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The sound of the Tower alarm jerked Robin out of the first decent sleep he had gotten since Slade had first appeared on their TV.
Considering that had been three weeks earlier, he was understandably annoyed even as he shoved his feet into his boots and sprinted out of his room. He glanced at his watch: four hours of sleep. Oh well, he’d done more on less.
Robin ran into the living room, barely glancing around before spotting his team over by the couch, staring into the kitchen.
“Titans! What’s the-?” He looked over where they were staring. “Oh, shit.”
“Language, Master Robin.”
“Dude,” Beast Boy hissed, “why is there a random, old, British dude in our kitchen?”
“And why does he know you?” Cyborg added.
“I am here because someone forgot the rules.” Alfred Pennyworth turned from examining the Titans’ kitchen to face the teens. An older gentleman with his sleeves rolled up and wearing an apron should not be that intimidating. Yet Robin could feel his team shrinking behind him, trying to hide behind his smaller frame. “What were the three rules, Master Robin?”
“Look, Al-.”
“Rule one.”
He felt all of eight years old again. And his team was trying to slink away. Cowards.
He sighed,
“Call once a week to check in.”
“Very good.” Alfred crossed his arms over his chest. “Rule two.”
Robin shrunk down as well,
“Use my emergency beacon if I or my team are in mortal danger and/or compromised.” He straightened up, blinking. “I wouldn’t say we were in mortal danger-.”
“Dude! We were filled with tiny probes that tried to liquify our insides!” BB nearly burst into flames under the glare Robin leveled at him. “Er, I mean, Robin is right? We had it handled?”
Well, Alfred’s foot wasn’t tapping so he wouldn’t be grounded forever. He may yet survive this.
“Rule three.”
Never mind.
Robin managed not to cringe as he looked beyond Alfred to the kitchen.
“I will keep my new place clean.”
The remains of the All You Can Eat, Free Form, Breakfast Explosion ™ were evident. Dirty pans still on the stove, plates in and around the sink, crumbs, and syrup all over the table, tofu eggs on the ceiling (how did that even happen??), and the variety of condiments on the counter alongside the last plate of waffles. Even as he watched, a drop of syrup continued its slide down one of the cabinet doors.
“To be fair to Robin, sir, -.” He jerked as Raven spoke, he hadn’t expected that. “We all made that mess.”
“Yeah, and we were all gonna clean it up after we slept off our food comas,” Cy added.
“It has been…hard, these past few weeks,” Starfire said. She floated forward to stand next to Robin and bowed to Alfred. “I am sorry that you had to find our home in such a state upon your first visit.”
The old butler smiled kindly as her.
“It’s quite alright, Miss Starfire, I am well acquainted with the habits of both superheroes and teenagers. I suppose it was inevitable when five people who are both decide to live together.” His smile turned wry. “Though I had hoped some of my instructions had stayed in Master Robin’s head.”
“If you are the reason we have a chore list, then they definitely did.” One could hear the grin in Beast Boy’s voice. “Robin is Super Serious about the Chore Chart.”
That caused the Boy Wonder to turn and groan at his teammate,
“Beast Boy…”
“Excellent, I am glad to hear it.” Robin heard shifting clothes, Alfred was probably straightening, uncrossing his arms. “Now, Master Robin, if you would be so kind as to do introductions?”
“You already know who they are,” he muttered.
There was a gentle smack to the back of his head,
“Manners maketh man, Master Robin.”
His team was giggling at him. He was disowning them and kicking them out. Except Raven, who never giggled. She was his favorite right now.
“Alright, alright.” Robin was NOT pouting as he rubbed the back of his head and stepped aside to address both sides at the same time. He wasn’t. “Al, these are the Teen Titans. Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy, Starfire.” He gestured to each as he named them. “Guys, this is Alfred Pennyworth. He works for Batman and helped raise me after B took me in.”
“We’ve never regretted doing so,” Alfred said, placing a gentle hand on Robin’s shoulder.
“Oh, glorious day!” Star bounded in place. “It is wonderous to meet one of Robin’s family! May I give you a hug?”
“Of course, dear girl.” Alfred opened his arms.
Robin started to remind Starfire to control her strength, but it wasn’t needed. She wrapped her arms around the old man very gently, snuggling in. Robin shook his head with a smile; Alfred always gave the best hugs.
He was stepping back when he heard her whisper,
“You raised a good friend.”
“Thank you for looking after him,” Alfred replied just as softly. “His father and I appreciate it.”
“Okay!” Robin felt his face flushing as he waved his arms in the air. This was entirely too sentimental. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, Alfred, but why are you here?”
“I told you,” Alfred stepped back from Star and raised a single eyebrow. “I’m here because you forgot to check in with us. For three weeks.”
“Oh, right.”
“You’re lucky it’s me and not-.”
“Please tell me he’s not coming!”
“Sounds like you two need to catch up,” Cyborg interjected, smiling as well. “Why don’t we work on cleaning up our kitchen while you two go talk?”
“Thank you, Master Cyborg, however Master Robin and I can handle it.”
“Oh no-.”
“Oh yes, young man,” the butler interrupted Robin’s moan crisply. “Consider this your penance for not calling for THREE WEEKS.”
He had been defeated. Robin sighed,
“It’s alright, guys, go back to bed. We got this.”
The team argued for a few minutes, but Alfred was an immovable force and with the adrenaline of the alarm wearing off, they were fading fast.
Starfire was the last to go, appealing to Alfred,
“Please allow me to stay and help. Robin needs sleep just as much as us, if not more, and the work will go faster with three.”
“Not to worry, my dear, I’ll send him to bed soon. I just want to have a chat with him first.” He leaned in, inviting her to conspire with him. “And he’s more honest when he has something to do while he talks.”
She giggled but nodded, finally exiting the room as well.
“Just tell all my secrets, Al,” Robin griped, heading over to the sink.
“On the contrary, Master Robin, I’m sure I did not tell the young lady anything she didn’t already know.” Alfred stepped up next to his young charge, joining him in scrubbing the plates. “So, you’ve had a busy few weeks.”
“That’s putting it mildly.” He scrubbed at the plate in his hands. BB’s tofu eggs were the worst. “I’m sure Bruce knows all about what has happened.”
“Perhaps the next time you want to keep something a secret from him, you don’t break in and then have a fight at one of his buildings?”
The teenager couldn’t help snorting at that,
“He would know anyway, its Bruce.”
“True.” The two continued to wash up in silence for a few minutes. “He was very worried about you, young sir.”
“I can tell by the way he hasn’t called.” That was a tad more bitter than he had meant it to be. “Sorry, Alfred, I know you’re stuck in the middle of us.”
“I’m in the middle by my own choice, my boy. I will not interfere in you and Master Bruce’s professional relationship.”
“I know.” Robin sighed. “Though I was expecting him to show after the fight at Wayne Enterprises.”
“He almost did.”
The pan slid out of Robin’s hands to land with a splash in the soapy water.
“He-? Wha-?”
“He was already in the plane when I called,” Alfred said calmly, making no sign that he was paying any attention to the choking teen. “Took quite a bit of convincing before he turned it around to stay in Gotham.”
“But…. why?”
Alfred carefully folded the dishtowel in his hands and set it aside.
“When you left Gotham and set up here, you made it very clear that this was your town, your team, and that you didn’t want Batman in it. I reminded him that he had agreed to those terms and that you were at the age that it was your decision; if you wanted his help, you would ask but if you didn’t ask then he needed to wait.”
“I can’t believe he didn’t argue with you.” It was easier to dry the pan he had then to look at Alfred.
“Oh, he did. I then asked him how he liked it when Superman comes to Gotham uninvited to help him.” The prompted snickers from Robin. “Now that we’ve cleaned up, have a seat.”
The teen looked around in surprise but there was no denying it; the kitchen was spotless. Alfred’s magic powers had struck again.
And continued to strike when a mug of hot chocolate appeared the moment Robin took his seat at the counter.
He picked it up, breathing in the familiar scents of chocolate, cream, vanilla, and mint. Over a thousand nights he had sat in the kitchen of Wayne Manor drinking this. Letting go of everything that had happened that night, of every crime he couldn’t stop, everyone he couldn’t have saved, and every unkind word that had been thrown his away.
He relaxed almost immediately.
“Buttering me up, Alfred?” he asked as the man took a seat as well.
“Simply looking after you, young sir.” Alfred took a sip of his own drink, which smelled like Raven’s herbal tea. “Now, I’ve read Master Bruce’s files and accounts. Why don’t you tell me what’s been going on for the last few weeks?”
Robin knew he should resist but this was ALFRED. He had stood by Bruce for way worse then what Robin had done and he had always made the boy feel better after the rough nights.
The story came pouring out. Everything he could remember, every bad decision he’d made, every time he had failed his team.
“We didn’t get the last of the probes till earlier this evening,” he said finally winding down. “Almost as soon as Cy said that BB was clear the ‘All You Can Eat, Free Form, Breakfast Explosion’ happened.” Alfred snorted into his tea at that name, prompting a grin from Robin. “Yeah, the guys are funny like that. And when Starfire began to fall asleep at the table, I realized sleep was more important than cleaning the kitchen, so I had Cyborg lock down the tower and sent the team to bed.” He blinked. “How’d you get past the security system anyway?”
“I am not without my own skills,” Alfred answered. “But I’ll show Master Cyborg how I did it before I leave.”
“Good.” Robin yawned. “You know how I feel about security holes.”
“Just like your father does.” Al smiled fondly as another yawn made an appearance. “You should get to bed, you need sleep.”
“Are you going to set off another alarm if I go back to bed?” Robin teased.
Alfred laughed as he came around the counter. He carefully plucked the domino mask off Robin’s face.
“I do apologize, Master Dick, but I needed to see with my own eyes that you were alright.” Dick Grayson blinked up at him, squinting a bit at the now unfamiliar sensation of being without his mask. Alfred ran his thumb under one of the boy’s eyes, smoothing the skin. “You need to take this off more often, you’re developing lines and the skin is suffocating.”
“I put moisturizer on every day, like you told me-.”
“I can see that but still. You should trust your team.”
“I’ll think about it.” That got him a hard stare. “I’ll think about it really, really hard.”
“Good. Now,” Alfred placed a kiss on his forehead and replaced his mask, “get some sleep.”
Robin surged a bit to wrap himself around the butler,
“I love you, Al.”
“I love you too, Master Dick.” Robin was almost out of the room when he added, “And call your father.”
He sighed but nodded, not looking back. Ugh. That would be a fun conversation. For tomorrow. Or never. Whichever came later.
But he took off his mask before he fell asleep. Might be time to trust his team a little more.