Work Text:
"In light of recent events, I believe it would be a helpful team building exercise to talk about our Fathers."
I almost choked hearing the words Kaldur had said, whipping my head away from the game Wally and I were playing. Why would he suggest that? The whole team is suffering from daddy issues, I doubt they'd want to talk about it.
"What?" Artemis said with a raised brow, looking up from polishing her arrows on the floor of the cave, "You want us to share our father-figure problems as a team building exercise?"
I knew she was hurting a lot because of her father. She has been polishing her arrows more often than she already does- the residual stress from New Years is getting to her. Same with the rest of the team, who have been in the dumps lately. After finding out about Artemis' and Kaldur's family history, I think they all started remembering their own situations. Even memories of my own family has come to mind during the week.
I know Wally has been reminded of his father after everything that came to light, but he’s refused to acknowledge that anything is actually wrong. I think the team has felt like they needed to put up a front to appear strong after the weaknesses of the League were exposed. If a team therapy session helps everyone get over this depression then Kaldur might actually be onto something...
"I think that's a great idea, Kaldur. Hey! M’Gann, Conner! Mandatory team meeting pronto!” I yelled towards the kitchen, smiling as the rest of the team gathered in what was dubbed 'the living room'. M’Gann and Conner had been making some new recipe if the burnt smells wafting from the kitchen were anything to go off of. The rest of the team had been in the living room, Artemis was on the floor and Wally and I were playing video games from the couch when Kaldur walked in and dropped the bomb.
Conner grunted in acknowledgment, not really caring. M' Gann quickly agreed after Kaldur explained his idea. Wally was silent, but eventually nodded. Artemis sighed, "Fine....but only because I have nothing better to do."
We gathered round in a circle on the floor in front of the TV and looked to Kaldur to start, after all it was his idea in the first place.
"As you all know, I recently found out that I am, in fact the son of Black Manta. This does not affect me much considering I wasn't aware of the fact until now," he looks us each in the eye and hesitates before continuing, "But it concerns me that my king kept this fact from me. I know that I trust my king with my life, but I am starting to doubt the amount of trust he places in me. Does he believe I will follow in my father's footsteps?" Kaldur finished with his head bowed.
"No, Kaldur." It was surprising that Conner was the first to respond. "From what little I've seen of your interactions with the league, I can tell they all trust you. He never treated you unfairly, right? Even though he knew. Just because you know now too doesn't make your bond any different. It will probably be stronger, if anything, once you work through this."
"......Who knew Supes could be so inspirational....." Wally said, he was the first to come out of everyone's (slight) stupor from Conner’s words. Speedster processing and all.
I smiled at Kaldur, "Conner's right, just because your father is Black Manta doesn't mean Auqaman, the League, or we don't trust you anymore. " Everyone hummed in agreement.
“Besides, if the League were kicking out everyone with bad family then they'd be majorly understaffed,” Artemis snorted and smirked.
Kaldur smiled in return, "Thank you. It helps knowing that no matter what my team will always be there for me..."
We all stayed silent for a bit until Artemis spoke up, "Well, I guess it's my turn now...." She sighed. "As we all know, Sportsmaster is my dad, Cheshire is my sister, and my mom is an ex-con. Uh, really nothing has changed except all those times I slipped up are explained. I already spilled my guts to Black Canary, so I'm not going into detail. My dad abused me and my sister, which is why she left to join the Shadows. Um....he trained me to be an assassin and I didn’t want that life for myself, so I ended up here." She finished looking up at the ceiling, "That's pretty much it."
Artemis looked down, "Arte-" "Someone else go....I don't need nor want your pity...." She interrupted Wally.
Kakdur gently placed his hand on her shoulder, “Artemis... I know these subjects are difficult, but if we do not express our feelings on them then we cannot heal from them,” She avoided his eyes guiltily.
Wally rested his hand on top of hers from her other side, “You know he’s right, Arty. Bottling it all up won’t help you in the long run...”
Artemis glared at the two of them but it held no real bite. After a tense pause, she finally relented, “Fine. I guess you’re right. I guess I just feel like Kaldur. None of you knowing about my family will change the fact that they’re my family. Nothing is gonna change the fact that I was raised to kill or that my sister hurt you or that I betrayed all of your trust. I know you guys still trust me anyways, but I can’t help but feeling guilty. Like I shouldn’t deserve your trust or forgiveness.”
”Babe...,” Wally sighed. “You’ve proven your loyalty to us and we know you deserve every ounce of our trust. It doesn’t matter what the past was, we’ve already accepted you for it.” Artemis smiled at Wally, and it was one of the few moments they shared publicly where they actually acted like they liked each other.
“Careful now, I might actually think you two are lovey dovey,” I teased them with a smirk. Artemis rolled her eyes and Wally blushed a little.
“Okayyy, Connor how about you go?” Wally said awkwardly.
We all turned to Conner, who was next.
"...I think we all know my situation. I've gotten over a lot of my rage, but.....it still makes me angry that he waited until I saved him to decide that I was worth his time," He clenched his fists, "It's fine if he doesn't see me as his son. All I wanted was a mentor who knew what I was going through!"
I sighed, Clark was really being a hard-ass. Bruce had already tried talking some sense into him, but failed. He refrained me from doing the same aka threatening him.
"There's not much we can do about Superman. He was just being stubborn and was in denial. New Years was a big step for you both, but you’re right. That step should have happened on the Fourth of July. I think once you two get started training, you could talk to him about how much that hurt you. We may not be able to help much, but we sure as hell can try to." Wally said while putting a hand on Conner's knee from across the circle.
Conner smiled, "Thanks Wally. Well I'm done so......M'Gann?" he looked towards M'Gann, who was sitting next to him.
She smiled sadly. "I don't know my father very well. He isn't around much, since he's a green Martian. I came out white instead, considered lower than him. He avoided me a lot. He never bragged about me. He was embarrassed simply because I existed." She fiddled the hem of her skirt as she spoke. "He just.....didn't care about me like he did my siblings" She had a look of pain on her face. Just as I opened my mouth to comfort her, Artemis spoke.
"Hey, It's okay now. You have us, the Justice League, and your uncle. We're your new earth family, we care about you and would never ignore you. We love you M'Gann." Artemis smiled weakly, but meaningfully.
"Yeah, green cheeks, you got us now." Wally chimed in and Kaldur nodded, while I smiled reassuringly at her. Conner put his hand on top of hers and she grabbed it back, ".....Thank you....This means a lot to me...." There was a moment of silence.
"So......Wally....?"
The ginger looked up when M'Gann said his name, “What? No offense but I’m not suffering from Daddy issues.”
Artemis and I raised a brow at the same time.
”Really...,” she drawled.
I exhaled, “Look Wally, you can’t lecture Artemis about bottling in your feelings and then refuse to talk about your own. You’re my best friend, dude, and I know something has been bothering you all week. And even if your problems are in the past, doesn’t mean they can’t still affect you. It’s ok to be sad.”
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Well, um..... I hate to admit it, but I guess you have a point. I’ll start from the beginning. Right now I live with my Uncle, The Flash, and my aunt, but I used to live with my parents.”
He glanced at me and Artemis and we gave him encouraging looks.
“It all started out okay. Around grade school, before I got my powers, my dad got fired from his job and started drinking a lot. He'd get really mad at me and my mom. Always yelling at us,” He sighed. "Then one night, he got really mad. Like really, really mad. He hit my mom and I hit him back. He started beating me and after that night it became a regular occurrence. He would always take his anger out on me. Before school, I would use Mom's make up to cover the bruises." he paused.
"After a few years of that, I was sent to live with my aunt and uncle for a while. I found out he was The Flash and after I returned home, I recreated the experiment. Once my Uncle found out and I convinced him to train me, It was harder to hide the bruises. My dad's beatings got even more brutal once he learned I was a Meta and he could do whatever he wanted since I would heal. Eventually, my uncle found out and got me out of there." He smiled slightly and took a deep breath, before pausing again.
He waited a few moments, I leaned over and placed my hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Wally. You don't have to finish if you don-"
"No. I'll finish. I promise it got a lot better after that." He cut me off, "I was placed into my Uncle's custody and I've stayed there since. My mother wasn't right in the head, because of constantly living in fear for so long. She lives in a mental institute, I try and visit her every time I can....So far it's been okay. Especially with you guys." he finished.
"Oh, Wally...." M'Gann said, and smiled tearily. Wally smiled back, his good mood seemingly back already but I could tell it was a facade.
”Even though that all happened a while ago, we’re still here for you. Like Robin said, it’s ok to be sad about the past. If you ever want to talk about it, we’re here.” M’Gann finished and Wally’s smile turned a little more genuine.
“Thanks, M’Gann. And you guys can always talk to me about your issues too,” he said.
”I hope we can all talk openly about the things we need support on, my friends. After all, we are a team,” Kaldur smiled at everyone, pleased that the exercise had went well.
“Yeah, we can kick emotional butt just like we kick villain butt,” I joked. The team smiled, a little subdued from the heavy topics we’d just discussed.
We stayed quiet for a few minutes before Artemis spoke up.
"You're lucky Robin...."
Wait, what?
"Yeah, You got a great dad. Sure, he's kind of scary, but you can tell he cares,” Conner agreed.
“Mmhmmn" M'Gann hummed.
“You are truly blessed, my friend. I can assume your Mother is also very loving,” Kaldur chimed in.
”If Bats is that protective of you, I'd hate to see how over protective your Mom is." Artemis mused. Wally looked nervously in between me and the rest of the team. They're talking about....Bruce?
"Guys....Are you talking about Batman?" I asked, looking at my lap.
"Yeah, I mean he _is_ your father." Artemis replied.
".....Batman isn't my dad...." I look up slowly at a shocked looking team.
"Wait, if he isn't your parent how are you a hero?! Is he just letting some random person's kid run around fighting psychopaths?!" Artemis exclaimed in a slight panic.
"He’s my legal guardian. He adopted me when I was nine." I explained.
"Oooooh okay, so he's like your dad." M’Gann said smiling brightly, “It’s great that you have someone like that! Uncle J’onn is like a father-figure to me.”
"Still pretty lucky if you ask me....." Conner grumbled. I frowned slightly. Kaldur then spoke up, "Would you like to share about your real father, perhaps then?"
"I can't share much, or many details. Secret identity and all.....but I can share some." I sighed, and my throat started getting tighter.
"Well for one, He's dead. So is my Mom. I was an only child and they died with the rest of my family in an 'accident' which was later found to be murder." I sucked in a breath and exhaled shakily, "I was actually there when it happened.”
Everyone looked at me in pity, then had no idea (sans Wally) about my past.
"We traveled a lot and we were in gotham when they were killed. I was put into the system and later got adopted by Batman. He trained me and now I'm here...." I looked away from the team.
My father's birthday is in a few days. Mom and I used to always make breakfast in bed for him, and then he'd teach me a new stunt or give me something nice, because he always said we should share our birthdays with others. He was a good man....
"Robin.....I had no idea......." M'Gann said softly.
I smiled weakly at her, "It's okay now. I'm fine." I could hear my voice shaking. The rest of the team gave me concerned looks, ready to open their mouths and give me their pity.
God, I've gotten so much pity over the years. The boy wonder shouldn't need or want pity. Pity makes you weak.
I stood, "I have to go back to Gotham now..." I walked fast to the zeta-tubes, images of my family falling running through my thoughts. I ignored the calls of 'Robin' and soon I was in the Batcave. Wally would have to do damage control and get them off my case. He doesn’t know it’ll be Dad’s birthday soon, but he knows I can’t talk about it much. Maybe one day I can tell the team everything...
I only hope that when I sleep tonight I won't see mom screaming my name as she falls.
Or dad looking at me as his body lands with a loud crack.
But what's the point of hoping when you know it won't matter?