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Nov. 28th, 2007 07:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aloneindarknes7Title: Now More Than Ever
Author: Jordan Herbert
Pairing: Sladin
Fandom: Teen Titans
Rating: Pg-13
Word Count: 3,741
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters and that makes me sad sometimes until I realize I can still write using them. Yay!
Author's Note: Posted from my 'Sladin: One Shots' off of FF
Robin opened the doors to Pier 41 and looked around the empty warehouse. He took a few steps in before he stopped and looked up at the rafters above and found that no one was there; he was completely alone. He sighed disappointedly. He had been visiting this spot every night since he had returned to Jump after taking down the Brotherhood of Evil. He also had visited Slade’s old hideouts, all of them, as well every night before he checked the pier. He was once again looking for Slade but what he didn’t know was why exactly he was searching for the masked assassin.
It was his job to bring down Slade, he reasoned with himself in an attempt to understand the strange lust he was having for Slade lately, the strange feelings of sadness when he didn’t see Slade, and the slight hope that he had every night when he went out to begin his search. It wasn’t lust though, he tried to convince himself, it was just curiosity and the need that he had to bring the villain down once and for all. Besides, he had wondered what happened to Slade since the last time he saw him; fighting along side him in an attempt to bring Trigon down.
“Looking for me, Robin?” Robin’s heart raced in excitement. He turned around and saw Slade standing in the doorway. He knew that if he had revisited Slade’s old ‘hangout spots’ eventually the villain would come from his own curiosity. He knew that because Slade was just as curious about Robin’s actions as Robin was about Slade’s.
“What have you been up to lately?” Robin asked as he crossed his arms over his chest to take on his normal role of being a smug teenager.
Slade shrugged his broad shoulders and closed the warehouse’s large doors, entrapping them in the big warehouse. “The usual mischief, I suppose, but I kept being interrupted while I planned on attacking because each night my monitors would flash on and, to my surprise, would show you. Taking a stroll down memory lane, Robin, or do you really miss me so much that you hoped to find me?”
Robin’s hands flew to his sides and immediately they were balled up into tight fists. “Of course not,” he growled. “All my memories of you haunt me enough during my nightmares that I don’t need them during my waking hours as well! I really just wanted to find you to tell you thanks on behalf of myself and the other Titans for helping us defeat Trigon.”
Slade stared at Robin before he started to slowly make his way towards the boy, his footsteps creating a soft pattern and filling the silence of the room. Slade could tell that Robin was acting strange, the boy had for the past week or so; ever since they had returned to the city.
“No need to get so defensive, little bird.” Slade stopped a mere foot in front of Robin. “And you’re welcome.” He leaned forward and penetrated Robin’s gaze. “But why are you really here? You can’t really expect me to believe that you came, that you spent a week’s worth of nights searching for me, to merely thank me, in fact, I believe you weren’t even thinking of thanking me at all but had something else planned.”
“Perhaps I also came to take you to jail once and for all.” Robin didn’t break eye contact as he glared at the villain before him. His heart continued to beat rapidly but Robin couldn’t tell if it was from adrenaline or…something else.
“Are you telling me that, or trying to convince yourself?” Slade smirked although Robin couldn’t see it.
“I came because I thought you might want to know that I know who you are; I now know all about you.” Slade’s smirk quickly disappeared only to reappear on Robin’s little face.
“Oh really, and how did you manage to do that?” Robin wasn’t sure whether Slade was mocking him or was actually interested in knowing how he had managed to come across the information he had been given. Robin figured he would always be second guessing everything that had to do with Slade; it was just how the man seemed to make him be.
“Batman needed a full report from our adventures with the Brotherhood of Evil and I couldn’t help but mention how I was surprised by their lack of your membership.” Robin folded his arms over his chest again. “So why didn’t you join them? They seemed to have the same goals as you do; destroy the Teen Titans and take over the world.”
“I don’t like to work in groups, especially when I barely work well with a partner; what with all of my apprentices ‘quitting’ on me.” Slade paused. “Besides, they were planning on keeping you all as ice statues and that’s not what I have planned for you and your friends.” Robin’s masked eyes narrowed but Slade ignored it and stood straight again. “So, what exactly did you find out from Batman?”
“My father,” Robin paused as he noticed the small twitch in Slade eye, he continued with a smirk on his face, “told me that you two went back. You were on an assignment together before?”
“In a way, I suppose you could call it that, although we weren’t too chummy if that’s what you’re suggesting.” Slade placed his hands behind his back. “Batman and I never had the sort of relationship you and I will always have, Robin.”
“I’m going to ignore that, Deathstroke the Terminator.” Robin’s glare intensified.
“I’d prefer if you don’t call me that, Richard.” Slade glared as well.
Robin sighed and shook his head from side to side. “Bruce told me that you knew of my identity as well as his own.”
“And you now know that I was telling you my identity the entire time as well. What are you trying to get at?” Slade asked, curious.
“Why did you use your real name and not Deathstroke? Sure, Slade isn’t a run of the mill name but Deathstroke is known as a villain already. His name and reputation is known and, perhaps, if we had learned that we were up against the Deathstroke, maybe we would have just given up.” Robin referred to himself and the other Titans as he continued. “Did you even have a reason to use your real name or were you just humoring us?” Robin quipped as he stared painstakingly up at Slade. Slade could practically taste how much Robin wanted to know the answers.
“It’s not because I thought that Deathstroke would be too much for you to handle, if that’s what you inquire to know Robin. And besides, if you and your team had just given up knowing that there was no way you could stop me, than I wouldn’t have had as much fun as I did and I never would have accomplished my goal, not that it’s quite accomplished yet.”
“What is your goal?”
“That’s quite a personal question you’re asking, Robin. If I answer it, what would I get out of it?” Slade inquired as he leaned down.
Robin scratched his head and looked at his feet, a habit he normally did when nervous. “I’ll answer a personal question you have for me then. Is it a deal?” Robin looked at Slade and he nodded his head. “But we both have to answer fully and truthfully until the other says that they were done explaining themselves.” Slade nodded again; it seemed reasonable enough.
“There is a reason I came to
Robin nodded his head. “Why exactly is Slade more likeable than Deathstroke?”
Slade sighed, he really hated talking about his other persona; it brought back too many memories and that was another reason he had taken on being himself instead of the worldly known assassin; escapement from the past. “Because as Slade I’m able to be myself than Deathstroke; Slade is who I actually am and Deathstroke is the name I use when I detach from myself so I can complete my job and get a few thrills. Did I answer your question now?”
Robin nodded his head, satisfied enough with the answer and slightly glad that the Slade had originally came to Jump all because he wanted him as his apprentice. “So,” he looked up at Slade, “do you have a question for me?”
“Yes,” Slade quickly knew the best question he had for the boy and he also knew that it would be difficult for the boy to answer truthfully for he was probably guessing as well at the true answer, the answer Slade had been trying to get from Robin ever since ha had taken him for his apprentice and, other, selfish reasons. “How do you feel about me?”
Robin was literally caught off guard by the question’s bluntness. His eyes widened and he stumbled back a few inches. “What do you mean how do I feel about you? You’re my arch foe!”
“Robin, you have to answer ‘fully and truthfully’ until I’m satisfied with the answer. Go on now, explain all the emotions you have for me; I’ve got nothing better to do tonight.” Slade crossed his arms over his chest again as Robin tried to collect all of his thoughts. “You can start off with the easy one if you really want to; your hate for me.”
Robin rubbed the back of his neck and leaned from one foot to another. “It’s kind of funny but I don’t actually hate you.” Robin forced a cough as he stopped fidgeting but looked to the ground. “Of course I do get angry at you though, especially when you mock me, threaten my friends’ safety, and toy around with me for your own amusement; like now.” Robin glared at Slade then looked back to the floor. “Then sometimes, I don’t know, I guess I get jealous...”
“Jealous?” Slade asked. This was definitely going to be interesting.
“Yeah, I mean you’re always beating me and you can always outsmart me and fool me as though I was barely child’s play to you. The way you manipulated me so easily and then…the whole incident with Terra.” Robin lowered his head and his shoulders tensed as he heard a soft chuckle escape from Slade.
“You were jealous of Terra as well? Because she had taken my interest off of you for a moment. But, Robin, you had your chance at being my apprentice and you refused me. You can’t blame me--”
“No I didn’t.” Robin shot at Slade as he looked up at him. Slade looked at Robin and noticed a slight blush crossing the young boy’s face. Robin…was blushing?
“You’re blushing.” Slade stated and Robin’s eyes widened as he turned to look at the floor again. “But please, expand on that. You didn’t what, exactly?”
“I didn’t,” he paused for a while and Slade was about to coax him to continue when he spoke again, “refuse you exactly.”
“So are you saying you wanted to be my apprentice?” Slade was utterly surprised.
“No.” Robin shook his head wildly. “But I did know that I wanted to learn from you and be with you to learn more about you.” Robin knew that if he was actually looking at Slade at that moment the masked villain would have had a field day with how red his face probably was.
“I know that I have potential inside of me that’s waiting to be unlocked, that can’t be unlocked by Bruce. But,” Robin paused as he realized he was saying more than he had to. “We’re getting off topic now.”
“I suppose, but don’t think this won’t come up the next time we have this sort of talk.” Slade wasn’t about to let that topic die completely.
“There are definitely curiosity as well as confusion,” Robin continued listing his feelings for the villain. “I’m often flustered by some of the things you say; they always seem to have second meanings and I want to know why I was the only teen superhero to catch your interest. I was rather amazed when I found out that I’d been fighting the Deathstroke, and then…” Robin paused and then mumbled something as he continued to observe at the floor as though someone had painted the Mona Lisa on it.
“What was that last one, Robin? You’re mumbling and I can’t hear you when you mumble incoherently like that. Also, it’s just quite rude to not look at someone when you speak to them. Look me in the eye, boy.” Robin lifted his face slowly and, to Slade’s amusement as well as curiosity, it was bright red.
Robin took out something from his belt and held it in his hand as he knew Slade was gawking at his red face. “I said that I also…” Before Slade had the chance to react Robin threw the object at the ground and a cloud of smoke covered him.
“I think I love you.” Slade heard the warehouse doors open as the final words were spoken and he knew Robin was no longer in the building.
Robin ran as fast as he could from the warehouse. He looked back as he ran to see if Slade was following him and was relived to not see the villain leaving the place; he wasn’t sure if he could face the villain again after saying that, at least not until they were fighting again instead of talking. Too bad Robin didn’t have a choice as he suddenly crashed into a solid object that had seemingly appeared in front of him, otherwise known as Slade.
Robin’s face was still bright red and when the villain grabbed a hold of his wrists and pulled Robin against him it didn’t help his blush disappear. Robin knew that Slade was fast and unpredictable but how did he get in front of him like that? And why was he squeezing Robin’s wrists so tightly, so painfully? Did he think that Robin had been making fun of him, lying to him, or something else when he had confessed his secret and confusing feelings for Slade?
“Sl…Slade…” Robin stuttered as the looming figure looked down at him.
“We’re not done with our talk for tonight, Robin, in fact, we’ve just seemingly begun. The deal was truthfully and fully and you only upheld the truthfully part; now for the fully part. When you said that you,” he paused and Robin gulped, “love me…Why and how?”
Robin tried to pull his hands free from Slade’s hold but it only resorted in Slade adding more pressure to his grip.
“Like hell if I know!” Robin screamed as he tugged. He stumbled backwards from his force when Slade released his wrists suddenly. Robin started to rub his wrists and he cursed himself for still blushing because he could feel how hot his face still was.
“I’m a teenaged boy overrun with hormones, who doesn’t know anything about his sexuality, and the topic of it never seemingly appearing besides a sex-ed class and a few awkward discussions with Bruce.” Robin began to explain himself. “How am I supposed to feel when someone suddenly shows up in my life and tells me that all of his reasoning for everything that he does is because of me? How am I suppose to interpret all of this said man’s meanings when he’s constantly saying such things as ‘it’s always been about you’ and telling me that I’m so much like himself? How am I supposed to feel about all of that? If you could tell me then I might finally be able to understand something about my messed up life and these confusing emotions that had been running throughout me nonstop since I was your apprentice!” Robin panted and looked at Slade as he regained his breath from his long rant.
He had just told his enemy so many personal things in one night, but it had felt so good to finally open up to someone even if it was to the person who caused half of the problems. He had been keeping everything bottled up too tight and it had suddenly just exploded; he wouldn’t have been able to stop himself even if he had wanted to.
“Robin, you’re supposed to feel exactly how you do; feelings are something that even I can’t control for no one can. Our feelings are exactly what they’re meant to be. It’s perfectly fine for you to feel that way for me--”
“No it’s not! It’s wrong and I shouldn’t have these feelings!” Robin yelled.
“—and it’s perfectly fine for me to return those feelings for you.” Slade finished, ignoring Robin’s outburst in between his sentence.
Slade would have laughed loudly at the sight before him, if he didn’t have such powerful self control and wasn’t able to contain himself, because Robin’s face had truly became priceless. His jaw was wide open, his masked eyes were just as wide as his mouth, and he looked absolutely dumbstruck; not to mention that the blush on his face was a very dark hue of red.
When Robin finally regained himself he closed his mouth and rubbed the back of his neck. “Life’s so complicated some times.” He stated as a quiet, nervous, and awkward laugh was forced out to fill in the sudden stillness of the situation. “So…what do we do now?”
Slade walked toward Robin and gently cupped the boy’s chin. Robin’s face was going to remain red the entire night; they were both convinced of that. “What would you like to do now?” Robin opened his mouth but Slade decided to give Robin options instead of a full choice. “We could walk away and deal with this another day, after you’ve had some time to think. Or we could go back to my place and,” he paused while he searched for his next words, “sort our problems out another way. So which would you rather do?”
“Neither really; I’m not ready for this sort of thing, not at all.” Robin wanted to look away he so desperately wanted to stop staring into Slade’s hypnotic eye but he couldn’t tear his gaze away from the masked man’s own.
“We’re not going to walk away and pretend like this never had happened, Robin; that’s not an option and it never will be. I gave you two choices and you can only choose from them, besides, you can’t really expect us to go back to your place.” Slade sighed as Robin finally broke away from his stare and took a few steps away.
“I’m just not ready to accept these feelings; I shouldn’t even have them in the first place. We’re enemies, Slade; too different to be together; black and white; right and wrong; it would never work. What would people say anyway?” Robin’s shoulders were starting to shake and Slade knew that the boy was cold. It was, after all, way past midnight and the breeze coming from the ocean wasn’t helping to keep the boy warm.
“First off, Robin, I’m too sick and tired at second guessing whether or not I should be making moves on you and if there’s a connection between us or not. Know that I know there is a mutual feeling you should be well aware that I’ll be showing up even more in you life now than I ever had before.
“Second, we’re so very alike, Robin, and not at all black and white because you are so very grey, little bird; you’re in between the two sides. Third, why does it matter what others may think or say? If there opinions really matter than I can make it so you only hear the right opinions or that you don’t hear any of their opinions at all.”
“Slade don’t--”
“But anyway, other’s thoughts shouldn’t be controlling your actions, Robin. You shouldn’t let them change how you feel in your heart. But lastly, Robin, I want you to know this, even if the rest of the world turns away from you I’ll always be waiting to welcome you with open arms. I’ll always accept you and when you’re ready to come to me I’ll be ready to accept you. Now, you’re obviously in no mood for anything more tonight; you’re cold, emotionally drained, and in need of sleep. I’d offer to walk you home but I don’t think your teammates would appreciate that too much.”
“They’re all asleep.” Robin whispered as he looked at Slade.
“Are you implying something, Robin?” Slade’s eye flickered in amusement as Robin stumbled for words.
“I was…just…not really…no-nothing…” the boy sighed and wrapped his cape around himself tightly as he hugged his arms against his chest. “Never mind. I really do need to sleep, it’s really late already.” He started to walk towards Slade and Slade watched on, ever hopeful but disappointed, as Robin sailed past the madman and towards his home. “Goodnight, Slade,” Robin called over his shoulder. He paused and turned back to look at Slade. “I’ll…see you soon?” He asked hopefully.
“Of course, my little one, I already told you, now that I’m fully aware of your feelings you’ll be seeing me more often now. Pleasant dreams, sweet Robin.” Robin smiled and turned back towards his home, slowing making his way there, to his destination of a bed.
He knew that if he had looked back he wouldn’t have see Slade, but that didn’t mean that Slade had left him. For some reason, Robin was comforted by the thought that Slade was going to be watching him now more than ever.
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Date: 2009-04-23 01:50 am (UTC)