Chapter Text
“Ah, Batman, thank you for joining us thi-” Wonder Woman tripped over her words. “Who is that?”
Superman followed her line of sight to see the other founding member of the Justice League stepping into the room, before he caught sight of - sweet mercy, that was a child. That was an actual, literal child. Dressed in, quite frankly, a garishly colored outfit: a red - tunic? - thing, with a yellow R on one side of the chest; bright green sleeves, gloves, and what could only be described as pixie boots of the same color; a bright yellow cape; and no pants. Straight up, no pants. Just a green… leotard, maybe? Under the red thing?
The kid couldn’t have been older than ten (based on the awestruck look on his face, closer to eight), and had dark black hair. His face was partially obscured by a domino mask, and he was bouncing up and down in excitement, one hand clutching Batman’s.
Batman was holding hands. Batman was holding hands with a kid. That he’d brought into the Justice League Watchtower. In space.
Superman wondered if he’d been transported into Bizarro World without noticing again.
The kid answered Wonder Woman’s question in a bright, happy voice that made him seem even younger. “I’m Batman’s sidekick! My name’s Robin! And you’re Wonder Woman!”
Since when had Batman had a sidekick? And since when was that sidekick ten?
Robin let go of Batman’s hand and darted towards her.
While Wonder Woman and Robin acquainted themselves with one another, Robin babbling animatedly and Wonder Woman answering questions with an amused smile, Superman leveled Batman with a look. “Batman. Is there a reason you’ve brought a child to the Watchtower?”
Batman shrugged. “It’s his birthday.”
Superman stared at him. “And?”
“And he’s been begging to meet the League for months. Bringing him along to a routine meeting seemed a better way than a quick, emergency introduction during a crisis. Or worse, a crisis with no introduction at all.”
Leave it to Batman to imagine having to introduce his sidekick during the friggin’ apocalypse and decide to take him to space instead.
“What happened to ‘I work alone?’” asked Green Lantern from down the table.
Batman sat in his spot, and didn’t answer Lantern’s question. “Robin.” Robin’s head shot up, eyes flying to Batman’s face. “Stop bothering Wonder Woman and come sit quietly. Or you could go find the lounge, if you prefer. It has a wonderful view.”
The lounge did have a wonderful view - earth from space was always cool in Superman’s opinion, alien or not - but it seemed Robin was less interested in that. He bounded over to Batman, and before Superman could ask if they needed another chair, had plopped himself down in Batman’s lap.
The entire League stared.
“Now, what’s on the agenda for today?”
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Superman (and the rest of the League) properly met Robin after the meeting. The kid was cute, he had to admit, and had way more energy than anybody ought to have. And he loved Superman. Apparently, Supes was his favorite superhero (Superman didn’t miss the way Robin’s eyes darted to Batman and then widened his grin as Batman sighed).
“I heard today was your birthday,” Superman said with a smile.
Robin nodded enthusiastically. “Best birthday ever!” He bounced on the balls of his feet.
“Happy Birthday,” offered Aquaman.
“How old are you turning?” asked Flash.
Robin opened his mouth to answer, before clicking it shut and shaking his head. “Can’t tell you.”
“Why not?” Green Arrow wanted to know.
“Because of my secret identity, of course!” Robin said, as if scandalized. Of course the kid would take secret identities as seriously as Batman. Superman was beginning to wonder if ‘sidekick’ was code for ‘son.’
“Oh… of course,” said Arrow, looking slightly flabbergasted.
Superman thought that he shouldn’t be as surprised as he seemed. Just because it was frankly easy to tell that Green Arrow was Oliver Queen (and yes, Superman had x-ray vision, but still, it was not difficult to figure out) didn’t mean that other people weren’t more careful with their secret identities.
Batman, for example. His cowl was lined with lead; Superman couldn’t see a thing. Of course, he was sure he would recognize the bat if he ever came across his secret identity, because frankly, his heartbeat was rather distinctive.
“Hey, kid, what’s your favorite food?” asked Flash.
Robin tilted his head to one side. “Cereal,” he said decisively, which was probably the most child-like answer to that question Superman had ever heard. He mentally lowered his estimate of the boy’s age.
Flash blurred, and a half second later, was presenting Robin with a box of Cheerios. “From the Watchtower kitchen,” he said. “Happy birthday.” He tossed the box at the kid, but had clearly misjudged the distance. Superman could see that it was going to land several feet short of the sidekick - and then Robin sprang forward into a literal frontflip, catching the box as he stuck the landing. Superman mentally increased his estimate of the boy’s age.
Robin grinned. “Thank you, thank you, Mr. Flash!” Before even the speedster could react, the child had thrown himself forward and locked his arms around Flash’s waist.
“Er…” Flash was clearly at a loss for words. “You’re welcome, Robin.”
“B! B!” Robin called. Batman looked over, and Robin darted towards him. “Look at what Mr. Flash got me!”
“Hm,” said Batman.
“Can we get back to the Cave to eat it now? Can we? Can we?” Robin begged.
The… Cave? Maybe Batman had leaned a little too far into his shtick, Superman thought.
“Hm,” said Batman, but apparently that was enough permission for Robin to grin and tug Batman to the zeta. They had disappeared within moments.
Superman stared at the zeta.
Aquaman asked, “Everybody else just saw that, right?”
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Over the next few months, and years, even, Robin became a semi-regular at the Watchtower. He never showed up with any sort of schedule, just randomly tagging along with Batman for no discernible reason.
The entire Justice League quickly became fond of the boy. Honestly, it was hard not to love him, with his endless energy, childlike wonder, and surprisingly proficient people skills. He was everything Batman wasn’t, in terms of interacting with people, and yet sometimes so astonishingly like Batman that Superman felt secure in his guess that the child was actually related to the bat.
One time, when Robin was probably around thirteen or fourteen, he let slip that he had ‘contingencies’ on the entire Justice League, just like Batman. It was only Aquaman and Superman in the conversation with him at the time, and they were both equally flabbergasted.
“You have plans to defeat us both in a fight? Kid, you’re - well, a kid,” said Aquaman.
“Teenager,” Robin scowled. “And I never said there would be a fight.”
“What would it be instead?” asked Superman, instantly regretting it.
Robin’s grin looked like the bared teeth of a feral tiger. “A massacre.”