Chalant Candlelight

Chapter 62

(Robin's POV)

After the whirlwind of last night, I think it's best if we just relax on the beach. Zatanna was taking forever and Wally was being impatient as always. He almost dragged me out of the cave.

Everyone except Zatanna was out there. The sun was out so we started to set up umbrellas and Magan and Wally had prepared beach picnic food.

Magan and Kalder set up the food while Konner wore shades and sat under the umbrella watching the water. I just got out there so I was admiring the work the team had done for this beach day while applying some of Artemis's sunscreen. It was weird to have exposed arms, legs, and neck to the team. I'm not sure they were used to it either because of some of the weary looks I was getting when they noticed my scars. Yes, most vigilantes had scars but most of them were not as deep or as many as Batman and I because we work in Gotham, where everybody wants to see some blood. These scars were concerning to the team mostly because they were super kids with powers and that made scars more avoidable and they had seen half the violence I had. Whereas I have been pushed off of buildings and landed on cars, a lot different. But that wasn't a villain, Bruce shoved me off the roof, and as luck would have it, his car was there to break my fall. I completely crushed the top of the car in with my back and the weeks of recovery afterwards were a blur but at least Bruce was really nice after that, at least until I was fully recovered and he went back to his usual self.

The only scars on my arms I wasn't showing at the beach were the fresh ones on my wrists which Zatanna helped me cover with small black sweatbands.

Meanwhile, Artemis was slathering SPF 7000 sunscreen on the speedster while he was desperately trying to run off but the headlock she put him in was inescapable,

"Wally! EVERYONE needs sunscreen and you're a ginger, the sun will literally kill you!" She shouted at him,

"I hate it!" He screeched like a child,

"Remember the amusement park?" Artemis brought back memories of when they went out and didn't expect to need sunscreen that day but Wally ended up burnt to a crisp and even had to miss college orientation because of it. He relaxed in the headlock after remembering that instance before shuddering at the memory.

Once he was done he sulked over to my side. Once he got closer he dropped his sulking, throwing his hand into my stomach before running off,

"Last one in the water's a rotten egg!" He shouted back at me as I tore off after him. He of course ran in faster but I was right behind him as we trudged out to waist-level water. We laughed a little at getting our hearts pumping from the cold water before we turned to our comfortable silence for a minute. Just watching the teamwork on the beach from afar,

"So...you and Zatanna?" He looked back at me, admiring my glamour charm necklace with a knowing wink,

"I guess," I shrugged,

"You guess?" He looked at me with concern,

"You were in her bed this morning, Rob, and you didn't even screw her, sounds pretty serious to me,"

"I know, I know. And we've been dating for a while now," I added, making his eyes widen on me,

"So you lied to me when you said you called me and said you couldn't be anything more to her?"

"She wanted to keep it under wraps, it's still under wraps,"

"Oh," Wally noted, "Are you happy?" He asked, I stopped for a second to think and was taken aback by his question,

"Of course," I said looking into his green eyes but he tilted his head at me,

"You hesitated," He narrowed his gaze on me,