FandomTrash257 requested this so we can break up my near-obsessive writing of Talon! Dick

If there was one thing Robin wasn't when he was in the safety of the Mountain, it was quiet. He'd always do something to announce his presence in some way ever since he got more comfortable around the team. Sure he could disappear but he got bored quickly and jumped out at any passer-by he thought he'd get a reaction from. So when he slinked into the Mountain, remained quiet for the entire training session even when M'gann accidentally tripped Kaldur, causing him to fall flat on his face, he stayed quiet, they all knew something was wrong. They finished training and went to the common's room for refreshments which gave them ample opportunity to figure out what was wrong with him. "You want something to eat Rob?" M'gann inquired. He shook his head with a closed-lipped smile to show he was thankful for the offer. He never did that. He always had a grin. "You sure? We have all your favorites in," she added, trying to sweeten the deal. Yet he shook his head and smiled his thanks again. He sat down on the couch and pulled up some assignments on his holo computer. Most of them were personal to-dos like update some systems and finish off some programs he was working on. Busy work really but they needed to be done anyway. Wally sat beside him and looked over his shoulder. "Whatcha working on?" Robin showed him the screen. He really wasn't one for talking. "I don't know what that means. Can you explain it?" He shook his head with a frown. "Alright Rob, you asked for it." The ginger jumped onto the couch and attacked Robin's side with tickles. The younger squirmed underneath him but had his lips pressed together, even with the sides of his mouth curling up wanting him to grin and giggle. "I won't give up until you smile," he warned. Robin tried to slap at his hands but ultimately failed. He cackled loudly, momentarily forgetting the reason he'd stayed quiet in the first place. The team didn't fail to notice what had kept him so silent.

When Wally stopped tickling him, as he said he would if he smiled, Robin realized what he did and clamped his hand across his mouth. He sat back up with an embarrassed blush emblazing his cheeks. "Since when did you get braces?" Kaldur asked. They hadn't seen them the last time they went on the mission last week. Robin shook his head, pouting that they knew. "C'mon babe, you can't exactly hide them now. You may as well tell us," Wally urged him. The younger huffed and rolled his eyes. 

"I got them three days ago because some guy decided to relocate my teeth over drug money," he explained. His voice had a slight slur to it thanks to the weird feeling in his mouth. It hadn't sunk in yet that these were here to stay for the time being. The wires kept catching on the inside of his cheeks and their taught nature made his whole mouth sore. It was just easier to avoid talking but now he had to. "How long are they on for?" Artemis asked. Knowing Batman, he'd have a pretty penny saved for his ward to get the best of the best. She didn't doubt that these were some sort of miracle braces that only needed to be one for three nights for you to get straight teeth again. "Six months," he answered defeatedly. "And they suck! My whole mouth hurts all the time."

"I mean normally they're on for a year so that's something," Wally said, trying to make the best out of a bad situation. 

"Oh joy."

"You look adorable with them anyway," he assured his boyfriend. Robin didn't look best pleased though. 

"And that makes it better because at least I look good for you," he snapped. He recognized his mistake almost instantly when he saw his boyfriend's surprised expression. Normally his sassy comments had a warm outer coating but this one came out blunt and cold. "Sorry. I'm just ratty. I haven't slept since I got them. Even painkillers aren't making a dent in how bad they feel," he explained. "Doesn't help that they need tightening more often than regular braces so by the time I get used to it, they'll be tightened again."

"Didn't you say you got them three days ago? Have you really not slept since then?" M'gann inquired, more than a little worried about his well being. It wasn't a shocker that he could go three days without sleep and not pass out at a moment's notice, he'd been raised by Batman and inherited his stubbornness when it came to cases which led to him staying up until it was solved. Nevertheless, that didn't stop her concern. He was still growing and needed all the sleep he could get. Especially when split-second decisions were what was keeping him alive. "I've gone longer," Robin responded.

"That's not the point. Haven't you got something to help you sleep like sleeping tablets?" Connor suggested. He'd overheard a conversation about it but he didn't really catch whether it was damning or not. "I don't like them," Robin replied. He didn't want to go much further into this.

"Well you'll need to sleep at some point," Kaldur told him.

"I will when I pass out," he stated nonchalantly. He added a little shrug to his statement just to further push he didn't see the issue in what he said. 

"Dude no," Wally replied on behalf of the team. 

"Dude yes. It's not like it's killing me."

"Lack of sleep over long periods of time can actually cause you to have a shorter life span," Connor pointed out.

"Short in height, short in life. It's my aesthetic."

"How about we just get you to go to sleep?" Artemis proposed. He rolled his eyes with a disinterested tut. 

"I'm not a baby. I don't need to be rocked to sleep or something," he argued. Wally quirked his eyebrow at the statement. "Isn't that how Bats used to get you to-"

"Shut up."

Seeing that he was indeed as stubborn as he usually was, M'gann set up a mind link that excluded Robin. "We should get him to sleep," she announced.

"No kidding. I think he's micro sleeping or else he would've noticed us talking," Artemis stated, her eyes darting over to him. He was just kinda sat there as he stared into the distance, his eyes kind of unfocused. "But how do we go about it? He's mature enough to make his own choices and it isn't really our place to force him to do something," Connor said. Of course, Robin was still a kid but he was a mature kid. There was no way he couldn't be when he saw dead bodies on a daily basis. "Wally, you must've dealt with this before, how'd you do it?" Kaldur asked. The speedster thought for a moment. They had to be particular with what they did. 

"We should get him comfortable. Turn up the heating a bit more, dim the lights the tiniest bit and get him some sort of warm water. It helps with brace pain. I'll take over getting him to bed," he answered. They nodded. 

"Sounds like a plan," Artemis told him. "Just keep all your cutesy couple shit to a minimum. I plan to get lunch after this and I don't want to lose my appetite."

"You know you love to see it," Wally teased.

"You ever think about how we could die and no one would know because the world doesn't know our secret identities?" Robin stated. They stirred from their mental conversation and stared at him with concern. 

"Erm, not really. Do you?" Artemis asked. He chuckled hollowly.

"Haha yeah," he responded.

"Okay we definitely need to get him to sleep," M'gann stated. She subtly hovered over to the thermostat and turned it up a few degrees. Naturally, she wasn't inclined towards the heat but if it meant Robin got some shut-eye she'd grin and bear it for him. Connor turned on his favorite show, static, which unintentionally helped tire out Robin's brain further. He tried to shake off the newfound tiredness by focusing on the updates but he found himself forgetting what he was doing. He was sure he had to do something but he couldn't grasp hold of the mental note long enough to remember it. "What've I told you about screen time?" Wally commented. The younger hummed and turned off the screen. He couldn't get anything done anyway. "I heard that rinsing your mouth with warm water helps brace pain, you wanna try that?"

"That sounds gross," Robin complained.

"Would you rather have brace pain or have something gross?"

"Neither."

"That wasn't an option," Wally told him. He sped over to the kitchen and turned on the hot water tap. He waited till it was lukewarm before getting a glass and filling it halfway. He sped back and passed the glass to his ever suffering boyfriend. "I don't want it," the other pouted.

"Just try it," he told him. "Pretty please with a cherry on top."

"Fine." He took the glass from the ginger and took some in his mouth, swished it around and spat it back into the cup. They all did their best to ignore the tiny chunk of cheek skin that the metal had scraped off sink to the bottom of the glass once it found its way out of his mouth. He made a belp face and clicking his tongue. "Gross."

"Does it feel better though?"

"Kinda." Kaldur got up since it was around about now he did his swimming and on his way slightly dimmed the lights. Robin didn't seem to notice the change which was worrying. He was very vigilante. He noticed all the little changes. Now you could throw a ball at his face and he wouldn't notice until five minutes later. Wally mouthed a thank you to him and he smiled, happy to help. "Someone out there is the same age as me and has a baby. I can't even look after myself and they have a whole ass baby," Robin rambled. He leaned back on the couch, slightly slumped and stared at the TV. 

"Well it's good that neither of us can get pregnant then," Wally stated. 

"Yeah, that and I'm a total virg."

"Oh God he's sleep drunk," Artemis muttered, trying her best to withhold her laughter.

Knowing that his boyfriend was going to say something very embarrassing when he was like this, Wally decided now was the time to get Robin to a bed. "Oh Rob, I need to show you something," he said, giving him a light tap as a prompt to listen. 

"Okay." He didn't make any moves to get up.

"So come with me?"

"Can't you just bring it here?"

"Nope, you gotta get up lazy bones," Wally insisted. He took the smaller's arm and forced him up, getting a little grumble but not much more. He guided him to his bedroom and closed the door behind them to ensure they got some privacy. "I'm not really up for making out you know? Especially with these stupid braces," Robin cautioned, perching himself on the bed. He took off his domino mask since they were in private, revealing the dark circles underneath his eyes and how low his eyelids were. He rubbed at them with balled-up fists and breathed out a yawn. Wally smirked at how adorable he looked. His cheeks were slightly swollen too which just gave him a cute chipmunk vibe. He was certainly small enough for it. He got on the bed too and kicked off his shoes. "I was just thinking we could cuddle. It's been a while," he replied. Dick softened and nodded. 

"I'd really like that. Do you have a jumper I could borrow though? This isn't really comfortable." He nodded and leaned over to his drawer, tossing the other his biggest jumper. Was that because he thought Dick looked absolutely adorable when he was in a big jumper? Yes. And he'd admit that to anyone who asked. Unless it was Batman. Then he'd already be running for the hills as soon as the question arose. Dick went around the other side of the bed and stripped off, rolling his eyes when he heard his boyfriend wolf whistle at him, then pulled on the jumper. "You look exhausted babe," Wally commented when Dick crawled into bed with him. The smaller shrugged and wrapped his arms around him, resting his head on the other's chest. "I am."

"All because of those braces, huh?" He hummed a yes.

"If you stabbed someone in the bone would the knife stay in the bone?"

"Dude," Wally stated. No wonder this kid didn't sleep. He gave him a soft peck on the cheek and felt how warm they were with his lips. He frowned when he didn't get the usual giggle the action caused. "What's up?"

"Do you still like me with the braces?" Dick asked, glancing up at him.

"Of course, I don't care about the braces. Is that why you were so quiet today?" He nodded. "I'm not that shallow."

"I know it's just...I'm already self-conscious and these don't help," he explained, gesturing to his mouth. Wally gave him a squeeze accompanied with a warm smile. 

"I've seen you with two black eyes, covered in blood, with a broken nose and a broken cheekbone. Braces are hardly a game-changer."

"You really think so?" Wally hooked a finger under Dick's chin, making him look up at him. He pressed his lips against his, giving him a caring and heartfelt kiss. 

"I know so. Now get some sleep. For me if not for you." Dick huffed and moved to get more comfortable, accidentally giving himself the cutest little sweater paws. He also brought up the hood of the jumper a bit more so it covered more of his neck. "Alright," he replied. He closed his eyes and dropped off within minutes. Wally watched him with a smirk, taking his free hand to run through his curls and pet his hair. He was so adorable.