First steps are often the hardest (Theme 107: First Step)
Title: First steps are often the hardest
Universe: DCAU (Young Justice)
Genre: Drama, humor
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Batman, Robin, Alfred
Word Count: 1341 words
Warnings: None
Summary: Robin is distracted, and Batman tries to get him to focus.
Robin sat in the cave and sighed. He wanted to be back at the island with the rest of the team, but Batman insisted that he return to the cave for some long, overdue retraining to sharpen their skills. It had been an exhausting day, but the Dark Knight could tell that his young sidekick had been distracted most of the day and was making careless mistakes that he would never tolerate on the field. He had called a break for lunch with the hopes that his young squire would refocus and come back that afternoon with more gusto, but watching Robin from a distance gave him no indication that anything would change.
Batman gave off a low growl of frustration, one that could easily be translated by Alfred as he strolled by with the lunch he had been preparing for the two of them. “Training not going very well, master Bruce?”
“He’s not focusing.” Bruce replied. “He’s been like this for weeks.”
“He’s a teenager.” Alfred said, “These are not easy years for a young lad. I remember you were far more reckless than he ever was and had a lot less responsibility as well when you were his age.”
“Do you think I’m pushing him too hard?” Bruce asked as he took the cowl off to think about it.
“Possibly.” Alfred honestly answered. “But I don’t think that’s the reason for your current situation.”
“Is that so?” Bruce asked as he turned to the butler. “And you have the answer to what’s going on?”
“As a matter of fact, Master Bruce, I do.” Alfred answered.
“Do tell.” Bruce said as he sat down, eager to know what he missing when watching Robin all day.
“That look he has on his face is one I have seen many times before.” Alfred said as he cracked a small grin. “It was the same look you had on your face whenever you returned from an encounter with Ms. Kyle.”
Bruce paused for a moment and looked back at Robin for a moment and then back at Alfred again. “You mean...”
“Yes. Master Dick is having lady problems.” Alfred confirmed, “And I would recommend you go down there and talk to him about it. Unless you’d prefer he get dating advice from the Flash or Green Lantern...”
“All right, all right.” Bruce said as he stood back up. He took the tray of food from Alfred and carried it down himself, something to use as an icebreaker to sit down and talk to the young ward.
Dick saw him walking up down the stairs with the tray, “Hey. Where’s Al?”
“He’s busy, and we need to talk.” Bruce replied.
“I know I’m not doing well this morning.” Dick admitted, “I’m sorry about...”
“That’s not what I’m here to talk about.” Bruce said as he put the tray down and took a seat. “Alfred is under the impression that you are having woman problems.” Bruce paused for a moment to gauge Dick’s response and the young man seemed to be a little too shocked to say anything. “Okay, who is it?”
“I can’t say.” Dick said as he seemed to be a little shy about it.
“Dick, this isn’t a game.” Bruce said as he took a piece of food from the tray and started to eat. “We need to discuss this and what kind of an impact it might have on our work.”
“I think its impact would be rather minimal.” Dick replied.
“I’m not so sure about that.” Bruce disagreed. “Bringing any civilian into our world can always lead to…”
“She’s not a civilian.” Dick corrected.
Bruce paused for a moment as this seemed to surprise him. He had been watching the Dick’s team for months and never caught any hint of him forming a romantic relationship with any other members. Superboy and Miss Martian were no shy about what they were doing that even the Flash was able to catch onto it, but if Dick was having relations with someone on the team, he was doing it off camera meaning that he was good at hiding what was going on. Bruce paused for a moment to finish what he was eating. “What’s her name?”
“Zatanna.” Dick answered.
Bruce had no idea that Dick had been getting romantic with the daughter of Justice League member Zatara, but acted as if he wasn’t surprised at all about it. “All right.”
“I hope you’re not angry.” Dick said.
“I’m not.” Bruce replied, which wasn’t far from the truth. “These things were bound to happen, given how much time the team spends together. I’m just pleased to see how discrete you’re being about this, unlike other members of your team.”
“Tell me about it.” Dick concurred as he knew exactly who Bruce was referring to. He had no intentions of flaunting his feelings for Zatanna around the island like Superboy had been with regards to Miss Martian.
“Is this the reason why you’re so distracted?” Bruce asked.
”Alfred is right.” Dick answered. “It’s been hard for me to concentrate because of this.”
"How long has this been going on?" Bruce asked, somewhat curious himself.
"A few months now," Dick answered, "But it got more intense after the incident with the League at the Watchtower."
"How so?" Bruce asked.
"We kissed." Dick answered. "It was pretty awesome."
Bruce smiled. "So what's the problem?"
"Well..." Dick said as he hesitated for a moment. “There’s something about it that's really getting to me.”
“Such as?” Bruce asked.
“It’s the secret identity.” Dick answered. “She doesn’t know the real me... she knows Robin. She doesn’t even know what I look like without a mask on.”
Bruce could tell this was a big issue with the young man and did his best to sympathize. “There are one or two women who I have revealed…”
“One or two?” Alfred called out from the landing above.
“All right,” Bruce conceded, “There are a few women out there who know my identity because I was romantically involved with them. If this relationship with Zatanna is the real thing, then we will reveal your identity to her and her alone when the time is right.”
Dick sat up and he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Really?”
“Yes.” Bruce confirmed. “Really.”
“When would that be?” Dick asked, somewhat curious.
”I’m not too sure, but we should be careful about it.” Bruce said as he stood up. “It’s a big step and you should learn from my mistakes. Revealing your identity too early can lead to complications.”
“You mean like your encounters with Ms. Kyle?” Dick asked.
“Yes.” Bruce confirmed. “Like that.”
“I understand.” Dick replied. “Thanks for the talk, Bruce.”
“And Diana?” Dick then asked.
Bruce looked down at Robin. “How do you know about Diana?”
Dick paused for a moment and then grinned. “She’s been hitting me up for intel… trying to get gift ideas.”
Bruce paused for a moment, but the decided to let it go. “That’s not a matter I prefer to comment on. We need to get around your lack of focus. I realize it’s easy to always think about the good things in life, but you can’t let this get in the way of work. If you want me to lighten up and help you with your issues with Zatanna, you had better make sure your thing with her doesn’t affect your work.”
Dick nodded, “All right. I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
“We’ll see.” Bruce said as he started to walk away. “We’re going to resume training in the morning. I expect to see an immediate improvement!”
“All right,” Dick said, with a new found spirit. “I Promise!” he called as he watched Batman walk up the stairs and back to the manor. The young ward finished his lunch and then spent the better half of the afternoon training and preparing for the grueling action that Bruce was going bring at him the next day. His distraction was now the goal, his inspiration to do the best he possibly could.
Universe: DCAU (Young Justice)
Genre: Drama, humor
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Batman, Robin, Alfred
Word Count: 1341 words
Warnings: None
Summary: Robin is distracted, and Batman tries to get him to focus.
Robin sat in the cave and sighed. He wanted to be back at the island with the rest of the team, but Batman insisted that he return to the cave for some long, overdue retraining to sharpen their skills. It had been an exhausting day, but the Dark Knight could tell that his young sidekick had been distracted most of the day and was making careless mistakes that he would never tolerate on the field. He had called a break for lunch with the hopes that his young squire would refocus and come back that afternoon with more gusto, but watching Robin from a distance gave him no indication that anything would change.
Batman gave off a low growl of frustration, one that could easily be translated by Alfred as he strolled by with the lunch he had been preparing for the two of them. “Training not going very well, master Bruce?”
“He’s not focusing.” Bruce replied. “He’s been like this for weeks.”
“He’s a teenager.” Alfred said, “These are not easy years for a young lad. I remember you were far more reckless than he ever was and had a lot less responsibility as well when you were his age.”
“Do you think I’m pushing him too hard?” Bruce asked as he took the cowl off to think about it.
“Possibly.” Alfred honestly answered. “But I don’t think that’s the reason for your current situation.”
“Is that so?” Bruce asked as he turned to the butler. “And you have the answer to what’s going on?”
“As a matter of fact, Master Bruce, I do.” Alfred answered.
“Do tell.” Bruce said as he sat down, eager to know what he missing when watching Robin all day.
“That look he has on his face is one I have seen many times before.” Alfred said as he cracked a small grin. “It was the same look you had on your face whenever you returned from an encounter with Ms. Kyle.”
Bruce paused for a moment and looked back at Robin for a moment and then back at Alfred again. “You mean...”
“Yes. Master Dick is having lady problems.” Alfred confirmed, “And I would recommend you go down there and talk to him about it. Unless you’d prefer he get dating advice from the Flash or Green Lantern...”
“All right, all right.” Bruce said as he stood back up. He took the tray of food from Alfred and carried it down himself, something to use as an icebreaker to sit down and talk to the young ward.
Dick saw him walking up down the stairs with the tray, “Hey. Where’s Al?”
“He’s busy, and we need to talk.” Bruce replied.
“I know I’m not doing well this morning.” Dick admitted, “I’m sorry about...”
“That’s not what I’m here to talk about.” Bruce said as he put the tray down and took a seat. “Alfred is under the impression that you are having woman problems.” Bruce paused for a moment to gauge Dick’s response and the young man seemed to be a little too shocked to say anything. “Okay, who is it?”
“I can’t say.” Dick said as he seemed to be a little shy about it.
“Dick, this isn’t a game.” Bruce said as he took a piece of food from the tray and started to eat. “We need to discuss this and what kind of an impact it might have on our work.”
“I think its impact would be rather minimal.” Dick replied.
“I’m not so sure about that.” Bruce disagreed. “Bringing any civilian into our world can always lead to…”
“She’s not a civilian.” Dick corrected.
Bruce paused for a moment as this seemed to surprise him. He had been watching the Dick’s team for months and never caught any hint of him forming a romantic relationship with any other members. Superboy and Miss Martian were no shy about what they were doing that even the Flash was able to catch onto it, but if Dick was having relations with someone on the team, he was doing it off camera meaning that he was good at hiding what was going on. Bruce paused for a moment to finish what he was eating. “What’s her name?”
“Zatanna.” Dick answered.
Bruce had no idea that Dick had been getting romantic with the daughter of Justice League member Zatara, but acted as if he wasn’t surprised at all about it. “All right.”
“I hope you’re not angry.” Dick said.
“I’m not.” Bruce replied, which wasn’t far from the truth. “These things were bound to happen, given how much time the team spends together. I’m just pleased to see how discrete you’re being about this, unlike other members of your team.”
“Tell me about it.” Dick concurred as he knew exactly who Bruce was referring to. He had no intentions of flaunting his feelings for Zatanna around the island like Superboy had been with regards to Miss Martian.
“Is this the reason why you’re so distracted?” Bruce asked.
”Alfred is right.” Dick answered. “It’s been hard for me to concentrate because of this.”
"How long has this been going on?" Bruce asked, somewhat curious himself.
"A few months now," Dick answered, "But it got more intense after the incident with the League at the Watchtower."
"How so?" Bruce asked.
"We kissed." Dick answered. "It was pretty awesome."
Bruce smiled. "So what's the problem?"
"Well..." Dick said as he hesitated for a moment. “There’s something about it that's really getting to me.”
“Such as?” Bruce asked.
“It’s the secret identity.” Dick answered. “She doesn’t know the real me... she knows Robin. She doesn’t even know what I look like without a mask on.”
Bruce could tell this was a big issue with the young man and did his best to sympathize. “There are one or two women who I have revealed…”
“One or two?” Alfred called out from the landing above.
“All right,” Bruce conceded, “There are a few women out there who know my identity because I was romantically involved with them. If this relationship with Zatanna is the real thing, then we will reveal your identity to her and her alone when the time is right.”
Dick sat up and he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Really?”
“Yes.” Bruce confirmed. “Really.”
“When would that be?” Dick asked, somewhat curious.
”I’m not too sure, but we should be careful about it.” Bruce said as he stood up. “It’s a big step and you should learn from my mistakes. Revealing your identity too early can lead to complications.”
“You mean like your encounters with Ms. Kyle?” Dick asked.
“Yes.” Bruce confirmed. “Like that.”
“I understand.” Dick replied. “Thanks for the talk, Bruce.”
“And Diana?” Dick then asked.
Bruce looked down at Robin. “How do you know about Diana?”
Dick paused for a moment and then grinned. “She’s been hitting me up for intel… trying to get gift ideas.”
Bruce paused for a moment, but the decided to let it go. “That’s not a matter I prefer to comment on. We need to get around your lack of focus. I realize it’s easy to always think about the good things in life, but you can’t let this get in the way of work. If you want me to lighten up and help you with your issues with Zatanna, you had better make sure your thing with her doesn’t affect your work.”
Dick nodded, “All right. I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
“We’ll see.” Bruce said as he started to walk away. “We’re going to resume training in the morning. I expect to see an immediate improvement!”
“All right,” Dick said, with a new found spirit. “I Promise!” he called as he watched Batman walk up the stairs and back to the manor. The young ward finished his lunch and then spent the better half of the afternoon training and preparing for the grueling action that Bruce was going bring at him the next day. His distraction was now the goal, his inspiration to do the best he possibly could.