flashbossXD requested this and I hope I did it well!!

Early in life, Robin learned that the universe wasn't on his side. In his past life, he suspected he'd been some kind of corrupt official who was responsible for multiple innocent deaths to warrant the amount of bad luck he carried. Of course, some of it came with the job title. He couldn't act as though being a teenage vigilante didn't put him in bad positions sometimes but the way things backfired was just too spectacular to not have some sort of universal push to be that much worse. 

Right now was a good example. 

It was the final mission before the team took time off for Christmas. Well, most would. Robin would continue working over the Christmas period and the others would probably pop out here and they when they were needed. That didn't stop him from looking forward to the break. It usually meant one on one time with Batman that was made that little bit cheerier by citizens giving back for all the savings they did for the year. Usually, it was free coffee or a doughnut but it was just nice to feel appreciated. Plus no school meant later nights doing what he loved rather than missing out on all the early morning action. He should've known from the beginning that if he was looking forward to something, the universe was bound to put an end to it.

They were just going to clear out an old Joker lair. It was supposed to be a simple in-and-out mission of taking account of what was there so the police in Gotham could enter safely. They were going to deactivate some traps, collect some things that wouldn't do well in the hands of an ordinary officer and maybe pick out early Christmas gifts for themselves. Robin had actually allowed himself to be relaxed on the way over. From the intel he'd received, this place had been abandoned for a good year now and Joker didn't have a habit of returning to the same place after so long. Besides, Batman wouldn't knowingly send them somewhere he genuinely expected Joker to be no matter how capable they were of looking after themselves. Yet no one had considered the horrible luck that followed Robin like a lost puppy. 

Not even five minutes passed after they entered the lair before they realised that they weren't alone. The only warning they got was Joker's maniacal laugh before they were in the throws of a battle between him and Harley armed with all their abandoned equipment. 

"So much for being abandoned," he heard Artemis quip. The only thing he could focus on was getting them all out of there. They were too exposed and didn't have the means to go up against the villain when he had a whole cave full of his weapons. His brain already raced through the possibilities faster than he could take.

Superboy on Joker Venom. 

Miss Martian choked on her own laughter.

Kid Flash convulsing.

Aqualad clawed at his throat.

Artemis laying limp.

He blinked harshly and put himself right in his mind. 

"Retreat to the ship!" he yelled out. Aqualad had no objections to his sudden order and neither did the team. Maybe because it was their last mission and they didn't want to be broken and bruised for Christmas. Perhaps because they trusted him to know the clown prince and his jester better than anyone else. His stomach churned at the thought of being subject to that much trust. 

He was at the back of the group as they dashed towards the exit but he'd paused at the computer he'd seen on his way in. Robin knew that access to the computer could mean access to all of Joker's future plans, lairs they didn't know about, and formulas yet to reach the public. Everything else in here was something they already knew about. He had five different schematics for the bombs Joker used and the formula in them was old enough for Batman to already have remedies for them. What lay in that computer could mean the difference between life and death. He couldn't leave it behind to save himself. In the corner of his eye, he saw Miss Martian pause. 

"What're you doing?" she asked.

"Get out of here." Her stare hardened but he just showed her the USB before plugging it into the computer. "Go!"

"No!"

"M'gann what-" A loud bang cut whoever was speaking off. The resulting crash of rocks silenced them completely. Robin swallowed thickly as it dawned on him he wouldn't be able to move to escape most of the rubble. He dropped to his knees and covered his head, hoping his teammates were at least better off than he was. 

The team whipped around to find Miss Martian had been thrown to the floor by the collapse of the ceiling and laid still on the ground, her eyes closed. Superboy scooped her up and cradled her close before continuing to run to the ship. In the frenzy, no one noticed that they weren't all together. Robin had such a habit of remaining silent and Miss Martian was unconscious, unable to tell them that he was still in there, so they were clueless as to what they'd left behind as they rushed to get medical help.

Joker laughed fitfully as he saw the rubble from the explosion he caused tumble on top of Robin but paused when he noticed the cracks continued to where he was standing. He'd sent Harley to collect the last supply of his venom but the cave was crumbling down much faster than he could warn her. Well, he did have time to warn her. He just remained silent and focused on getting himself out of there. He could always find someone else to be his right-hand man.

"Oh geez," was the first thing Robin registered. Next, he registered the agony he was in. He felt like he'd been thrown into a washing machine with a punch of rocks on a particularly high spin setting. Then he noticed the warmth of a hand around his wrist, fingers pressed against a pulse point. "C'mon bird brain." He knew that voice. It wasn't a voice he found calming but he could hear the concern laced in its words. "Up and at em. Your auntie Harls is getting a little bored of this schtick." His eyes snapped open and he shot up, scrambling away from the direction he heard her voice. Putting pressure on his left arm was decidedly a mistake when pain riveted through it and he choked out a cry. "Easy kid." The space was dim, lit only by flickering display lights and a broken phone flashlight. Robin narrowed his eyes at her until he noticed that red was leaking through the fingers she had pressed against her side. Harley watched him but didn't make any attempt to close the gap he'd made between them. 

"You're hurt," he stated. 

"So are you. Your shoulder is dislocated and I wouldn't be surprised if ya got a good hit to the head." Somewhere in him, the teen found the strength to joke.

"You aren't that type of doctor." She smiled at his quip although it was accompanied by a rolling of the eyes.

"I don't need a degree to know hard things fallin on ya head will give you a concussion. Besides, doubt it'll be helpful to diagnose ya with PTSD."

"You'd be late to the party. What happened to you?" 

"Nicked by piping. Looks like we're both in a jam till someone moves all that debris." 

There was a beat of silence between them as they waited for one another to make their first move. Robin couldn't trust her and she couldn't trust him. He looked around the lair. Both exits were now covered with a thick layer of rubble. Above them was more cave that hadn't been disturbed by the explosion and he doubted it was going to collapse in on them. Joker wasn't stupid enough to risk bringing the whole place down if he'd come back for something here. He was just stupid enough to block people inside. Robin blew out a breath and returned his gaze to the villain in front of him. Harley's wound was shallow and the blood was slowing but she was only going to get an infection if she kept her dirty hand pressed against it. He wasn't much better with his shoulder dislocated like it was not to mention nausea that was hitting him like a tonne of bricks. 

"I've got a first aid kit," he found himself saying. He moved almost unconsciously as he grabbed the kit from a pouch on his utility belt. "But we've gotta call a truce. Something tells me we're not getting out here any time soon so we may as well help each other out."

"Ya trust me to honour a truce?" she asked.

"I trust you not to be stupid enough to deny the offer," he answered. She watched him carefully before stretching out her blood-free hand. He stretched out his own and the pair shook on it. "Nice. You pop the shoulder in so I can sew you up." She nodded and moved closer. He flinched unconsciously before swallowing thickly. "Sorry."

"Don't be." Harley was surprisingly gentle as she held his arm although a great amount of force was needed to shove it back into its socket. "Ya want it to be a surprise?"

"Love surprises," he replied. She laughed under her breath and then suddenly clicked it back into place. Robin screamed as pain consumed his shoulder but got ahold of himself as it bled away. After a moment to adjust, he rolled his shoulder and was pleased to find it only burned at the movement. He could definitely work with that and had certainly worked with worse. "Nice work, Dr Quinzell." Something he liked to consider as a genuine smile flashed over her features.

"Not been called that in a while."

"You worked hard for the doctorate even if your medical license is provoked, may as well use your proper title from time to time. Dr Phil gets to keep his after sending kids to get starved in the woods," he bantered. "Your turn." She leaned back and took away her hand to show her newest battle wound. It was a deep cut but it hadn't hit anything major. The blood loss shouldn't be anything to worry about either. He sterilised the wound as best he could before taking a fresh needle and sewing the sides of it together. Harley hissed and bit on her lip as he worked so he made the experience as quick as he could. When he was done, he moved away from her.

They sat in silence again. The truce meant they would stay civil but that didn't mean the conversation could flow very easily. They were enemies. She'd been involved in enough plots to kill him for Robin to feel uneasy around her and he'd put her away enough for Harley to feel resentful of him.

"This is awkward," Harley stated. "When will the super brats come to get ya?"

"How long has it been?" She shrugged.

"Twenty minutes maybe?" He rubbed his temples. If they hadn't noticed that he wasn't with them then they likely wouldn't until Batman asked after him. His stupid habit of being silent and never being where you last saw him had finally bit him back. He could send a distress signal but he couldn't guarantee when it would reach someone and how long after that it would take for them to start their search. Most heroes were going home for the holidays. He'd be better off finding a turkey on Christmas Eve. Still, he pressed his distress signal on his utility belt. 

"Hopefully someone notices. Could be an hour at the least." Harley nodded. "What about Joker?"

"Puddin probably thinks I got out with him. He'll notice. Eventually. Bet he's already lookin for me." She ran her hand through her hair. "But if yours come first, that's lights out for Harls for the holidays. 

"If Joker comes back first, I'll be tortured for the holidays," he muttered. He wiped at his forehead. Since when did he get this sweaty over the thought of torture? He wasn't a rookie anymore.

"Yea, guess ya will." A heavy tension settled over them. "Didn't take Bats for a Christmas guy."

"He's not really," he replied. "Not his deal."

"Not mine either."

"No?"

"Jewish. Hannuka is my gig. Still like the festive shit X-mas brings though." 

"B is Jewish," he mentioned. For some reason, he felt comfortable enough to share that much with her. It's not like it would do much for revealing who they were nor could it be used against them but it still felt oddly personal to share. He'd blame it on the possible concussion. "Not practising though. He considers himself an atheist so I guess he had no reason to celebrate Christmas."

"What about you?"

"This seems like some sort of bad podcast. Religious talk with Dr Harleen Quinzell." She laughed and hit his leg playfully. "I'm Romani so Christmas was always kinda big for me and my parents. I've not celebrated properly since my folks died."

"Bats isn't your dad?"

"Nope." He was happy to correct her. Batman was great and all but he wasn't his dad. He doubted he ever could be even if Robin was heir to his riches and vigilante title. He quickly wiped the thought from his mind because it would only make him feel sick. Well, sicker than he already did. He really didn't feel so good.

"Robin?" Harley called.

"Yeah?"

"Ya look like shit." He felt like it too but he couldn't put it down to the dislocated shoulder anymore. This was something else. Maybe it was just some sense of claustrophobia? 

"Here I was thinking we were getting along and you've got to do that," he replied with a forced smile.

"Hun, it looks like you're about to chuck up." He was.

Bile suddenly rose to his throat and he barely had time to roll onto his side and vomit onto the floor instead of all over himself. That really wasn't good. He did a rundown of his symptoms. Nausea, unconsciousness, vomiting, sweating, pain but it was all over so he couldn't specify it and breathing was a little harder than normal but he'd put it down to the cave air. In his head, he matched the symptoms to potential causes. He was stuck between shock, severe concussion or internal bleeding. Perhaps it was a fun mix of all three. 

"Robin?" Harley called out again. 

"It's fine."

"It's not! Ya can't just throw up your breakfast and say it's fine."

"Fine. I'm showing symptoms of shock, grade 3 concussion and/or internal bleeding. How's that?" he snapped back.

"Better than workin with nothin," she replied. "Let's lay you down. I'll get something to prop your legs up."

"Why are you helping?" he asked, pushing himself away from the pool of vomit he'd created. Now the whole place was going to smell like stomach acid. Yay. 

"I'm not sittin here with a dead body. Plus we called a truce. I'm stickin by it." Gently, Harley grabbed his shoulders and pushed him to lie on his back. She rolled his cape up and put it underneath his head to cushion it from the rubble. Then she pushed some big rocks together and settled his calves on them, keeping them above his heart. Honestly, her first aid was better than he'd been expecting for someone who was his enemy. She sat by his head, on the side opposite to the puke otherwise it would be gross, and pressed something cold against his forehead. It was hard so he assumed it was a rock but that didn't mean he wasn't welcoming of the relief it brought. "There we go. Dr Quinzell's still got it. Learnt this one on the Arkham trainin day." Made sense.

"You know, you're not so bad," Robin whispered. Her plastered-on smile faltered and she looked down at him, meeting the white lenses that covered his eyes. "I think you're like Selina."

"Whatcha mean?"

"You're a good person. Just do bad things."

"Ya musta hit your head real hard or somethin is seriously bleedin if you're sayin I'm a good person hun," she replied, her voice just as quiet. They didn't know why they were whispering since there was no one there to overhear the moments of kindness between them but they did anyway. Perhaps because in the back of their minds, they remembered all the damage Harley had done and all the plans Robin had foiled. They weren't supposed to find common ground like this but they had. He didn't mind Harley and she didn't mind Robin. Maybe in a different life, she would've made a really good therapist to talk to or she could've worked at Wayne Enterprises in their projects helping people end the cycle of reoffending. "I've done enough bad things to get like ten life sentences waitin for me back at Arkham. Can't be very good if that's the case, can I?"

"Nah. I think," he paused. He didn't know if he should be saying this to her. She could use it against him at some point when their truce was over. "If you never met Joker, you'd never be Harley Quinn. If Batman hadn't found me when he did, I think I'd be more like you guys and less like him."

"Why's that?"

"I can't say. You could use it against me." She looked like she wanted to protest but ultimately she knew that whatever he said, she couldn't keep a secret. "When you realise this life isn't for you and you recognise Joker is treating you like shit, I'll be here Harley."

"What?"

"I can't guarantee Bats will trust you and I guess I can't even guarantee I won't be suspicious but I'll help. You're a smart woman, you've just gotten with the completely wrong guy. He's a manipulator Harls. I wish you could see it."

"Why do ya care so much? I've tried to kill ya, I've killed people. Real innocent people." She had. He'd seen the crime scenes and if he thought about it too long then he could recall the smell of decay from the bodies that lay forgotten. It was a waste of life and he wanted to hate her. He really did. He'd love to hate her guts and pretend that she disgusted him but she didn't because Joker was so obviously manipulating her from the moment she had her psychotic break. Robin knew that somewhere in there she knew what she was doing was wrong and she didn't want to continue with it but thought she loved Joker. Loving Joker was deadly but leaving Joker was even deadlier. 

"You have done horrible things. I've seen your victims but if you were deep down this heartless individual you claim to be then I'd be dead, wouldn't I?" She watched him carefully before swallowing thickly. "You would've killed me. Finish the job the explosion left."

"I can't leave my puddin. Not for anythin in the world. I appreciate your attempt to win me over though."

"One day, you will leave him. I hope to see it."

Neither of them knew how long they'd been there but eventually, they heard shouting from the other side of the rubble. Robin looked over to Harley who watched the exit in defeat. He chewed his bottom lip. He knew he shouldn't. This was a criminal he was stuck with and this moment of niceness wasn't going to last but she helped him further than she had to. Batman would kill him if he found out. 

"Go hide. I'll say you escaped and you can leave once we go away," he told her quickly.

"What-"

"Hide before I change my mind. Call it repaying a favour or whatever." She stared at him for a moment longer before jumping to her feet and running off to somewhere deeper in the cave. He intentionally didn't look for where she hid to insure he didn't accidentally give her away by checking on her position. Maybe he'd live to regret the moment of kindness but he didn't know how he could live with himself if he didn't offer it. He hoped she was well hidden by the time the rubble came crashing down and he caught sight of Superman's uniform. Fuck, if it was Superman then he'd definitely notice another human heartbeat. He needed a reason for the super to panic and rush out of there. His eyes flicked around for something when they landed on the puddle of vomit. Oh, this was gonna suck. As Superman stepped through the hole he made, Robin punched himself in the stomach to force himself to vomit further. Whatever internal bleeding he had was worse now.

"Robin!" Superman exclaimed before running over to him and scooping him upright as he finished spitting up the bile. "It's alright son, I've got you."

"Hurts," he groaned, intentionally making his voice weaker.

"I know. Let's get you home safe, okay?"

"Need B," he whined. That seemed to do the trick as he suddenly felt fresh air rushing against his face. He was in for a miserable Christmas but at least he could hope for the New Year that Harley had considered what he said.