip the “Robin-sense” in the sulking Wally who zipped out of his seat and next to hers and had her hand holding the pills in his grip before she’d finished trying to figure out how to proceed on the Superboy front.
“Dude! Painkillers? You said you weren’t hurt!” Wally shouted sounding both hurt and angry bringing the attention of everyone back to Robin.
“I told you, it’s nothing, just some bruised. These are caffeine pills!” Robin insisted, feeling like a total bitch, "Batman doesn't like me getting too drowsy on the job." Wally gave her a careful, uncharacteristically serious look before letting her hand go.
“You sure you’re okay?” He asked again, still sounding waaay more serious than he usually ever was.
“It is important that we know the status of every member of the team, Robin.” Kaldur reminded, only serving to drive another knife into her gut to mingle with the cramps and the knives of guilt already there.
“Of course! You know I’d tell you something that important,” Robin assured them both, her smile as bright and confidence-inspiring as she could fake through her sudden wave of nausea.
For a tense moment, Wally’s expression was unreadable, and then he relaxed and smiled like normal once more. “If you’re sure,” he said with a slightly odd shrug before he walked back to his seat.
Seeing Wally back down, the rest of the team shot Robin one more concerned look and turn their attention back to the front. Except for Superboy. He gave Robin another perplexed frown and refused to look away until Robin gave up and gave in to her pain and took the pills under his still-confused watch.
Part 2