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“OH… MY… GOD!”
Robin winced at the sound of Artemis’ aggravated… well, screeching was the only way to describe the decibel she’d reached; though she probably wouldn’t appreciate that choice of word.
The Boy Wonder had been at the mountain for no more than ten minutes and he was already regretting his decision to come. There had been a nasty bug going around the Academy for the past two weeks, and like a fool he’d thought he could ride it out without actually catching it. He should have known it was wishful thinking. Especially since Babs had been sneezing her head off for three days now in his direct vicinity.
It had started out as a tickle in his throat at the beginning of the day and progressed from there. Robin could feel the tightness in his chest that made it more difficult to breathe, only aided by his clogged sinuses; and his head somehow felt like it was being stabbed with a knife and wrapped up in cotton simultaneously. He wasn’t sure how that could work, but not a single thing he took had seemed to ease his overall misery.
Common sense told him he should just go home and sleep it off. But he had already planned to spend his weekend at the mountain in the hopes that Bruce would actually get some of the paperwork he’d been putting off done without any distractions. And besides that Alfred had been looking a little under the weather himself, no use in adding to his workload.
So there Robin sat, scowling at the ceiling and trying to block out the sound of his two bickering teammates... not very successfully, as it appeared they were now making their way to the common room.
“I am not in the mood, Wally,” Artemis was loudly making known, “So unless you’re anxious to see what one of my boots tastes like I suggest you leave me alone!”
“Please,” Wally snorted as they came into view, “You’d have to catch up to me before you could even try to get a hit in.” Despite his bravado, Robin couldn’t help but notice the other boy had moved to stand out of Artemis’ reach. The speedster turned his head and must’ve caught sight of his best friend sitting alone on the couch; in half a second he was standing in front of Robin.
“Dude, you’ve gotta take my side on this,” he demanded, waving his hands in an irritated sort of way. Robin wasn’t sure if Wally had actually screamed the words or if his headache had started amplifying noises, but it took a considerable amount of effort to bite back a groan.
“Sure, Wally, whatever,” he breathed messaging his temple with one hand.
“There, you see,” Wally smirked smugly, “Rob knows I’m right and he doesn’t even have to ask what we were talking about.”
Robin snorted at the word ‘talking’ and immediately stiffened, as it caused a horrible itching sensation in his nose. He had to resort to holding his breath in an attempt to stop the sneeze he could feel building. The boy knew he had to be discreet about this whole ‘illness’ thing; otherwise he’d be bombarded with a mixture of foreign, alien, and Atlantean remedies. He wasn’t sure his stomach could hold up to that at the moment.
Artemis had joined them, leaning against the back of the couch with her arms crossed. She rolled her eyes as she retorted, “He’s probably just saying that to get you to shut up.”
I’ll say whatever you want if you both shut up, he grumbled internally. There was an awkward moment of complete silence, and Robin realized he had accidentally said that out loud. His teammates were blinking at him in shock, their mouths slightly agape.
Oh great, he made sure that thought remained to himself. Any other day he would probably say sorry or make some witty comment; today though, he just couldn’t bring himself to care. Robin kept his face completely neutral as he stood up, shoved his hands into his jacket pockets, and left the room.
As soon as he was out of sight he sighed heavily and let his forehead drop into one of his hands. He knew he’d be apologizing later, but for now he needed someplace dark and quiet to convalesce in.
Robin made his way through the halls, hesitating briefly in front of his room and then continuing on; that was too obvious a place to look for him. And he had no doubt that Wally and Artemis would be doing that before long. The only time they seemed willing to put aside their differences was when Robin was involved.
He didn’t really know why… well for Artemis he didn’t. Wally had been his best friend for a long time and he always got defensive where Robin was concerned; he was practically an older brother. And after Roy had pretty much left them hanging, he had seemed to become a bit more protective than before. Like he was afraid Robin would leave him too if he didn’t keep an extra watchful eye out.
With Artemis, he supposed it could’ve been a number of different reasons. After the incident with the Reds they’d been pretty close; and she had nearly watched him drown…
The sound of boxes toppling echoed through the hall as Robin passed M’gann’s room. He grunted and curled a hand over his forehead, waiting for his eyeballs to stop vibrating in his skull. Once he’d steadied himself, he made his way to the open doorway; someone should check to make sure the girl hadn’t concussed herself on accident.
Robin peeked his head around the frame and saw a pile of cardboard boxes lying on the floor. His green-skinned friend was nowhere in sight and he frowned in worry.
“M’gann?” he called softly. He felt it was the loudest he could speak without his scratchy voice becoming obvious.
The boxes shifted in response and soon M’gann had faded through them and was hovering over the heap. She looked a little dizzy and was holding her head; but after a moment she got her bearings, noticed him standing there, and smiled brightly. “Hello, Robin,” she greeted landing in front of him, “How are you?”
“I’m… fine,” he replied cautiously, eyebrows furrowing, “I heard a crash, though; are you alright?”
“Oh that,” M’gann shrugged and gestured to the boxes, “I was practicing my telekinesis with these boxes I found in a storage room. I was going to do it in the gym, but Conner is in there and… well,” she blushed and brushed her hair back sheepishly, “I was afraid I would get distracted.”
“Oh,” Robin nodded then tried to hide the wince that caused by asking, “What made you drop them?” She bit her lip, blushing harder than before and Robin couldn’t help but smile a little. “Right, I got it,” he assured her, ready to leave, “You’re sure you’re not hurt?”
M'gann smiled sweetly, “I’m perfectly fine. Thank you, Robin.”
He shrugged and headed back down the hall, grimacing as he walked and rubbing a hand against his chest. It felt tighter than before and it was getting harder to breath evenly. He really wanted to lie down and just rest his eyes for a few hours… but where could he go to do that besides his room?
Robin turned a corner in the hall and bumped right into someone walking the other way. Normally that would elicit no more than a grunt of surprise, but this time it left him feeling like he had run into a brick wall at full speed, rather than Kaldur. The Atlantean seemed surprised enough that he hadn’t heard Robin coming that he, thankfully, didn’t seem to notice how out of breath the boy was from the encounter.
“Robin,” he greeted with a polite smile, “How are you feeling this day?”
Like crap, he thought miserably but was careful not to say. Instead he smiled, “Can’t complain, Kal. Not visiting Atlantis this weekend?”
“I thought it would be a nice change to spend my free time with the team,” their leader said. Robin thought he saw a hint of sadness in Kaldur’s eyes and wondered if there was another reason he wasn’t visiting his home.
“I was just about to take a walk down the beach,” Kaldur continued conversationally, “Would you care to join me?”
The thought of going outside under the bright, hot sunlight was enough to make Robin’s head spin. “Nah,” he tried not to sound like he was about to be sick, “I was thinking I’d head to the library… do some studying for a test coming up Monday.” Now that he said it, that wasn’t such a bad idea. The library part anyway; it had couches, it was quiet… and Wally never liked to set foot inside of it unless it was absolutely necessary.
“Very well,” Kaldur nodded, giving him another small smile, “Enjoy your reading.”
Robin sighed in relief when his friend disappeared from sight and ran the back of his hand across his forehead, frowning when it came away glistening with sweat.
He shifted his glasses to rub wearily at his eyes and turned in the direction of the library, almost on automatic. He had barely taken three steps before he ran into someone else. Robin knew it must have been Conner just from the fact that, in his weakened state, this bump had knocked him flat onto the floor.
“Ow,” he moaned rubbing the back of his head once he had reclaimed his feet. He glanced at the clone and offered a small smile, “Been working out a lot today, huh Supes?”
Conner stared at him for a moment, eyes narrowed and face impassive, before simply stating, “You’re sick.”
Robin couldn’t fully hide his surprise as he raised an eyebrow, “Scuse me?”
“You’re sweating, your pulse is racing, and you sound like you recently finished eating a box of nails,” the other boy sounded unimpressed with his evasion, “You’re sick.”
Robin shook his head, “It’s nothing, just a little bug. It’ll be gone bef- whoa!”
His sentence was cut short as Conner lifted him up bridle style and started carrying him to his bedroom.
“Conner!” he protested, trying unsuccessfully to get down, “What… What are doing?! Come on, put me down! Conner!” Every word shouted killed both his throat and his head, but he was more concerned with his dignity at the moment.
“Forget it,” Conner informed him steadfastly, “You’re going to bed if I have to tie you down to keep you there.”
Robin’s glare was nowhere near as strong as it would have been if he weren’t feeling so terrible. “I could get out of it even if you did,” he argued. Conner ignored him and he struggled uselessly once again, “Look, fine! I’ll go with you… willingly! Will you just put me down, please?!”
“What’s the point of that?” Conner denied, “Your room is right there.”
Robin huffed and crossed his arms, mumbling, “If it’s right there, then why can’t I just walk?”
Again, Conner paid him no mind and entered the room; he had just deposited Robin on his bed when Wally zipped himself inside to appear at the foot of it, “Hey, what’s going on? Is something wrong?”
“Yeah,” Artemis put in, coming up to lean against the doorframe, “Kal said he could hear Boy Wonder squawking from outside.”
Robin scowled at her, mood worsening by the second; Kaldur frowned at her too as he made an appearance, “I do not believe those were my exact words, Artemis.”
She shrugged, “Screaming, squawking… same thing aren’t they?”
“You wouldn’t say that if we were talking about you,” Robin muttered. M’gann was the next to pop up, face creased with concern.
“What was all of that about? Is someone hurt?”
Conner crossed his arms and indicated to Robin with a tilt of his head, “Robin’s sick.”
That was all it took to open the floodgates.
Immediately the others were talking all at once; asking what his symptoms were and describing the best remedies for them. Kaldur mentioned something about squid guts and fish scales and other things that made Robin feel like he might puke, before leaving the doorway. Artemis was gone soon after for various spices to clear his congestion right up, while Wally rattled off a whole list of comfort foods in speed-talk that were bound to make his friend feel better. And M’gann remembered a mixture of things from Mars and Earth shows that might be worth a shot, then she left them with a ‘Hello, Megan’.
Soon Conner was the only one left, staring at the door with a slightly overwhelmed expression. After a moment of complete silence Robin finally gave into the urge to cough; when he was finished he leaned back into his pillows in defeat.
“You see that,” Robin dead-panned, “is what I was trying to avoid.” He let his head fall back and closed his eyes. “Why didn’t I go home when I had the chance?”