Chapter Text
Team Year 0
“Good kidnapping?” Robin asked
“Actually, yeah, best ever” Zatanna responded
“First of many, I hope,” eager to see Zatanna again
“If my dad doesn’t ground me for life”
—--
Giovanna grounded Zatanna. She was his only child, he was naturally overprotective.
Zatanna wasn’t the most rebellious either, she broke the rules but Zatara was usually forgiving if she behaved well.
“No. You broke the rules, you deal with the consequences” Giovanni said one night after Zatanna asked to go to the movies with a couple friends from school.
“But-” she started to protest. She knew this would not go anywhere, but prolong her punishment.
Zatanna reluctantly sighed and gave up.
—--
Zatara ended Zatanna's punishment about a week later. She was very dutiful about chores, homework and following the rules of her punishment and promising to never do it again. All her friends were out of town on vacation.
“Guess I'm not going out tonight,” she mumbled to herself.
“Good night,” Giovanni said, and turned in for the night. Zatanna went to stand on the balcony and began looking at the sky. She enjoyed watching the stars, and at home it was hard to do. She liked to see the beauty in the distant celestial bodies.
“What are you looking at?” a familiar voice said next to her. It caught her momentarily by surprise, but she didn't stop looking.
“Just the moon,” she said, “but more importantly, what are you doing here?” she asked, finally looking at the shadowy figure next to her. It was Robin in civilian clothes.
“I’m here to kidnap you,” he says as he stretches a hand out to the magician. A simple gesture for her to join him.
She takes a second to create an illusion of her in bed asleep, then takes Robin’s hand.
It’s a Friday night with plenty to do, they hit a nearby arcade and play some pinball. She anahilates him, but he makes his comeback in air hockey. The two have a great time, with laughter and jokes. They order some shakes at the malt shop across the street and then ride on his motorbike out of the busy lights. They find a beautiful place near Brooklynn for stargazing.
“There’s better places for stargazing near Gotham,” Robin said
“This is perfect” Zatanna was happy, she didn’t even know of this place. Robin clearly wanted to impress her.
Robin smiled, “maybe next time you’re at the cave, we can go stargazing there.” He suggested.
There was something about Zatanna’s smile that entranced him.
“I’d like that” She said
After what felt like hours of talking and pointing at the various constellations they could see, cracking jokes and enjoying their shakes, Zatanna knew this night had to end, even though she didn't want it to.
“We probably should head back,” she finally said “don’t want to get grounded again”
They both laughed and headed back to her home.
“Thank you for kidnapping me” she said before giving him a hug and levitating herself upstairs.
“Any time, Zee,” he chuckled, she waved goodbye from her balcony and he left.
—--- Team Year 0: November —--
Dick was off thinking about Zatanna again, their first stargazing trip seemed like it was ages ago. He knew how much she liked the stars. Very early on, he knew he would be willing to do almost anything she wanted. They just connected in a way that made sense.
It had been a couple weeks since she moved into the cave. Those early days were hard for her. We had a successful mission, but at what cost? She lost her father. She needed time to mourn and grieve. He knew what that was like. It killed him to see her sad though. He was determined to cheer her up somehow.
A few days after the defeat of the ice fortresses and Wally saving Queen Perdita, Robin showed up at the cave. Zatanna was in the living room area watching a movie.
“Where’s M’gann and Conner?”
“I think they’re in the garage working on a motorcycle or something,” she said
“Or something,” Robin said with a joking tone, they both laughed.
She paused her movie, “What are you doing here?”
“We should go stargazing, I promise there is a lot less light pollution here”
“I don't know…” she was unsure of this proposal. The last time she went stargazing, things were different. Now, she wasn’t sneaking out of the house and making sure her dad didn’t know. She missed her dad. Robin could see her predicament without her speaking a single word.
“Hey, it’ll be okay,” he gave her a small smile, it was enough to assure her.
They weren’t going far, barely outside the cave where just a few months ago the rest of the team had a bonfire. Robin had already set up a small picnic with pizza and sodas for them, he even set up a telescope. Watching Robin go above and beyond baffled Zatanna, nobody had ever treated her like that.
The young heroes ate pizza and spent time looking at the stars.
“Robin, thank you for all of this,” she spoke, shyly
“Oh, Zee, it’s nothing’” he smiled, “also, you can call me Dick when it's just the two of us,” he said. It was just last week he had revealed his secret identity to her.
“It’ll take some getting used to,” she paused, “like a lot of things lately.”
As a tear started down her face he made his way closer to her,
“It will be okay. Things will get better. We’ll find a way to get him back” He didn’t want to make a promise he wasn’t sure he could keep, but this was important to her. He wasn’t sure what was worse, having two dead parents or one that you could see but never talk to.
Robin was good at encouraging words. She leaned into his shoulder and they continued looking at the stars. Once again, they fell asleep together. For Zatanna, his warmth was comforting and safe.
After almost an hour asleep outside, the cold woke Zatanna up.
“Dick, let's go inside,” she said as she woke him up.
“Naelc pu” she said, their garbage disappeared and the blanket was neatly folded. She took his hand and led him into the cave. They went back to the couch where she had been earlier, and resumed her movie, but this time it was more to go to sleep rather than for entertainment. She snuggled up to him and once again they fell asleep.
Dick was tired, but he was enjoying their time together. He would spend all his time with her if he could. Zatanna, completely asleep next to him, let out a happy sigh.
From this point forward, the two became inseparable.