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Dick Grayson is acutely aware he is the only member of the Titans to not share his identity with the team. Artemis and Wally compare homework notes. Kaldur, Zatanna, and Megan compare stories from growing up. Even Connor, with his minimal life experience, gives updates on whatever things he and Wolf find outside.
But to them there is no Dick Grayson, only Robin. Which isn’t a problem, per se, it certainly keeps him safe while at school, but it is difficult to call yourself friends with someone when they don’t even know your name. Wally knows, of course, but even he isn’t allowed to know all of what Dick and Bruce do together as Batman and Robin.
They get home from a mission and Dick’s domino stays on as they gather in the living room to write reports, as he stretches while they discuss the next day’s plans, even as they settle in for a movie night and the room falls into darkness. His mask only comes off hours after arriving home behind the locked door of his room in the tower. A rash is left around his eyes where a part of the mask had come loose with sweat and chafed against his brow.
Absently, Dick remembers to send Bruce a text letting him know he was sleeping at the tower before turning his fan on high, slipping into one of Bruce’s stolen hoodies, and burrowing beneath a thick blanket.
He dreams of his parents, like every night, and wakes in the morning unsure if it was a memory or something imaginary.
Dick opts to do most of his stretches in bed beneath the comfort of his blanket, hamstrings twinging painfully as they are flexed from their bent sleeping position. Between the sound of his fan and the low droning in his ears as he rubbed a particularly painful knot from his calf, he doesn’t even hear the knock on his door, nor the hesitant call of his name. He even almost misses the creak of his door as it swings open, hinges kept rusty for this exact purpose. Almost.
In an instant, Dick pulls the hood of his sweatshirt low over his face, hands coming up in front of himself protectively. “Get out!”
The door’s movement stopped, but he could still sense the person’s presence.
“Robin?” Megan’s voice, hesitant—and maybe a bit scared. Dick cringes, pulls the hood further over his face. “Robin, are you okay?”
“What did you need?” She stepped further into the room, stopping as Dick snaps, “Don’t come in!”
“I’m sorry! I was just coming to tell you we made breakfast. Connor and I thought we could all eat as a team, but if you don’t want—”
“I’ll be there in a minute. Let me just get dressed, okay?” He tries his best to soften his tone the way Bruce does when Dick’s overwhelmed. His door closed with no more words. Megan’s footsteps retreated down the hall.
“Shit.” Dick dragged his hands down his face. His skin burned where his hands brushed the rash. Guess today is a sunglasses day.
He didn’t even bother changing out of Bruce’s sweatshirt, just folding the sleeves up until they were manageable and pulling sweats on underneath. His dark glasses tinted the hallway as he made his way to the kitchen. A kitchen that was deadly silent when he entered, whereas upon his approach he heard chatter. Dick located Megan standing by the stove scooping eggs onto a plate and frowned at her puffy eyes.
“Megan, I—” Dick paused. How does he even make this right? The team knew his room was off limits. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that.”
Megan sniffed, wiping her eyes with a small smile. “It’s okay, Robin. I should’ve known not to go in your room. I just thought you had heard me but weren’t responding or— I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Dick’s frown deepened. He approached her, arms held wide. Her smile grew into a wet laugh as she accepted his hug, squeezing him tight before letting go and placing a plate in his still-raised hands.
“Now, eat! Before it gets cold!”
Dick slipped into a seat at the table across from Wally. The air, though lighter, was still noticeably tense.
“What happened to your face?” Wally motioned towards the red skin along his brow bone. Dick brushed it faintly. He thought the glasses would cover it.
“I just wore my mask for too long last night, they can chafe sometimes. It’s no big deal.” Wally nodded in understanding, returning to shoveling his food away.
Connor, from Dick’s left, spoke up quietly. “Why do you wear the mask so much? The rest of us change after missions, even you change your clothes.” Dick took another large bite of pancake before responding, chewing methodically as he workshopped how to answer.
“It’s because of Batman,” He answered mostly-truthfully. “He wants us both to be extra cautious about our identities. ‘Best way to protect information is to not give it to anyone’, Batman says. It also lets me live a normal life outside of all of this—not that you all aren’t wonderful—but it’s nice to take off the mask and not be Robin for a while.”
Wally and Artemis nodded in understanding, being the only others here to have any semblance of the normal life he was referencing.
“Wait,” Connor pointed a fork at Dick, “Your real name isn’t Robin?”
Wally snickered, easily avoiding the wadded up napkin thrown by Connor. “What? I’m just asking.” Connor grumbled.
“No, my name isn’t Robin, just like Wally’s name isn’t Kid Flash.”
“Well yeah. But we know his name is Wally, we don’t know your name.” Artemis, too, pointed her fork at Dick accusingly. He sighed, fidgeting with his folded sleeves.
“Well I can’t tell you my name.” There was a finality in his voice that silenced the table. The team ate quietly. Wally thanked Megan for cooking.
“I can tell you a bit about myself, if you want.” Dick said quietly, eyes locked on his plate. “Nothing too personal, though.”
He saw the way their eyes lit up and couldn’t help but laugh.
“What color are your eyes?” Megan asked.
“They’re blue. I have a little scar under the left one from one of my first nights as Robin.” Megan laughed giddily, a smile unable to leave her face.
“How are you so flexible? I swear I stretch and train everyday but I’m not even close to you!” Artemis asked between bites of bacon. Wally winced in sympathy as Dick stiffened. “Is that a bad question? I’m sorry! I got excited.”
Dick waved away her apology, forcing his shoulders to relax. “It’s okay, really. I was raised as a— a gymnast. My parents were gymnasts, so they started teaching me when I was young.”
“Batman is a gymnast?” Megan cried. Dick couldn’t help but giggle at the image that produced, but shook his head.
“No, Batman isn’t a gymnast.”
“But you said your parents—” Dick raised a brow and Megan stopped. “Oh, I see.”
Everyone was wincing in sympathy now. Dick cleared his throat, standing up. “I’ll do the dishes. We have a debrief later, don’t forget.”
Dick retreated to his room to catch up on homework after the dishes were done, but his mind was distracted with all the new questions his teammates may ask him. Ones he wasn’t prepared for, like his parents, or even about Batman. He didn’t even notice himself falling asleep.
After the events of this morning, it was impossible for Dick to not hear his door’s hinges creak. Reflexively, he reached for his sunglasses on the nightstand, scrambling to put them on.
“I thought I said—” His words caught in his throat when he saw who it was standing in the doorway. Batman’s blank, white lenses stared back at him.
“Hey, chum. What was it you said?”
Dick fell back onto his bed with a groan. “I thought you were one of the Titans, sorry.” His door clicked close, lock sliding into place. A weight settled on his bed and by the time he looked up it wasn’t Batman looking at him, but Bruce Wayne, cowl bunched around his neck and a small smile on his face.
“Is that my hoodie?”
Dick laughed, pulling the garment tighter around himself. “It’s comfortable! What are you doing here?”
“Dick, I’m here for the debrief.”
“Did I sleep that long? I didn’t even mean to.” Bruce raised a brow at that, but didn’t say anything. He stood, offering his hand to Dick and hauling him up. When they faced each other Bruce frowned, pushing Dick’s glasses down to brush his thumb against Dick’s brow.
“What is this?”
“Oh.” Dick blushed, suddenly feeling very stupid. “Part of my mask chafed a bit last night, it’ll heal fast.”
Bruce regarded him, brows furrowed. Seemingly unhappy with whatever he saw, he pulled Dick into a hug, pressing a kiss to his forehead, just above the rash. “I know I ask you to protect your identity, but you have to take care of yourself also. If you need some time without the mask, come stay at the manor. Okay, chum?”
Dick nodded wordlessly.
Batman and Robin arrived at the debrief side by side, the Titans, Black Canary, and Red Tornado already present. Tomorrow Robin would lead his team in a reconnaissance mission at the docks. The day after that Dick Grayson would give a presentation on the uses of renewable energy. Maybe in a few years the two wouldn’t be so removed from each other, but for now his team knew he had blue eyes and a little scar under his eye and that was enough.