Four Weeks Later

There was a steady beep-beep-beep coming Robin's heart monitor, the only noise in the medical bay. Cyborg was playing a game on his arm, now and then glancing over at his unconscious friend. He'd had to fight pretty hard to boot the other Titans out of the room. "There's no reason for you guys to be in here! He'll be out for a few hours at least. Go, file a report on the cult that tried to sacrifice us, make dinner, do something!" Red X had gone for a third option; going to the county lock-up to help with interrogations. The six of them of had spent most of the day chained up in a dungeon, intended to be the sacrifices to some dark extra-dimensional hell god. Robin—being Robin—had done something stupid and noble, and ending up knocked out and bloody. Thus, Red X's wrath was incurred.

There was a hoarse groan from the bed, and Cyborg looked up to see Robin stirring under the thin sheets. "Hey there." He said gently, shutting down his game. Robin tried to sit up, and Cyborg put a hand on his arm. "Woo, woo, stop, don't sit up. You're hurt, so just rest."

"What, what happened? The Priest—he—" Robin jerked out of his grip and sat up fully. The sheet fell off him, revealing his bare, bruised chest. He was undressed down his leggings and his mask. The lens were cracked, but he'd have a fit if they took it off without his permission. "We were in that cell, they grabbed Raven! I—"

"You went after them. You saved Rae, but you got your ass kicked." Cyborg said. "We're fine, all of us are fine."

Robin fell back on his pillow. "My head is throbbing." He groaned.

Cyborg smiled and shook his head, before punching up his communicator. "Hey, guys…Xavier, stop threatening the convict…Robin's up, so if you wanna come talk to him, you can." He shut down the channel.

Robin stretched. "Where is he?"

"Interrogating some worshippers of evil and chaos. For a selfish jack-ass, he's actually pretty loyal."

"Mmm-hmm." Robin agreed, and the door swung open. Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire piled in. They surrounded the bed, fussing over him like he was a kitten.

"Dude, that was amazing! You were like Captain America!" Beast Boy gushed, flopping onto the foot of the bed.

"I know you were saving my life, but there's a difference between being heroic and being stupid." Raven pointed out, carding her fingers through his hair.

Starfire skipped the words and just embraced him, rocking him slightly. Robin hugged back, and collapsed when she let go. "I can't see anything." He said. He reached up and peeled off his mask. They all exchanged startled looks as Robin dropped the ruined mask to the floor. "So, which hell god were they summoning?" He asked, pushing his messy bangs off his face.

"Kantrinnah." Raven said. "Ancient storm beast, would've destroyed all of civilization with hurricanes and the like. Expects a human meal upon arrival."

"Cool." Robin closed his eyes and yawned. "Hey, there was a cop watching Red X's interrogations, right? He keeps forgetting that he's a superhero, not a black ops agent."

"I mean. Probably." Beast Boy said.

"If he was unsupervised, we will most likely have to explain more broken fingers and bruised faces to the commissioner of police." Starfire said worriedly.

"Come on, he did that once." Robin muttered. "And to be fair, The Riddler kind of deserved that."

"Robin, don't defend him when he violates due process."

Red X turned up after about twenty minutes. He burst in, ignored everybody else, and went straight to the bed. Robin sat up, smiling. "Hey kid." He said, pulling his mask off and dropping it to the bed. "Thought you were gonna die on me." He hugged Robin tight, and Robin buried his face in his shoulder.

"Should we leave?" Beast Boy asked politely, and the two of them jumped apart.

"You feel okay?" Red X asked, squeezing Robin's bicep.

"I'm fine." Robin smiled at him.

Red X tilted his head, studying Robin's face. "No mask?"

"It got cracked." Red X said something in Spanish, and Robin laughed a little nervously. "What about my eyes?"

"Blue. Your eyes are blue." Red X clarified, amber face breaking into a smile. "I always assumed they'd be brown."

"Oh." Robin's face went pink.

"They're beautiful."

"Seriously, we can leave." Beast Boy said.

"Shut up grass stain." Red X snapped. "Anyway, I got that asshole to tell me how they got in the tower. We've got flaws in our security."

"Wonderful. Gonna be up all night with that." Cyborg muttered.

Robin started to object. "Hey I could—"

"No! You need to heal. Damn it, I will tie you to this bed." Red X said, pushing Robin back against the pillows.

"Oh for the love of God, just tell us to leave and we will!"

They both went red in the face. Robin settled further into the bed, and Red X got comfortable next to him. "You're gonna punch him if he tries to get up, right?" Cyborg asked, rising from his chair.

"You have my word." Red X said.

Robin snorted. "Like you'd hit me."

"I threw shurikens at you! You could've died!"

"And now we're friends and you'd never hit me."

Red X mumbled something, and Beast Boy gave the others That Look. That 'I frigging told you' Look he had pretty frequently these days. "He has a point, Xave."

"Don't call me that."

"Robin calls you that!"

Red X narrowed his eyes, unmatched irises flashing, and Robin sat back up, looking confused. "I only call you that—"

"—When we're alone." Red X finished. "Have you been spying on us?"

"Uh."

"Beast Boy, answer the fucking question."

Beast Boy smiled sheepishly. "Well, I uh, I just, you know, a few times, I might've, hey Star, we should go clean the kitchen, right?" He grabbed Starfire's arm and towed her out of the room. Raven rolled her eyes and drifted after them.

Cyborg looked at the teenagers crowded onto the bed. "Make him rest up, okay?"

"Uh-huh." Red X said, and knocked Robin back to the mattress. "Down." He ordered.

"Jerk." Robin closed his eyes and burrowed into the pillow.

Cyborg left the room and thumped off to the kitchen. Now that it had been pointed out, he couldn't believe he hadn't seen it before. He found the others in the main room. Beast Boy was actually following through and scrubbing the counter. "So. Red X has a nickname that Robin only uses in private, and the rest of us can't ever use it."

"It's like they're married. Isn't it cute?" Beast Boy said happily.

"Pretending you don't feel something when you do feel it isn't cute, it's unhealthy." Raven said.

"Like I told you before, they need time. And now, they have all night in the infirmary."

"Why were you spying on them then?"

"Oh. I wanted to see if that one blue eye is actually a contact and instead I found out that Robin spends most of his free time in Red's room." Beast Boy thought for a bit. "Also, I kinda suspected he curled his hair, but nope, he's naturally pretty."

"So, how are we reaping our vengeance on Beast Boy?" Red X asked, dropping an arm over Robin's chest.

"We could hand him over to Area 51." Robin suggested.

Red X chuckled. "Oh, you cute, sweet, innocent civilian. You actually think Area 51 is where the good stuff is?"

"Fuck, don't tell me you know about what's actually in Area 51 too?" Both of Xavier's parents had been field agents for the intelligence service, and had gotten him quite a bit of training in his youth.

"No, I'm screwing with you, I have no idea what's there. I'm guessing my parents don't either. They know who the real President is, but aliens and mutants? Not their job."

"…Real President?" Robin rolled over slightly to look at him, hand landing on Red's bicep.

"I overheard that once and they refused to elaborate." Red X grabbed the edge of the sheet and pulled it further over Robin's chest. "Now shush, go to sleep."

"I've been unconscious all afternoon, I'm not tired!"

"I could drug you." Red X offered.

"Uh, no, thanks."

"Aw, come on, OxyContin is fun! You need to relax anyway, and I can tape all your babbling."

"Why do I let you live here?" Robin muttered, closing his eyes.

Red X's arm shifted, his hand landing on Robin's back. His thumb started to rub between his shoulder blades. "Cuz you love me."

Robin smiled, letting himself drift off.

Red X watched Robin's face go slack, his breathing evening out and going slow and deep. Robin was a clingy sleeper, and his hand was squeezing Red's arm. Red X chuckled, and pressed a kiss to Robin's hair. "Sleep tight kid. I'll be here when you wake up."