The Jest of Robin

9: Ticking Time Bomb

Wayne Manor, March 30, 2010, 02:12 EST

Wally held Dick in his arms, carrying the shaking boy to the living room where the rest of the team was situated. Dick had his hands covering his mouth, muffling the sounds that involuntarily escaped his lips. Tears were streaming down his face, and his breathing was completely sporadic. M'gann quickly ran up to the small boy, and she paled considerably. "What happened?" Artemis asked standing up as well.

Wally shook his head. "I don't know. Robin must have dropped him off out front. I don't know how long he's been like this though."

"So Robin just left him? What the hell?" Artemis asked as she began moving pillows and making a place for Wally to place Dick. His shaking had begun to increase, and he had a harder time suppressing his cries.

"Guys, he's, he's laughing. That isn't normal is it?" Connor asked. Dick was set on the couch. He kept one hand over his mouth, but the other moved up to his hair and he started pulling it. He wanted to stop all of this. He wanted his mind to calm down, he wanted the tears that were coming out of his eyes to stop, and he wanted the involuntary laughter to never come out of his mouth again. He couldn't hear the group that was around him, couldn't hear their scared questions coming out of their mouths, asking him what happened.

Dick couldn't stop any of this, but there was something he could do. He kept his hand over his mouth, stopping his Robin-like cackles from escaping. Even in the midst of a panic attack, he knew keeping his identity a secret was the most important thing to do.

Dick's tears blurred his eyes, and he couldn't see who was in front of him. He didn't jump or make any movements when he felt hands on his shoulders, and felt his body be pressed against someone else's. He didn't register anything that was happening in front of him, until he saw a computer screen being placed in front of him. He focused on whoever was speaking on the screen. After five minutes passed, his cackles died down to sobs, and soon they died down to sniffles. His shaking calmed down, and tears fell slower.

"You alright chum?" Dick nodded his head softly. "What happened?"

Dick didn't respond for a couple moments before in a very small voice he said, "I fell."

A brief look of annoyance passed on Artemis's face, but it was quickly wiped away when Dick looked at her. "I- I couldn't catch myself. I saw them."

"Oh chum." Bruce gently talked to him, helping him calm down more. He kept reassuring him until Dick fell asleep. He was leaning into Wally, head on his chest. Wally was gently combing his hands through Dick's hair, something he found calms the boy. Kaldur watched Dick for a minute before turning to Bruce. "Thank you Mr. Way- Bruce."

Bruce nodded. "Keep a closer eye on him. Depending on how he is feeling tomorrow, don't take him to school. If his panic attack was so bad that he was laughing, he will not be good tomorrow. Watch out for my boy. I'll be home as soon as I can."

The call ended, and the team stood around the now sleeping boy. After a minute, Wally stood up, and sped Dick to his room, then came back down. "Artemis, what is wrong with you?"

"What?"

"When he finally was able to explain what happened, you looked so annoyed." Wally said.

"He was freaking out about something stupid."

"Not to him!" Wally did his best to not shout. "It wasn't stupid to him. I looked up how his parents died. Before you say anything, I know I shouldn't have, but I did. I didn't need to look very hard to find it. His family was acrobats, they were performing a show here in Gotham, and something happened. Someone tampered with their trapeze, and he watched his family fall. So yeah, maybe something 'stupid' made him go into a panic attack, but you can't tell me that if you were in his shoes you wouldn't have freaked out."